| He that spareth the rod hateth his son. | Proverbs; xiii. 24. |
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| Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. | Proverbs; xxii. 15. |
| Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beat him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from the grave. | Proverbs; xxiii. 13-14. |
| The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself causeth shame to his mother. | Proverbs; xxix. 15. |
| They spare the rod and spoyl the child. | Mysteries and Revelations, Ralph Venning (2nd ed.), p. 5. 1649. |
| Spare the rod and spoil the child. | Hudibras, Samuel Butler: pt. ii. c. i. l. 843. |
| He who loves his son will whip him often, in order that he may rejoice at the way he turns out. | Sirach 30. 1. |
Contemporary wisdom about the necessity of smacking children was expressed in 1976 by an American psychologist. Dr James Dobson was so appalled by the widespread discarding of parental discipline that he wrote a book to explain the obvious: why children need smacking and what happens when smacking is not used.
For an explanation of the traditional use of discipline on children see the talk by Samuel Johnson (1709-1784).