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

The 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.

If parents would only realize how they bore their children!

I cannot bear a parent’s tears.

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. 

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

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

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

Motherhood is the strangest thing, it can be like being one’s own Trojan horse.

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.