“If I know what love is, it is because of you.”
Hermann Hesse book Narcissus and Goldmund
Narcissus and Goldmund (1930)
Quotes For Parents
A collection of quotes on the topic of for mother, relationship, family, for father.
Best quotes for parents
“You will always love, and you will always be loved.”
Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray
Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray
“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
Source: You Learn by Living (1960), p. 29–30
Context: You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." … You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States
Ch. IX : Outdoors and Indoors, p. 336; the final statement "quoted by Squire Bill Widener" as well as variants of it, are often misattributed to Roosevelt himself.
Variant: Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
Attributed to Roosevelt in Conquering an Enemy Called Average (1996) by John L. Mason, Nugget # 8 : The Only Place to Start is Where You Are. <!-- The Military Quotation Book, Revised and Expanded: More than 1,200 of the Best Quotations About War, Leadership, Courage, Victory, and Defeat (2002) by James Charlton -->
Variant: Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are.
Context: There are many kinds of success in life worth having. It is exceedingly interesting and attractive to be a successful business man, or railroad man, or farmer, or a successful lawyer or doctor; or a writer, or a President, or a ranchman, or the colonel of a fighting regiment, or to kill grizzly bears and lions. But for unflagging interest and enjoyment, a household of children, if things go reasonably well, certainly makes all other forms of success and achievement lose their importance by comparison. It may be true that he travels farthest who travels alone; but the goal thus reached is not worth reaching. And as for a life deliberately devoted to pleasure as an end — why, the greatest happiness is the happiness that comes as a by-product of striving to do what must be done, even though sorrow is met in the doing. There is a bit of homely philosophy, quoted by Squire Bill Widener, of Widener's Valley, Virginia, which sums up one's duty in life: "Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are."
“Once you choose hope, anything's possible.”
Christopher Reeve (1952–2004) actor, director, producer, screenwriter
“To love is to will the good of the other.”
Thomas Aquinas book Summa Theologica
II-II, q. 26, art. 6
Summa Theologica (1265–1274)
“I think part of being a parent is trying to kill your kids.”
Stephen King book Christine
Source: Christine
Quotes For Parents
“Pooh, how do you spell love?' 'You don't spell love Piglet, you feel it”
A.A. Milne (1882–1956) British author
Variant: How do you spell love?
You don't spell it, you feel it.
“When I was a kid my parents moved a lot, but I always found them.”
Rodney Dangerfield (1921–2004) American actor and comedian
“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.”
Marie Curie (1867–1934) French-Polish physicist and chemist
As quoted in Our Precarious Habitat (1973) by Melvin A. Benarde, p. v
Context: Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.
“Children are educated by what the grown-up is and not by his talk.”
C.G. Jung (1875–1961) Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
W.B. Yeats (1865–1939) Irish poet and playwright
“Parents wonder why the streams are bitter, when they themselves poison the fountain.”
John Locke (1632–1704) English philosopher and physician
“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
“No matter where you go, there you are”
Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American baseball player, manager, coach
Source: When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It!: Inspiration and Wisdom from One of Baseball's Greatest Heroes
C.G. Jung (1875–1961) Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology
Source: The Integration of the Personality (1939), p. 285
“Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom.”
Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist
“It is not a bad thing that children should occasionally, and politely, put parents in their place.”
Colette (1873–1954) 1873-1954 French novelist: wrote Gigi
My Mother’s House, "The Priest on the Wall" (1922)
“I was not, I lived and loved, I am not.”
Eric Rücker Eddison book A Fish Dinner in Memison
A Fish Dinner in Memison (1941)
Context: The black arrowed swoop of the moment swung high into the unceilinged future, ten, fifty, sixty years, may be: then, past seeing, up to that warmthless unconsidered mock-time, when nothing shall be left but the memorial that fits all (except, if there be, the most unhappiest) of human kind: I was not, I lived and loved, I am not.
“The heart of a father is the masterpiece of nature. ”
Antoine François Prévost (1697–1763) French novelist
“Love life more than the meaning of it.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky book Los hermanos Karamazov
Source: The Brothers Karamazov (Bratři Karamazovi)
“You see persons and things not as they are but as you are.”
Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer
“You cannot let your parents anywhere near your real humiliations.”
Alice Munro book Open Secrets
Source: Open Secrets (1994)
“All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
Attributed in The Life of Abraham Lincoln (1866) by Josiah G. Holland, p. 23; also in The Real Life of Abraham Lincoln (1867) by George Alfred Townsend, p. 6; according to Townsend, Lincoln made this remark to his law partner, William Herndon. It is disputed whether this quote refers to Lincoln's natural mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, who died when he was nine years old, or to his stepmother, Sarah Bush (Johnston) Lincoln.
Posthumous attributions
Gail Tsukiyama (1957) American writer
Source: Dreaming Water
“Parents are not interested in justice, they're interested in peace and quiet.”
Bill Cosby (1937) American actor, comedian, author, producer, musician, activist
Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mrs. Arbuthnot http://books.google.com/books?id=RHkWAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Children+begin+by+loving+their+parents+after+a+time%22+%22they+judge+them+rarely+if+ever+do+they+forgive+them%22&pg=PA187#v=onepage, Act IV <br class="br">A Woman of No Importance (1893) <br class="br">Variant: Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them. <br class="br">Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray
“I think all of us are always five years old in the presence and absence of our parents.”
Sherman Alexie book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Source: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
“The best way to make children good is to make them happy.”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
Variant: The best way to make children good is to make them happy.
“Ask your child what he wants for dinner only if he's buying.”
Fran Lebowitz book Social Studies
"Parental Guidance".
Social Studies (1981)
“That's not my love; that's just your life.”
Fernando Pessoa book The Book of Disquiet
Ibid.
The Book of Disquiet
Original: Isso não é o meu amor; é apenas a sua vida.
“Parents are the bones on which children cut their teeth.”
Peter Ustinov (1921–2004) English actor, writer, and dramatist
As quoted in The Book of Quotes (1979) by Barbara Rowes, p. 164
“Everybody wants to save the earth; nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes.”
P. J. O'Rourke (1947) American journalist
All the Trouble in the World (1994)
“These are images of what love is about.”
Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer
"How Happiness Happpens", p. 61
Awareness (1992)
Context: Is it possible for the rose to say, "I will give my fragrance to the good people who smell me, but I will withhold it from the bad?" Or is it possible for the lamp to say, "I will give my light to the good people in this room, but I will withhold it from the evil people"? Or can a tree say, "I'll give my shade to the good people who rest under me, but I will withhold it from the bad"? These are images of what love is about.
“I am not, I will not be.
I have not, I will not have.”
Nagarjuna (150–250) Indian philosopher
That frightens all the childish
And extinguishes fear in the wise.
§ 26
Major attributed works, Ratnāvalī (Precious Garland)
“If you have never been hated by your child, you have never been a parent.”
Bette Davis (1908–1989) film and television actress from the United States
Variant: If you've never been hated by your child, you've never been a parent.
Jodi Picoult My Sister's Keeper
Variant: Goldfish get big enough only for the bowl you put them in. Bonsai trees twist in miniature. I would have given anything to keep her little. They outgrow us so much faster than we outgrow them.
Source: My Sister's Keeper
“Children see magic because they look for it.”
Christopher Moore book Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
Source: Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
“No matter how far we come, our parents are always in us.”
Brad Meltzer book The Inner Circle
Source: The Inner Circle
“There's no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.”
Jill Churchill (1943) American writer of historical, mystery, and romantic novels under several names
“Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell the name will carry.”
Bill Cosby (1937) American actor, comedian, author, producer, musician, activist
“Whatever else is unsure in this stinking dunghill of a world a mother's love is not.”
James Joyce book A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Source: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
“Truth is in things, and not in words.”
Herman Melville (1818–1891) American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet
Nora Ephron (1941–2012) Film director, author screenwriter
Source: I Feel Bad about My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman
“If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?”
Milton Berle (1908–2002) American comedian and actor
“Most mothers are instinctive philosophers.”
Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896) Abolitionist, author
The Minister's Wooing (1859) Ch. 21 The Bruised Flax-Flower
“Being a mother is an attitude, not a biological relation.”
Robert A. Heinlein book Have Space Suit—Will Travel
Source: Have Space Suit—Will Travel (1958), Chapter 9
“Parents aren’t the people you come from. They’re the people you want to be, when you grow up.”
Jodi Picoult book Handle With Care
Variant: Parents aren't the people you come from. They're the people you want to be, when you grow up.
Source: Handle with Care
“It is more than possible; it is probable.”
Arthur Conan Doyle book The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Source: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Source: For One More Day
“There's nothing like your mother's sympathetic voice to make you want to burst into tears.”
Sophie Kinsella book The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic
Source: Confessions of a Shopaholic
“It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.”
John Wooden (1910–2010) American basketball coach
“Parents. Honestly. Sometimes they really do think the world revolves around them.”
Randa Abdel-Fattah (1979) contemporary Australian writer of novels for young adults
Source: Does My Head Look Big In This?
Sean Covey (1964) author; business executive
Source: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens: The Ultimate Teenage Success Guide
“A good marriage would be between a blind wife and a deaf husband.”
Michel De Montaigne (1533–1592) (1533-1592) French-Occitan author, humanistic philosopher, statesman
Book III, Ch. 5
Attributed
“The reason grandparents and grandchildren get along so well is that they have a common enemy.”
Sam Levenson (1911–1980) American journalist
“First your parents, they give you your life, but then they try to give you their life.”
Chuck Palahniuk (1962) American novelist, essayist
“Never lend your car to anyone to whom you have given birth.”
Erma Bombeck (1927–1996) When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent le…
Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books
Oh, the Places You'll Go! (1990)
Source: Oh, The Places You'll Go!
“We are the people our parents warned us about.”
Jimmy Buffett (1946) American singer–songwriter and businessman
“To be in your children's memories tomorrow,
You have to be in their lives today.”
Barbara Johnson (1947–2009) American literary critic
“I realized when you look at your mother, you are looking at the purest love you will ever know.”
Variant: When you look into your mother’s eyes, you know that is the purest love you can find on this earth.
Source: For One More Day
Mitch Albom book The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Source: The Five People You Meet in Heaven (2003)
“The days are long, but the years are short.”
Gretchen Rubin (1966) American writer
Source: The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun
Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist
Quoted in A Lifetime of Peace : Essential Writings by and About Thich Nhat Hanh (2003) edited by Jennifer Schwamm Willis, p. 141
“(24/7) once you sign on to be a mother, that's the only shift they offer.”
Jodi Picoult My Sister's Keeper
Source: My Sister's Keeper
“Mother's love is peace. It need not be acquired, it need not be deserved.”
Erich Fromm (1900–1980) German social psychologist and psychoanalyst
“Parents were the only ones obligated to love you; from the rest of the world you had to earn it.”
Ann Brashares book Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood
Source: Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood