Again, men in general desire the good, and not merely what their fathers had.

It’s frightening to think that you mark your children merely by being yourself… it seems unfair. You can’t assume the responsibility for everything you do—or don’t do.

One race there is of men, one of gods, but from one mother we both draw our breath.

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

I cannot bear a parent’s tears.

In peace, children inter their parents; war violates the order of nature and causes parents to inter their children.

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

In our family, as far as we are concerned, we were born and what happened before that is myth.

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

Every man sees in his relatives, and especially in his cousins, a series of grotesque caricatures of himself.

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.