the wish is father to the thought
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A desire can lead to a belief or idea
Literally: a wish generates a thought
Examples
He said he saw a UFO, but the wish is father to the thought
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “the wish is father to the thought” mean?
A desire can lead to a belief or idea Literally: a wish generates a thought
Is “the wish is father to the thought” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.