Hello everybody
Since I am working on quotations and comprehension passages to improve upon my comprehension skils, I may be needing your help even more frequently. :shock:
Please bear with me. I have almost worn out dear Amy’s patience! 
Please shed some light on the given quote.
Children sweeten labours, but they make misfortunes more bitter.
Francis Bacon
Tom
Not even close, Tom. 
But, it really does seem to me that you ought to be able to come up with an interpretation for this quote. 8)
Just to get your interpretation going, maybe you could think about:
Amy
Thank you, Amy, for boosting my confidence about asking you the explanation for even more quotes! 
:lol:
Could you please see my explanation?
When one has children of his own, no matter how lazy one may be, he/ she feels like working for the sake of his children. Men work out and women in. So this way their children succeed in making them love work(labour) or at least get used to it. On the other hand, if there is some misfortune i.e, extreme poverty, terrible sickness or famine etc, life seems to be more difficult and challenging because one is more worried about one’s children than oneself. So this way children end up making misfortunes and difficulties in life more bitter for their parents.
Do we agree? Would you like to do some amendment, Amy?
Tom
Amy, could you change the title of this thread? Please substitute quotation for phrase. If memory serves me correctly, I wrote quote, I think.
Tom
Hi Tom
I think you understand the quote. 
Doing unpleasant work is more bearable if doing it benefits your children. A misfortune is even worse if it also negatively affects your children.
And I changed the word “phrase” to “quote” in the title of your thread. (I didn’t know till just now that I could do that! :shock:)
Amy