# Quote — Michael Bishop, A Funeral for the Eyes of Fire

> The vitality of children is clean and honest. Their petty shortcomings derive, in ninety-nine out of a hundred instances, from their effete elders’ pettiness. Contagion is a generational fact. But children can develop defenses against their elders’ spiritual scurvy simply because they’re new.

- Author: [Michael Bishop](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-bishop.md)
- Book: [A Funeral for the Eyes of Fire](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-bishop/a-funeral-for-the-eyes-of-fire.md)
- Page: 93
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Bishop#A_Funeral_for_the_Eyes_of_Fire_(1975)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-bishop/a-funeral-for-the-eyes-of-fire/the-vitality-of-children

## More from this book

> Who but a madman would grapple with mountains?

p. 75 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-bishop/a-funeral-for-the-eyes-of-fire/who-but-a-madman.md)

> But each man who worships you sees only what he wishes to see rather than any mystery you may actually embody.

p. 113 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-bishop/a-funeral-for-the-eyes-of-fire/but-each-man.md)

> Outside the rain continued its cadenced and indifferent commentary.

p. 240 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-bishop/a-funeral-for-the-eyes-of-fire/outside-the-rain.md)