Mother died today. Or maybe it was yesterday, I don’t know.
—Albert Camus, 1942Quotes
The greatest thing in family life is to take a hint when a hint is intended—and not to take a hint when a hint isn’t intended.
—Robert Frost, 1939The thing that impresses me most about America is the way parents obey their children.
—Edward, Duke of Windsor, 1957My mother protected me from the world and my father threatened me with it.
—Quentin Crisp, 1968Again, men in general desire the good, and not merely what their fathers had.
—Aristotle, c. 350 BCOne race there is of men, one of gods, but from one mother we both draw our breath.
—Pindar, c. 450 BCAll women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.
—Oscar Wilde, 1895It is impossible to please all the world and one’s father.
—Jean de La Fontaine, 1668The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, is in its loyalty to each other.
—Mario Puzo, 2001There is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1580It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons.
—Friedrich Schiller, 1781I cannot bear a parent’s tears.
—Virgil, c. 25 BCTo be a successful father… there’s one absolute rule: when you have a kid, don’t look at it for the first two years.
—Ernest Hemingway, 1954