Familius - The Quotable Dad: Appreciation from the Greatest Minds in History

The

Quotable

Dad

Appreciation from the Greatest Minds in History

Fatherhood and Relationships

Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices call him Father!

Lydia M. Child, Philothea: A Romance

Fatherhood is a sacred role. One of the most meaningful relationships we will form in life is with our father or father-figure. Youll always remember the times Dad embarrassed you in front of your friends. Youll always remember the times he bought your mother flowers or held her hand. And youll always remember the time he spent teaching you to ride a bike or catch a fish or flip an omelet. The relationship a father has with his children is precious and unique, and even more than that, necessary. Loving, attentive fathers raise happier, more well-adjusted children because those children have a positive role model to learn from and lean on. Involved fathers raise more responsible children. Sons are better behaved and daughters have better self-esteem when they have a good relationship with their father. Its just a fact.

While the relationship between a mother and child is immediate and physical, not to mention emotional, a fathers relationship with his children takes a little extra effort. This relationship requires nothing more than the basics: time and love. Its a simple equation, but all too often one aspect or the other is neglected. However, when both ingredients are given in generous measure, fathers can build a relationship with their children that will stand the tests of time, trial, and temper.

Like any relationship, the father-child relationship will grow and change with time. When children are little, their father is their hero. He is the smartest, the strongest, the coolest man in the world, and children will do anything to make him proud. For a teenager, Dad may be old-fashioned and pushy, but he will always be there when you need him. When children become adults, they look back on the wit and wisdom of their fathers and see that all of his actionsmistakes includedwere motivated by love. Our relationship with our fathers may even change as we see his relationships and interactions with otherswith his wife, with his parents, with your siblings, and with your own spouse and children.

Embarking on parenthood is a daunting task, but every father knows the beautiful feeling of holding a child for the first time and knowing that all he wants to do is love and protect it. That simplistic relationship will grow as the child grows, and as children grow, parents do too. Fathers will discover surprising new characteristics about themselves and experience feelings that they never knew existed. Fatherhood is nothing more than transformation by love.

These quotes express the joys of fatherhood and the unique relationship that exists between a father and his children.

Brooke Jorden

There is nothing that moves a loving fathers soul quite like his childs cry.

Joni Eareckson Tada Author and radio personality

We never know the love of a parent till we become parents ourselves.

Henry Ward Beecher American clergyman and social reformer

I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a fathers protection.

Sigmund Freud Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst

Until you have a son of your own, you will never know the joy, the love beyond feeling that resonates in the heart of a father as he looks upon his son. You will never know the sense of honor that makes a man want to be more than he is and to pass something good and hopeful into the hands of his son. And you will never know the heartbreak of the fathers who are haunted by the personal demons that keep them from being the men they want their sons to be.

Kent Nerburn American author, sculptor, and educator

A Fathers Love

A father is respected because he gives his children leadership, appreciated because he gives his children care, valued because he gives his children time, loved because he gives his children the one thing they treasure mosthimself.

Anonymous

I watch the faces of single people in their twenties after I bring up that I have children. I imagine them taking a small step backward as if to avoid contagion, with a look of Sorry to hear that on their face. Like I naively volunteered to contract leprosy, forever quarantining myself from the world of having fun by having children.

Well, why not?

I guess the reasons against having more children always seem uninspiring and superficial.

What exactly am I missing out on? Money? A few more hours of sleep? A more peaceful meals? More hair?

These are nothing compared to what I get from these five monsters who rule my life. I believe each of my five children has made me a better man.

So I figure I only need another thirty-four kids to be a pretty decent guy. Each one of them has been a pump of light into my shriveled black heart. I would trade money, sleep, or hair for a smile from one of my children in a heartbeat.

Well, it depends on how much hair.

Jim Gaffigan American comedian and author

An almost perfect relationship with his father was the earthly root of all his wisdom. From his own father, he said, he first learned that fatherhood must be at the core of the universe.

C.S. Lewis Writer, Phantastes

The surprising thing about fatherhood was finding my inner mush. Now I want to share it with the world.

Christopher Meloni American actor

It is a wise father that knows his own child.

William Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice

Creating a child takes no love or skill; being a parent requires lots of both.

Michael Josephson American author and ethicist

The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.

Theodore Hesburgh American educator and former president of the University of Notre Dame

The father who would taste the essence of his fatherhood must turn back from the plane of his experience, take with him the fruits of his journey, and begin again beside his child, marching step by step over the same old road.

Angelo Patri Italian-American author and educator

What I love most about fatherhood is the opportunity to be a part of the development process of a new life.

Seal British R&B singer-songwriter

The joys of parents are secret, and so are their griefs and fears.

Sir Francis Bacon English philosopher, statesman, and scientist

Watching your husband become a father is really sexy and wonderful.

Cindy Crawford American model

Father!to God himself we cannot give a holier name.

William Wordsworth English Romantic poet

When you get pure joy out of being rather than doing or seeing, thats when you realize how big and unexplainable some things are, and being a dad is one of those very few things.

Brendan Fehr Canadian actor

I have to be careful not to let the world dazzle me so much that I forget that Im a husband and a father.

Herbie Hancock American musician and composer

The most important things in my fathers life? World peace. Me and my brother. My mom.

Sean Lennon American musician and son of John Lennon

I met my grandfather just before he died, and it was the first time that I had seen Dad with a relative of his. It was interesting to see my own father as a son and the body language and alteration in attitude that comes with that, and it sort of changed our relationship for the better.