# Quote — Marge Piercy, He, She and It

> "I used to wonder what I did wrong. But now I think that unless you grossly mistreat a child or spoil her or let her be injured, basically there's a given element in all of us, something from genes or the moment. From birth on, a child follows her own path. She learns, but she also unfolds from within." (Malkah, twenty-eight: HOW CAN WE TELL THE DANCER FROM THE DANCE?)

- Author: [Marge Piercy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marge-piercy.md)
- Book: [He, She and It](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marge-piercy/he-she-and-it.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marge_Piercy#He,_She_and_It_(1991)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/marge-piercy/he-she-and-it/i-used-to-wonder

## More from this book

> He's in Veecee Beecee, making those elaborate worlds people play at living in instead of worrying about the one we're all stuck with." (one: IN THE CORPORATE FORTRESS)

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marge-piercy/he-she-and-it/hes-in-veecee.md)

> "They perceive whatever they don't control as hostile." (Avram, twenty-five: WHERE THE ELITE MEET)

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marge-piercy/he-she-and-it/they-perceive-whatever.md)

> For years she had had this magic circle they could weave about themselves, luminous with Gadi's imagination, the place where she could never be lonely or bored. In that private world of play more intense, far more real than reality, she was whatever she longed for. (five: FIFTEEN YEARS BEFORE: THE DAY OF ALEF)

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marge-piercy/he-she-and-it/for-years-she.md)