Nobody, who has not been in the interior of a family, can say what the difficulties of any individual of that family may be.
—Jane Austen, 1815Quotes
A Jewish man with parents alive is a fifteen-year-old boy, and will remain a fifteen-year-old boy till they die!
—Philip Roth, 1969To be a successful father… there’s one absolute rule: when you have a kid, don’t look at it for the first two years.
—Ernest Hemingway, 1954The root of the kingdom is in the State. The root of the State is in the family. The root of the family is in the person of its Head.
—Mencius, c. 270 BCHe 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, 1786One race there is of men, one of gods, but from one mother we both draw our breath.
—Pindar, c. 450 BCAll women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.
—Oscar Wilde, 1895In peace, children inter their parents; war violates the order of nature and causes parents to inter their children.
—Herodotus, 440 BCAgain, men in general desire the good, and not merely what their fathers had.
—Aristotle, c. 350 BCFamiliarity breeds contempt—and children.
—Mark Twain, c. 1900My mother protected me from the world and my father threatened me with it.
—Quentin Crisp, 1968