No times were more dangerous than when our country was born, when revolution was our midwife.

-Inouye, Daniel Ken
  Response to  Adm  John M Poindexter and Lt Col Oliver L North's contention that their actions were greatly influenced by 'a dangerous world'. In the NewYork Times, 24  Jul.

Love set you going like a fat gold watch. The midwife slapped your footsoles, and your bald cry Took its place among the elements.

-Plath, Sylvia
  'Morning Song', published posthumously byTed Hughes (Ariel,1965).

I amso far likethemidwifethat I cannot myself give birth to wisdom, and the common reproach is true, that, though I question others,I can myself bring nothing to light because there is no wisdom in me.

-Socrates
Quoted in Plato Theaetetus,150c (translated by F M Cornford).