Parenthood is not an object of appetite or even desire. It is an object of will. There is no appetite for parenthood; there is only a purpose or intention of parenthood.
—R. G. Collingwood (1889–1943) English Philosopher, Historian, Archaeologist
Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.
—Benjamin Spock (1903–98) American Pediatrician, Author
To show a child what once delighted you, to find the child’s delight added to your own—this is happiness.
—J. B. Priestley (1894–1984) English Novelist, Playwright, Critic
You don’t have to deserve your mother’s love. You have to deserve your father’s. He’s more particular. The father is always a Republican towards his son, and his mother’s always a Democrat.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
A Prayer For My Son: Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) American Military Leader
Let parents bequeath to their children not riches, but the spirit of reverence.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.
—Sophia Loren (b.1934) Italian Actor
He that does not bring up his son to some honest calling and employment, brings him up to be a thief.
—Yiddish Proverb
Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment, and especially on their children, than the unlived life of their parents.
—Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) Swiss Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Philosopher
Parents are sometimes a bit of a disappointment to their children. They don’t fulfill the promise of their early years.
—Anthony Powell (1905–2000) English Novelist, Memoirist
Is the parent better than the child into whom he has cast his ripened being? Whence, then, this worship of the past?
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
It’s frightening to think that you mark your children merely by being yourself. It seems unfair. You can’t assume the responsibility for everything you do—or don’t do.
—Simone de Beauvoir (1908–86) French Philosopher, Writer, Feminist
The more people have studied different methods of bringing up children the more they have come to the conclusion that what good mothers and fathers instinctively feel like doing for their babies is the best after all.
—Benjamin Spock (1903–98) American Pediatrician, Author
The sooner you treat your son as a man, the sooner he will be one.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
How many hopes and fears, how many ardent wishes and anxious apprehensions are twisted together in the threads that connect the parent with the child!
—Samuel Griswold Goodrich (1793–1860) American Publisher, Writer
To nourish and raise children against odds is in any time, any place, more valuable than to fix bolts in cars or design nuclear weapons.
—Marilyn French (1929–2009) American Feminist Author
The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence.
—Denis Waitley (b.1933) American Motivational Speaker, Author
No matter how calmly you try to referee, parenting will eventually produce bizarre behavior, and I’m not talking about the kids. Their behavior is always normal.
—Bill Cosby (b.1937) American Actor, Comedian, Activist, Producer, Author
Parents are not quite interested injustice, they are interested in quiet.
—Bill Cosby (b.1937) American Actor, Comedian, Activist, Producer, Author
To bring up a child in the way he should go, travel that way—yourself once in a while.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
Let your children go if you want to keep them.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
The word no carries a lot more meaning when spoken by a parent who also knows how to say yes.
—Joyce Maynard (b.1953) American Novelist
It’s clear that most American children suffer too much mother and too little father.
—Gloria Steinem (b.1934) American Feminist, Journalist, Social Activist, Political Activist
I suffer whenever I see that common sight of a parent or senior imposing his opinion and way of thinking and being on a young soul to which they are totally unfit. Cannot we let people be themselves, and enjoy life in their own way? You are trying to make that man another you. One’s enough.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The most important thing that parents can teach their children is how to get along without them.
—Frank A. Clark
Parents are the bones on which children cut their teeth.
—Peter Ustinov (1921–2004) British Actor, Playwright, Director
When I was a young man, I didn’t think about having a family. My wife and I were too poor to have babies. Then all of a sudden, one came along and scared the hell out of us because we had no money. Once the baby arrives, you make do somehow. You fall in love with the baby and life adjusts itself. You find you don’t need as much money as you thought. When that happens, you can ask the questions that should have come before the baby.
—Ray Bradbury (b.1920) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
From where can your authority and license as a parent come from, when you who are old, do worse things?
—Juvenal (c.60–c.136 CE) Roman Poet
A child, like your stomach, doesn’t need all you can afford to give it.
—Frank A. Clark
In order to influence a child, one must be careful not to be that child’s parent or grandparent.
—Don Marquis (1878–1937) American Humorist, Journalist, Author