Meanderings

"He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they
are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.
Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit for the public, have
proceeded from the unmarried or childless men; which both in affection and
means, have married and endowed the public."

I got this through my daily philosophical quotations, and it kind of made me think. I seem to remember reading part of a book that was along these lines. Its Sci-Fi, so bear with me. Basically, there's kind of a rebellion while these people are on a ship, and one of the teenagers realizes that the parents can do nothing to stop the big bad, its only the un-tied down teenagers who can really do something, because they don't have a family that can be held as collateral.

Anyways, it makes sense. We see all sorts of movies (most recently The Negotiator comes to mind, even though I didn't see it) where the weakness that all these heros have is their family. We even see it in normal life, where working people with families have to have their priorities straight.

I don't really have a point, just thought I'd share what I've been thinking/reading lately. Although I read the book forever ago.