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A Child (n.) deemed ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠mentally deficient may be the child reduced by the mother to nothing but the support of her desire.

Child (n.) hates ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠surrealist poetry and certain Picassos: he is not yet up to metaphor, only metonymy.

The Child (n.) in ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠egocentric discourse talks not to himself but to no one in particular, while the others are there — a hail to the good listener.

A Child (n.) begins ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not in omnipotence but in impotence — and if the child is father of the man, it is the master signifier that mediates them.

Child (n.) speaks ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠words full of meaning that commit him to nothing — the oracle of the little god — and so adults labour to extract words that will tie him down.

A Child (n.) wishes ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠to be the phallus in order to satisfy the mother's desire — for in the demand for love, what one has is worth no more than what one has not.

Child (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not egocentric but prodigiously porous to the other — invaded by myth, legend, fairy tale — and may apprehend the other better than a professor at his age.