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general::
Phrase(s): The child is father of the man. [and] The child is father to the man.
Prov. People’s personalities form when they are children; A person will have the same qualities as an adult that he or she had as a child. (From William Wordsworth’s poem, "My Heart Leaps Up.") • In Bill’s case, the child was father of the man; he never lost his childhood delight in observing nature.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs