Quotes about family and children

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“Morning without you is a dwindled dawn.”

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet

Frederick Douglass quote: “It's easier to build strong children then repair broken men.”

“It's easier to build strong children then repair broken men.”

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman

Variant: It is easier to build strong men, than to repair broken ones.
Source: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

“Chuang Tzu's wife died and Hui Tzu came to console him, but Chuang Tzu was sitting, legs akimbo, bashing a battered tub and singing. Hui Tzu said, 'You lived as man and wife, she reared your children. At her death surely the least you should be doing is to be on the verge of weeping, rather than banging the tub and singing: this is not right!' Chuang Tzu said, 'Certainly not. When she first died, I certainly mourned just like everyone else! However, I then thought back to her birth and to the very roots of her being, before she was born. Indeed, not just before she was born but before the time when her body was created. Not just before her body was created but before the origin of life's breath. Her life's breath wrought a transformation and she had a body. Her body wrought a transformation and she was born. Now there is yet another transformation and she is dead. She is like the four seasons in the way that spring, summer, autumn and winter follow each other. She is now at peace, lying in her chamber, but if I were to sob and cry it would certainly appear that I could not comprehend the ways of destiny. This is why I stopped.<nowiki/”

Zhuangzi (-369–-286 BC) classic Chinese philosopher

Ch. 18 (Martin Palmer/Elizabeth Breuily, Penguin Publishing 1996)

“How true Daddy's words were when he said: all children must look after their own upbringing. Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.”

Anne Frank (1929–1945) victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary

Source: The Diary of a Young Girl

“Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.”

Anne Frank (1929–1945) victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary

15 July 1944
(1942 - 1944)

“The only way to have a friend is to be one.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

“The important thing is to be nothing.”

Bram van Velde (1895–1981) Dutch painter

1960's, Conversations with Samuel Beckett and Bram van Velde' (1965 - 1969)

“One day you will do things for me that you hate. That is what it means to be family.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Everything Is Illuminated

Source: Everything Is Illuminated

“Happiness is having a loving, close knit family in another city.”

George Burns (1896–1996) American comedian, actor, and writer

As quoted in The Mammoth Book of Zingers, Quips, and One-Liners (2004) by Geoff Tibballs, p. 251

“Family is not an important thing, it's everything.”

Michael J. Fox (1961) Canadian-American actor

“I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light.”

Helen Keller (1880–1968) American author and political activist

Variant: Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.

“To live is to love, to love is to live.”

Libba Bray Going Bovine

Source: Going Bovine

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”

Marcel Proust (1871–1922) French novelist, critic, and essayist

“When love is not madness it is not love.”

Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600–1681) Spanish dramatist

“True friends are like diamonds – bright, beautiful, valuable, and always in style.”

Nicole Richie (1981) American television personality, musician, actress, and author

“The language of Friendship is not words, but meanings.”

Henry David Thoreau A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

Source: A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

“One friend with whom you have a lot in common is better than three with whom you struggle to find things to talk about.”

Mindy Kaling book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

Source: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

“Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.”

Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist

Variant: Everyone wants to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.

“I have learned that to be with those I like is enough”

Walt Whitman (1819–1892) American poet, essayist and journalist

“Israel is surrounded by neighbors that have waged repeated wars against it. Israel’s citizens have been killed by rockets fired at their houses and suicide bombs on their buses. Israel’s children come of age knowing that throughout the region, other children are taught to hate them. Israel, a small country of less than eight million people, looks out at a world where leaders of much larger nations threaten to wipe it off of the map. The Jewish people carry the burden of centuries of exile, and persecution, and the fresh memory of knowing that six million people were killed simply because of who they are.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2011, UN speech to General Assembly (September 2011)