The sharp thorn often produces delicate roses.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
In a broken nest there are few whole eggs.
—Chinese Proverb
None but a mule denies his family.
—Arabic Proverb
The most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinary children.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
The roaring of the wind is my wife and the stars through the window pane are my children. The mighty abstract idea I have of beauty in all things stifles the more divided and minute domestic happiness.
—John Keats (1795–1821) English Poet
We have not all had the good fortune to be ladies. We have not all been generals, or poets, or statesmen; but when the toast works down to the babies, we stand on common ground.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.
—Alex Haley (1921–92) American Novelist, Biographer
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of someone or other of their daughters.
—Jane Austen (1775–1817) English Novelist
Nobody has ever before asked the nuclear family to live all by itself in a box the way we do. With no relatives, no support, we’ve put it in an impossible situation.
—Margaret Mead (1901–78) American Anthropologist, Social Psychologist
The worst misfortune that can happen to an ordinary man is to have an extraordinary father.
—Austin O’Malley (1858–1932) American Aphorist, Ophthalmologist
The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works, is the family.
—Lee Iacocca (1924–2019) American Businessperson
Women know
The way to rear up children (to be just)
They know a simple, merry, tender knack
Of tying sashes, fitting baby shoes,
And stringing pretty words that make no sense,
And kissing full sense into empty words.
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–61) English Poet
Diaper backward spells repaid. Think about it.
—Marshall Mcluhan (1911–80) Canadian Writer, Thinker, Educator
It is not only paying wages, and giving commands, that constitute a master of a family; but prudence, equal behavior, with a readiness to protect and cherish them, is what entitles man to that character in their very hearts and sentiments.
—Richard Steele (1672–1729) Irish Writer, Politician
To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there.
—Barbara Bush (1925–2018) American First Lady
As surely as God is good, so surely there is no such thing as necessary evil.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
It is a pleasant thing to reflect upon, and furnishes a complete answer to those who contend for the gradual degeneration of the human species, that every baby born into the world is a finer one than the last.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
Some people seem compelled by unkind fate to parental servitude for life. There is no form of penal service worse than this.
—Samuel Butler
The ties of family and of country were never intended to circumscribe the soul.—If allowed to become exclusive, engrossing, clannish, so as to shut out the general claims of the human race, the highest end of Providence is frustrated, and home, instead of being the nursery, becomes the grave of the heart.
—William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) American Unitarian Theologian, Poet
The mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
When one has not had a good father, one must create one.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Family is the most important thing in the world.
—Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–97) English Royal, Humanitarian, Peace Activist
Irreverence ran on both sides of our family… my parents brought me up to think we could all change the world.
—Richard Branson (b.1950) British Entrepreneur
In accumulating property for ourselves or our posterity, in founding a family or a state, or acquiring fame even, we are mortal; but in dealing with truth we are immortal, and need fear no change nor accident.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Wife and children are a kind of discipline of humanity.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
I’ve always believed in magic. When I wasn’t doing anything in this town, I’d go up every night, sit on Mulholland Drive, look out at the city, stretch out my arms, and say, “Everybody wants to work with me. I’m a really good actor. I have all kinds of great movie offers”. I’d just repeat these things over and over, literally convincing myself that I had a couple movies lined up. I’d drive down that hill, ready to take the world on, going, “Movie offers are out there for me, I just don’t hear them yet”. It was like total affirmations, antidotes to the stuff that stems from my family background.
—Jim Carrey (b.1962) Canadian Actor, Comedian, Producer
The family unit plays a critical role in our society and in the training of the generation to come.
—Sandra Day O’Connor (b.1930) American Jurist
The only perfect love to be found on earth is not sexual love, which is riddled with hostility and insecurity, but the wordless commitment of families, which takes as its model mother-love. This is not to say that fathers have no place, for father-love, with its driving for self-improvement and discipline, is also essential to survival, but that uncorrected father-love, father-love as it were practiced by both parents, is a way to annihilation.
—Germaine Greer (b.1939) Australia Academic, Journalist, Scholar, Writer
Human beings are the only creatures on earth that allow their children to come back home.
—Bill Cosby (b.1937) American Actor, Comedian, Activist, Producer, Author
What do girls do who haven’t any mothers to help them through their troubles?
—Louisa May Alcott (1832–88) American Novelist
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