There is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1580Quotes
The thing that impresses me most about America is the way parents obey their children.
—Edward, Duke of Windsor, 1957Families, I hate you! Shut-in homes, closed doors, jealous possessions of happiness.
—André Gide, 1897The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, is in its loyalty to each other.
—Mario Puzo, 2001Mother died today. Or maybe it was yesterday, I don’t know.
—Albert Camus, 1942He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.
—Francis Bacon, 1625I cannot bear a parent’s tears.
—Virgil, c. 25 BCAs the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.
—Pope John Paul II, 1986In our family, as far as we are concerned, we were born and what happened before that is myth.
—V.S. Pritchett, 1968One race there is of men, one of gods, but from one mother we both draw our breath.
—Pindar, c. 450 BCIt is impossible to please all the world and one’s father.
—Jean de La Fontaine, 1668The 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, 1939God is our father, but even more is God our mother.
—Pope John Paul I, 1978