Few sons are equal to their fathers; most fall short, all too few surpass them. 

It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons.

Familiarity breeds contempt—and children.

The thing that impresses me most about America is the way parents obey their children.

By and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not have regular time off. They are the great vacationless class.

All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.

God is our father, but even more is God our mother.

He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.

The root of the kingdom is in the State. The root of the State is in the family. The root of the family is in the person of its Head.

There is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state.

To be a successful father… there’s one absolute rule: when you have a kid, don’t look at it for the first two years.

He that raises a large family, does indeed, while he lives to observe them, stand…a broader mark for sorrow; but then he stands a broader mark for pleasure too. 

My father! The sun is my father, and the earth is my mother, and on her bosom I will recline.