ProverbWisdom
Greek origin
Greek originIt is a wise child that knows his own father
Meaning: A version, “it is a wise father that knows his own child” (spelling modernized), is used in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, and the modern version, in a translation of the Odyssey by Samuel Butler (see quotations), which likely popularized the proverb.
Origin: The thought goes back to Homer's Odyssey, where Telemachus says that no one can be sure of his own father. Shakespeare turns it around in The Merchant of Venice, where Launcelot Gobbo jokes that "it is a wise father that knows his own child."
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