He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.
—Francis Bacon, 1625Quotes
I cannot bear a parent’s tears.
—Virgil, c. 25 BCFamily! Thou art the home of all social evil, a charitable institution for comfortable women, an anchorage for house-fathers, and a hell for children.
—August Strindberg, 1886As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.
—Pope John Paul II, 1986Mother died today. Or maybe it was yesterday, I don’t know.
—Albert Camus, 1942If parents would only realize how they bore their children!
—George Bernard Shaw, c. 1910He 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.
—Benjamin Franklin, 1786Motherhood is the strangest thing, it can be like being one’s own Trojan horse.
—Rebecca West, 1959By and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not have regular time off. They are the great vacationless class.
—Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1955A family’s photograph album is generally about the extended family—and, often, is all that remains of it.
—Susan Sontag, 1977Families, I hate you! Shut-in homes, closed doors, jealous possessions of happiness.
—André Gide, 1897The thing that impresses me most about America is the way parents obey their children.
—Edward, Duke of Windsor, 1957The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, is in its loyalty to each other.
—Mario Puzo, 2001