Families, I hate you! Shut-in homes, closed doors, jealous possessions of happiness.
—André Gide, 1897Quotes
Every adolescent has that dream every century has that dream every revolutionary has that dream, to destroy the family.
—Gertrude Stein, 1940Motherhood is the strangest thing, it can be like being one’s own Trojan horse.
—Rebecca West, 1959He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.
—Francis Bacon, 1625I cannot bear a parent’s tears.
—Virgil, c. 25 BCOne race there is of men, one of gods, but from one mother we both draw our breath.
—Pindar, c. 450 BCA family’s photograph album is generally about the extended family—and, often, is all that remains of it.
—Susan Sontag, 1977Few sons are equal to their fathers; most fall short, all too few surpass them.
—Homer, c. 750 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, 1939The family is the test of freedom; because the family is the only thing that the free man makes for himself and by himself.
—G.K. Chesterton, 1919By 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, 1955