If I die, don't take this too hard," she counseled them, "death is only part of things bigger than we can imagine. Our brains are just starting the greatness, to learn how to do things like flying. What next? You will see, and you will see that your mother is of the design. And I will always be made of things, and things will always be made of me. Nothing can get rid of me because I am already included into the pattern.

Meaning: The saying claims that correcting one person improves many others. It treats a response to a single action as an example that a wider group may notice.

Meaning: The saying demands that children observe quietly without speaking. It expresses an adult preference for obedience, but a modern reading should question that demand: children need opportunities to ask, contribute and report concerns, rather than have silence treated as a virtue.

Meaning: The timing of death cannot be treated as an appointment people can count on controlling. The calendar image expresses uncertainty about life’s duration, encouraging awareness of limits without making a prediction about any individual or demanding constant urgency.

Meaning: Death is imagined as unable to hear objections, so a protest cannot make it negotiate. The saying expresses mortality’s finality rather than a judgment about how someone should feel about loss.