<P> `` Child is father of the man '' is an idiom originating from the poem `` My Heart Leaps Up '' by William Wordsworth . In a 1966 interview , Wilson mistakenly attributed it to Karl Menninger , and added that the saying had fascinated him . There exist many different interpretations of the phrase , the most popular of which is man being the product of habits and behavior developed in youth . According to collaborator Van Dyke Parks , he brought up the idiom to Wilson . </P>
<P> `` Child is father of the man '' is an idiom originating from the poem `` My Heart Leaps Up '' by William Wordsworth . In a 1966 interview , Wilson mistakenly attributed it to Karl Menninger , and added that the saying had fascinated him . There exist many different interpretations of the phrase , the most popular of which is man being the product of habits and behavior developed in youth . According to collaborator Van Dyke Parks , he brought up the idiom to Wilson . </P>
who said child is a father of man
who said child is a father of man
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth