Proverbs 22:15

Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child Is fixed and settled there, as being born with him, and rooted in his very nature; but the rod, &c., shall drive it far from him The smart of punishment will make him weary of his sin, and watchful against it. “Ignorance, weakness, inclination to evil, corruption of heart,” says Calmet, “are maladies which accompany all men from their birth; education, instruction, correction,” to which we must add divine grace, earnestly asked of God, and received, “cure them, or diminish, very much, their ill effects.”