Few sons are equal to their fathers; most fall short, all too few surpass them.
—Homer, c. 750 BCQuotes
One race there is of men, one of gods, but from one mother we both draw our breath.
—Pindar, c. 450 BCI cannot bear a parent’s tears.
—Virgil, c. 25 BCThe 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, 1939Family! 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, 1886There is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1580He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.
—Francis Bacon, 1625By 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, 1955Familiarity breeds contempt—and children.
—Mark Twain, c. 1900Every man sees in his relatives, and especially in his cousins, a series of grotesque caricatures of himself.
—H.L. Mencken, 1919My father! The sun is my father, and the earth is my mother, and on her bosom I will recline.
—Tecumseh, 1810