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“My father's Japanese and my mother's half Spanish, half Cuban, but I grew up in a household where we spoke English. I learned about my family in bits and pieces. There are things that still peek out in the telling, like my father's sister will tell me something he neglected. I think you find out about the mysteries of your origins in unexpected ways.”
Naomi Iizuka (born 1956) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On family mysteries in “Berkeley world premiere for Naomi Iizuka play” in SF Gate (2010 Mar 4)
“My mother is British, from a family with a trade union background and a central interest in class struggle; she met my father, who is Nigerian, while both were students of mathematics in London. My father was a very talented mathematician, and after my parents married, he went on to a position in the mathematics department of the University of East Anglia.”
Kate Okikiolu (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am fairly classless because it is very difficult to class someone who comes from a mixed marriage. There isn’t a class structure in Nigeria, there’s a tribal structure and prestige as far as money is concerned. My mother comes from a family where her mother was very working-class and her father was middle-class stroke artsy-fartsy.”
Sade Adu (born 1959) first seen 1985 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On her maternal side in “Sade: Our 1985 Interview” in SPIN (2019 Jul 20)
“We think of the division of labor as being outdated, but in fact it has reemerged. In the early ‘80s, a mother was 43 times more likely than the father to leave the workplace for family responsibilities; more recently, a mom is 135 times more likely to leave the workplace for family responsibilities.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Uprooted is very much about my mother’s side of the family, who were Polish Catholics. They were deeply patriotic and deeply rooted in their country...Spinning Silver is about my father’s family, and they were Lithuanian Jews who had to escape persecution—not just from the Nazis, but from their own neighbors.”
Naomi Novik (born 1973) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In "Naomi Novik Talks Spinning Silver, Her Rumpelstiltskin-Inspired Novel" Paste Magazine, July 10, 2018
“I am a Member of the African National Congress (ANC) and I am from Limpopo province. I am married into the the Royal House of Dikgale family, also known as the Dikgale Traditional Authority, which is a royal family in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. In the Village, people see me as their mother and call me their Queen. I am also a mother of four boys.”
Masefako Dikgale wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My father was frightened of his mother. I was frightened of my father and I am damned well going to see to it that my children are frightened of me.”
George V (attributed) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Attributed in Randolph Churchill's Lord Derby (1959), but said by Kenneth Rose in King George V (1983) to be almost certainly apocryphal.
“I could not help noticing the great role women played in Pueblo society. Women owned the houses and actually built them. Children often got their mother's last name, not their father's. Sons joined their mother's clans. It made me a little jealous.”
Mary Brave Bird (1954–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For children, father is a luxurious item, - just like beans for the horse....but mother is everything for the child. The child cannot bear separation from his mother even for a minute.”
Premchand (1880–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our Mother is to us in diverse manners working: in whom our parts are kept undisparted. For in our Mother Christ we profit and increase, and in Mercy He reformeth us and restoreth, and, by the virtue of His Passion and His Death and Uprising, oneth us to our Substance. Thus worketh our Mother in Mercy to all His children which are to Him yielding and obedient.”
Julian of Norwich (1342–1500) said by 1500 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We can never overestimate the important and determinant role of the mother in the education of children and, not least, in the handing on of the faith. Here in Russia we say the mother is the first to make the sign of the cross on her child's forehead. And I myself have experienced the importance of the mother for the faith in the times of atheism imposed by the state.”
Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz (born 1946) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Catholic Archbishop in Moscow assures full support to pro-family efforts by Catholic faithful and Bishops in Spain because what is at stake is ‘the family as God created it’ (16 June 2005) Fides News Agency
“While access to education rates are very low for all children in South Sudan, they are even lower for certain groups of children such as girls, children with disabilities, children affected by conflict, and pastoralist children.”
Awut Deng Acuil (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I lost my father when I was 13-years-old. He was a great man, my father, and very intelligent. I love him very much. I believe it's very important that parents have a personal connection with their children. It helps kids feel more secure, have a feeling of family, makes them feel loved.”
Preity Zinta (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are no adequate substitutes for father, mother, and children bound together in a loving commitment to nurture and protect. No government, no matter how well-intentioned, can take the place of the family in the scheme of things.”
Gerald Ford (1913–2006) first seen 1976 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the International Eucharistic Conference, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as quoted in the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner (13 August 1976)
“You have hurdled your law studies under challenging circumstances—as a family man, as a father to two very young children, the elder of whom has autism, as a very patient and loving younger brother to a special brother… the silently suffering son to a controversial mother, who is now a victim of persecution.”
Leila de Lima (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Often an entire family is crazy, but since an entire family can’t go into the hospital, one person is designated as crazy and goes inside. Then, depending on how the rest of the family is feeling, that person is kept inside or snatched out, to prove something about the family’s mental health.”
Susanna Kaysen (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don't have a name - my family doesn't have a name. The law that Mr. Papandreou passed basically says that he considers that I am not Greek and that my family was Greek only so long as we were exercising the responsibilities of sovereign, and I had to go out and acquire a name. The problem is that my family originates from Denmark, and the Danish royal family haven't got a surname.”
Constantine II of Greece (1940–2023) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: King Without a Country," Vanity Fair (July 1995)
“If you look at Burke closely, you'll see the prototypical abused child: hypervigilant, distrustful. He's so committed to his family of choice—not his DNA-biological family, which tortured him, or the state which raised him, but the family that he chose—that homicide is a natural consequence of injuring any of that family. He's not a hit man. But he shares the same religion I do, which is revenge.”
Andrew Vachss (1942–2021) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Andrew Vachss, Horror Online, May 1999.
“I say to a lot of people who struggle [with coming out] — they're always afraid how it's going to affect their family — and to me it's always family is really important, but there has to be a 'you' that can be part of a family. If there's no 'you,' [you can't] be part of the family.”
Abby Stein (born 1991) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On NBC News, January 13, 2017
“If you were there behind every family's closed doors, everyone's a little wacko. Chances are that your family is no weirder than the next family, or than the other girl at school's family. Everyone can be quirky at times, and I embrace that, personally.”
Meaghan Martin (born 1992) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Seventeen Chats With Meaghan Martin From 10 Things I Hate About You! (July 27, 2009)
“The family is the heart of coexistence. The most profound experience of society that we all have is the family. If the family ceases to be the place of true love, love ceases to exist in the world and it is replaced by egoism. This is a catastrophe. The Church is taking very seriously the defense of the truth of the family, defending the truth of love exactly as Jesus manifested it.”
Fernando Sebastián Aguilar (1929–2019) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Collaborate With the Pope Is to Collaborate With Jesus, Says New Spanish Cardinal (25 February 2014) Zenit
“The initiative currently works such that when a member of a family who is the beneficiary dies, the family suffers as they will not get any food hampers. Also, reassessing the family for a replacement beneficiary normally takes months, leaving the family exposed to hunger.”
Sam Brooks first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: CEDA GUIDELINES NEED TO BE REVIEWED- BROOKS,AFRICAPress( 18 November 2023)
“The prospect of a generation of American children being raised by women in homes without fathers is challenging for religious institutions whose central conception of deity is father, whose central conception of church is family, whose only conception of family is heterosexual.”
Richard Rodriguez (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Those days, poor teachers and poor policemen alone would have maximum children. But my father believed in a sort of family planning. He was known as family planning teacher then.”
C. N. Ramachandra Rao (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The point here is that quitting education has never been an option in our family. It is a duty for all of us to perform. That is the reason many of us in the family are second degree holders. Here, I would like to acknowledge the enormous role played by my parents, especially my father, towards educating all his children. I pray for Allah to reward them with Jannatul Firdaus for their noble deeds.”
Saadatu Hassan Liman wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To me, family is the glue that holds my being together. My family defines me, from my ancestors, my wonderful protective mother, to my loving husband and wonderful children.”
Patti Boulaye (born 1954) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Patti spoke on her family in 2016.
“I’m crying with joy and I’m so grateful to God that my family is complete. This is the wish of any mother to have all her children with her and their family to be complete.”
Jinkee Pacquiao (born 1979) first seen 2025 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jinkee Pacquiao turns emotional as her family is finally complete after four years, Drew Acierto, Push Team 17 July 2025.
“When children in homes with less income and more father were compared to children in homes with more income but less father, there was no difference in the rates of violent crime.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Many women use their children as a stick to beat the father with, either because they’re bitter about the failed relationship, for financial reasons, or because they’ve moved on and it’s easier for them if their new partner takes on the role of father to their children.”
Philip Davies (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If today is Children's Day, yesterday I said that child... the children's day is mother's day, father's day and teachers' day, but is also the day of the animals. Whenever you look at a child, there is always a hidden figure, which is a dog behind, which is something very important.”
Dilma Rousseff (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are at the precipice of an incredible shift, the brink of history. I’m not here as a celebrity. I’m not here as a politician. I’m here as a mother. A mother who cares deeply about the world my children and all of our children live in. A world where we have the freedom to control our bodies. A world where we’re not divided. Our past, our present, our future, merge to meet us here.”
Beyoncé (born 1981) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The wider paradigm of relationships and family transcends old group definitions. The discovery of our connection to all other men, women, and children joins us to another family. Indeed, seeing ourselves as a planetary family struggling to solve its problems, rather than as assorted people and nations assessing blame or exporting solutions, could be the ultimate shift in perspective.”
Marilyn Ferguson (1938–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Repitition is the mother of knowledge. To help our children retain God's Word, we repeated a verse six times with them, then gave them a reward (a candy bar) when they had memorized ten verses. I have calculated that we had around six thousand family devotions with our children. The three of them made it through their teenage years without an ounce of rebellion.”
Ray Comfort (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have seen where families send away their daughters -in law and children because of their suspicion. Family rejection of children is an abomination. It is a grave sin in the eyes of God. It is a distortion of the Gospel message of Jesus which is love, forgiveness, reconciliation, the return to the family of God.”
Boniface Lele (1947–2014) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Intervention of H. Exc. Mons. Boniface LELE, Archbishop of Mombasa (KENYA) (9 October 2009) Holy See Press Office
“Usually, the immediate caregivers of children are their mothers and it has been shown that the survival of children is dependent on the survival of their mothers who in turn has the major responsibility for ensuring that family practices do not jeopardize the survival of the breadwinner and other members of the family.”
Adenike Grange wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And it's certainly bad, but when a man spends his relief checks on green whiskey his children have a way of crying from hunger pains. I don't know of any landowner around here who begrudges those children any game their father can hit. Of course he shouldn't, but he'll never change his ways. Are you going to take out your disapproval on his children?”
Harper Lee (1926–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My children have never brought any shame upon their father. They have been independent children, my children.”
Halldór Laxness (1902–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Good Catholic parents are the future of the Church. Sharing and caring for each other is the good example you must set before your children. Your mission is the evangelization of all your children... to make your marriage work and your children grow in God's grace you must have a prayerful family.”
Gabriel Thohey Mahn-Gaby (1927–2016) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Parents Determine Future of the Church Says Yangon Archbishop (9 August 1990) Union of Asian Catholic News
“Auschwitz, I told her, appears to me in the image of a father; yes, the two terms, Auschwitz, and father, resonate the same echoes in me, and if the observation is that God is an exalted father, then God, too is revealed to me in the image of Auschwitz.”
Imre Kertész (1929–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Well, no... He is the wrong father to appeal to for advice. The wrong father to go to, to appeal to in terms of strength. There's a higher Father that I appeal to.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Response to reporter Bob Woodward's inquiring as to whether, prior to the 2003 Iraq invasion, he had sought any advice from his father, George H. W. Bush. (The latter, during his own presidency, had led a successful inv…
“You know how a boy is. There comes a time for departure, a point where he sees confirmed the suspicion he’d had for some time that his father is not a god, not even a oracle. He sees that he no longer has any right to any such father. So Vheissu becomes a bedtime story or fairly tale after all, and the boy a superior version of his merely human father.”
Thomas Pynchon (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Just because you donate sperm does not make you a father. I don't have a father. I would never give him the credit or acknowledge him as my father.”
Sarah Michelle Gellar (born 1977) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: TVGuide.com, February 19, 2000
“Why was his hair tinted with gold? An evil omen was golden hair in my life. Why had not the brown of his eyes crushed out and killed the blue? — for brown were his father’s eyes, and his father’s father’s. And thus in the Land of the Color-line I saw, as it fell across my baby, the shadow of the Veil.”
W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What we say is that in order for Mom to be able to go on welfare if she has a child out of wedlock, you have to tell us who the father is. If you don't tell us who the father is, you're not eligible for any welfare benefits, none, not even medical care. You tell us who the father is or you don't receive benefits.”
Rick Santorum (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.”
Jesus (6 BC–33) said by 33 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I calculated the amount of time I spent with my father during my entire life... the total amount of time I had with him, if you add up the hours, was about two months. My father was a busy man... we had very few opportunities to really sit down and talk as father and son.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Marvin Zonis (1991), Majestic Failure: The Fall of the Shah, p. 57.
“You can certainly argue that, philosophically, that is not your father. That is a replica, but I can actually make a strong case that it would be more like my father than my father would be, were he to live.”
Ray Kurzweil (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The father, the Name-of-the-father, sustains the structure of desire with the structure of the law- but the inheritance of the father is that which Kierkegaard designates for us, namely, his sin.”
Jacques Lacan (1901–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I had a chance to play that instrument for six days. Hearing German spoken around me made me think of my father, who died in 1960, and whom I hadn't thought much about in recent years. And I remembered what he meant to me. I played "Du, du liegst mir im Herzen" because my father used to sing it to me. So I sat there, thinking of my father, and weeping.”
Clare Fischer (1928–2012) first seen 1980 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in the liner notes from Alone Together (1980)
“Masha died quietly, conscious to the last. Father and Kolya were sitting by her bed. They raised her on her pillow. An hour before she died she opened her eyes wide, saw Father and laid his hand on her breast. Father leaned over her and raised her thin, transparent hand to his lips. “I am dying,” she whispered almost inaudibly.”
Alexandra Tolstaya (1884–1979) said by 1979 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source