Word.ws English Dictionary

out of the mouths of babes

out of the mouths of babes proverb: from the comments of children, who are honest and innocent, . . . (comes truth or wisdom).

Proverb

out of the mouths of babes

  1. From the comments of children, who are honest and innocent, . . . (comes truth or wisdom).
    • Not only out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, but out of the mouths of fools and cheats, we may often get our truest lessons.1859, Oliver Wendell Holmes, chapter 1, in The Professor at the Breakfast Table
    • Again Puck translated to Kadmiel in the strange, solemn-sounding language, and at last Kadmiel laughed.
      "Out of the mouths of babes do we learn," said he.1906, Rudyard Kipling, chapter 10, in Puck of Pook's Hill

Examples of out of the mouths of babes in a sentence

  • Goldie Hawn […] insists, at times a bit too gushingly, that out of the mouths of babes will inevitably come everything spontaneous and pure in this world.1982 May 7, John J. O'Connor, “Art: TV Weekend”, in New York Times, retrieved 08 Sep 2013:
  • (CAPTION) Out of the mouths of babes, love is explained.2010 Feb. 12, "First Graders' Valentines" (news video), Time (retrieved 8 Sept 2013)

Forms of out of the mouths of babes

alternative formout of the mouths of babes and sucklings

Origin of out of the mouths of babes

From King James Bible, Psalms 8:2, "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength". (Note that mouth is singular in the Biblical verse, and that the usage of this expression differs from the modern proverbial usage.)

Questions about out of the mouths of babes

What does out of the mouths of babes mean?
Out of the mouths of babes means from the comments of children, who are honest and innocent, . . . (comes truth or wisdom).
How do you use out of the mouths of babes in a sentence?
Goldie Hawn […] insists, at times a bit too gushingly, that out of the mouths of babes will inevitably come everything spontaneous and pure in this world.
What part of speech is out of the mouths of babes?
Out of the mouths of babes is a proverb.

Words near out of the mouths of babes in the dictionary

  1. out of the frying pan, into the fire
  2. out of the gate
  3. out of the goodness of one's heart
  4. out of the loop
  5. out of the money
  6. out of the mouths of babes
  7. out of the mouths of babes and sucklings
  8. out of the ordinary
  9. out of the picture
  10. out of the question
  11. out of the running

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: out of the mouths of babes (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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