Babies are such a nice way to start people.

Don Herold (1889–1966) was an American humorist and syndicated columnist known for wry, domestic observations—especially about family life, children, and the everyday absurdities of modern living. This line is typically circulated as a standalone aphorism in quotation collections and newspaper fillers that reprint Herold’s one-liners. It reflects the early- to mid-20th-century American taste for gentle, sentimental humor about parenthood: affectionate toward babies while also playfully framing them as the “beginning” of the complicated project of making a person. I cannot, however, reliably place the remark in a specific column, book, or dated publication without risking misattribution.

The quip treats infancy as the most appealing “entry point” into humanity: babies are disarming, lovable, and socially forgiven in ways older children and adults are not. By calling babies “a nice way to start people,” Herold humorously casts human development as a process or construction project—suggesting that the raw material of a person begins in an especially charming form before accumulating the complications, habits, and flaws of adulthood. The line’s warmth is tempered by irony: it hints that while people can be difficult, their beginnings are almost universally met with tenderness, hope, and a sense of possibility.