Origin: The Hand That Rocks the Cradle Rules the World
The saying “The hand the rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world” was first popularized by William Ross Wallace, an American poet born in Lexington, Kentucky in 1819. After attending college in Indiana, Wallace studied law in his native Lexington. In 1841, he moved to New York City to practice law, living there until his death in 1881. Like many writers, Wallace kept his day job, but he did find relative success through his poetry. He was published in Godey's Lady's Book, Harper's Magazine, Harper's Weekly, the New York Ledger, and the Louisville Daily Journal. Wallace was known within the broader literary world, and his friend Edgar Allen Poe once referred to him as “one of the very noblest of American poets.” Wallace may not have coined the saying “The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world,” (that distinction likely belongs to Reverend George W. Bethune a few decades earlier) but thanks to his poetry it is something we all know today.
Parents, and mothers in particular, have a profound influence over their children that should not be taken lightly. You never know what greatness your children may achieve as a result of a good upbringing. The values that you instill in them will carry on for generations.
William Ross Wallace’s famous poem, “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle Is the Hand That Rules the World”:
Blessings on the hand of women! Angels guard its strength and grace, In the palace, cottage, hovel, Oh, no matter where the place; Would that never storms assailed it, Rainbows ever gently curled; For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world. Infancy's the tender fountain, Power may with beauty flow, Mother's first to guide the streamlets, From them souls unresting grow— Grow on for the good or evil, Sunshine streamed or evil hurled; For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world. Woman, how divine your mission Here upon our natal sod! Keep, oh, keep the young heart open Always to the breath of God! All true trophies of the ages Are from mother-love impearled; For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world. Blessings on the hand of women! Fathers, sons, and daughters cry, And the sacred song is mingled With the worship in the sky— Mingles where no tempest darkens, Rainbows evermore are hurled; For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world.