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“I never stole in my childhood, so there was no question of apologising to my father. (Godse referring to Gandhi's autobiographical story, where Gandhi stole a piece of gold from his father's watch and later on apologised to his father)”
Nathuram Godse (1910–1949) said by 1949 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I cannot end it like this. If I do that, I’m no better than him. Orïsha will not survive by employing his tactics. Father must be taken down, but it is too much to drive my sword through his heart—Father pulls back his blade. Momentum carries me forward. Before I can pivot, Father swings his sword around and the blade rips across my back.”
Tomi Adeyemi (born 1993) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I may not be from Bihar but entire India is Asaduddin Owaisi’ father’s proprietary. How? My father, your father, their fathers and their ancestors put their first steps in India. In this way, this country belongs to my ancestors. No one has the courage of calling me an intruder on my ancestors’ land.”
Asaduddin Owaisi (born 1969) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in “Entire India is my ancestors’ property”: AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi in Bihar election rally 7 November, 2020
“The truth is, the lives of activists are much more complicated than what the novel presented. My father was not a regular man nor a regular father. He gave himself to his cause, and our relationship was forged by distance. There is no resentment. The world needs people like my father.”
Ti-Anna Wang (born 1989) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Daughter of imprisoned Chinese activist inspires ‘Nine Days’ by Fred Hiatt, a book about their plight" in The Washington Post (5 April 2013)
“We are all disciples of the same Master in the same mission. With the White Father community in Ghardaïa, I hope to find spiritual and fraternal support in line with our White Father Charism, which is deeply rooted in my heart without for all that interfering in what is proper to them. I admit that living alone outside community will be a sacrifice for me, being the White Father that I am.”
John MacWilliam (born 1948) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with John MacWilliam, Bishop of Laghouat in Algeria (28 July 2017)
“Some people who didn’t have better fathers said it was fiction. I said, ‘Well. if you didn’t have the kind of father that I had then there is no point in trying to belittle my own father. My father was a great man'.”
Mabel Segun (1930–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It goes back to childhood. My father like I said earlier, he’s just a wonderful dad to me. When I was growing up, I didn’t know he was famous, but I could count on my father. Anytime I needed him, he was always there for me. He is a very present father. When I was little, he was the one who would wake me up at nights, take me to the bathroom so that I don’t wet the bed.”
Nwando Achebe (born 1970) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Relatives cannot help you in the studios. You stand or fall by your own efforts. My father and I have only ever worked in one picture together – that was Halfway House – and the producer was casting a father and daughter. Perhaps it was natural that he chose us, but my father did not get me that job, neither did I get him his.”
Glynis Johns (1923–2024) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Picturegoer (28 September 1946)
“...servile position he had occupied on the far, of his father, and his father's father who were born black, lived like blacks, and died like mules.”
Richard Rive (1931–1989) said by 1989 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was confronted with heart disease very early on. My father only knew his father for two years, and at six I thought I was farewelling my 38-year-old father at his hospital bed. Fortunately, medicine pulled him through in the early eighties.”
Alta Schutte first seen 2024 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: UNSW academic honoured in annual NHMRC research awards" UNSW Newsroom (27 March 2024)
“There are some things that heal you in ways you can’t explain. As a girl who grew up without a father or a father figure, watching my son have a father who genuinely loves being a dad, shows up, and enjoys fatherhood so effortlessly… heals something in me,”
Sheebah Karungi (born 1989) first seen 2026 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sheebah Karungi Says Son’s First Day at School Healed a Childhood Wound Big eye.ug (September 2,2026)
“In My Father’s Country was the first part of a trilogy. The House My Father built was the second. I jokingly tell people that the third one, which I haven’t written yet, will be ‘A Farewell to My Father’s Country’!”
Adewale Maja-Pearce (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don’t fear death. I remember my last meeting with my father when he told me, "You know, tonight when I will be killed, my mother and my father will be waiting for me." It makes me weepy … but I don’t think it can happen unless God wants it to happen because so many people have tried to kill me.”
Benazir Bhutto (1953–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Social policy that reunites father and child must always confront itself with the question, “Are we paying dads to stay, or to go away?” If a single mother receives more money when the father isn’t around than when he is around, there will be fewer fathers around. The government will become her substitute husband.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“to a mother who moved her daughter across the country so that the girl's father couldn't see her, because her fiancee was offered a new job: I don't care whether your fiancee was elected President of the United States! You have no right to move your child across the country without [the father's] permission!”
Judith Sheindlin (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Father, dear father, come home with me now! The clock in the steeple strikes three; The house is so lonely, the hours are so long For poor weeping mother and me. Yes, we are alone, poor Benny is dead, And gone with the angels of light; And these were the very last words that he said, "I want to kiss Papa good night.”
Henry Clay Work (1832–1884) said by 1884 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was born under an unlucky star. I love France and I am not French. I am English and I can't like England. My father was Scotch, my mother was born in Honolulu. My father, William Tarn, died at the age of forty in 1890. My real name is Pauline Tarn. I changed it to Renée Vivien.”
Renée Vivien (1877–1909) said by 1909 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Many people found our house spooky, and the attic in fact as full of evil when I was born. It housed a collection of more than three hundred antique and modern firearms. Father had bought them during his and Mother's six-month honeymoon in Europe in 1922. Father thought them beautiful, but they might as well have been copperheads and rattlesnakes. They were murder.”
Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Geraldine: I've no idea who my father was. Prentice: I'd better be frank, Miss Barclay. I can't employ you if you're in any way miraculous. It would be contrary to established practice. You did have a father? Geraldine: Oh, I'm sure I did. My mother was frugal in her habits, but she'd never economize unwisely.”
Joe Orton (1933–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My father has asked me to be the fourth corner at the Joy Luck Club. I am to replace my mother, whose seat at the mah jong table has been empty since she died two months ago. My father thinks she was killed by her own thoughts.”
Amy Tan (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Group W's where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after committing your special crime, and there was all kinds of mean nasty ugly looking people on the bench there. Mother rapers. Father stabbers. Father rapers!”
Arlo Guthrie (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I used to adore my old man because he was always so kind. That's one of the most beautiful things I have in my life — the way my father and mother were. And my father was a real ugly man. So it doesn't matter if you look like a gorilla. You see, dogs like us, we ain't such dogs as we think we are.”
Paddy Chayefsky (1923–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My father is my best friend, my life coach. I am a very lucky girl in many respects. My mother and father are very special people. I can feel in every step I take that they have prepared me in the best way to hold on to life.”
Hilal Altınbilek (born 1991) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The father had no luck. He was convinced that some distant, heavy curse weighed on his life: out of seven births, he had had seven daughters. The house was occupied by ten women—the seven daughters, the mother, Aunt Aysha, and Malika, the old servant woman. The curse was spread over time. The father thought that one daughter would have been enough. Seven was too many; tragic, even.”
Tahar Ben Jelloun (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My father wanted to be a hero and my mother wanted to be with my father, and once you get those two pieces in place, it was kind of as simple as that.”
Suzanne Heywood (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No, why? I never saw my father beat my mother so I cannot say I learned from my father how to beat mama.”
Pete Edochie (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How the mother is to be pitied who hath handsome daughters! Locks, bolts, bars, and lectures of morality are nothing to them: they break through them all. They have as much pleasure in cheating a father and mother, as in cheating at cards.”
John Gay (1685–1732) said by 1732 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The sexual wishes in regard to the mother become more intense and the father is perceived as an obstacle to the mother; this gives rise to the Oedipus complex.”
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) said by 1939 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You're Orthodox? No. Conservative? Young people never are. My parents were Orthodox. They believe, I believe, that whatever your father is, as long as your mother is Jewish, you are Jewish too because we all come from our mother's womb. A long unbroken chain of Jewish mothers going all the way back to Eve.”
Thomas Pynchon (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My name eet is Roberto Enricque Clemente Walker. I no use Enricque—spell him E–n–r–i–c–q–u–e —and I no use Walker. Him make too long for name. Just Roberto Clemente, thas all. This Enricque is middle name. Walker eet is my mother's name. In Puerto Rico, people she use father's and mother's name. I use Roberto Clemente in thees country.”
Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Sidelight on Sports: A Baseball Star is Born" by Al Abrams, in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (June 7, 1955), p. 20
“For I came to cause division, with a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 Indeed, a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.”
Jesus (6 BC–33) said by 33 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My father loved us so much, but he's the kind of person that chokes you. He doesn't leave you your own pleasures. If you think or feel one way and he feels the other way, he won't accept it. My mother wanted to work. People wanted her to do movies, but he just wanted her to be at home, be a mother, be a wife, be this Venus, this planet he could land on anytime.”
Nastassja Kinski (born 1961) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Denise Worrell (1989), Icons: Intimate Portraits.
“Tonight, I also want to say that I'm also thinking about my mother and father. I know my mother would be completely over the moon about this. I think my dad would too. I'm sorry he couldn't see this. This really was his life’s work but I can say this: I know how proud he'd be of the province we all love.”
Rachel Notley (born 1964) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Rachel Notley during her 2015 victory speech. "Notley's Way: How the Alberta premier became determined." May 8, 2015.
“I looked at my mother, standing by the window. How had I never really seen her? It was my father who destroyed, and it was my mother I blamed for the ruins left behind.”
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (born 1977) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The best Dorothy Parker-like riposte to nosy questions about adoption was uttered by a friend of a friend of mine on a New York City bus. This white mother and her Chinese baby daughter were riding up Madison Avenue when an older woman got on, sat down across from them, and barked out: “Is her father Chinese?” “I don’t know,” the mother replied. “It was dark.”
Maureen Corrigan (born 1955) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The only reason we write—well, the only reason why I write; maybe I shouldn’t generalize—is so that I can find out something about myself. Writers have this narcissistic obsession about how we got to be who we are. I have to understand my ancestors—my father, his mother and her mother—to understand who I am. It all leads back to the narcissistic pleasure of discovering yourself.”
Sandra Cisneros (born 1954) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On how writing has a narcissistic facet in “Interview with Sandra Cisneros” in The Missouri Review (2002 Mar 1)
“In the heav’ns are parents single? No, the thought makes reason stare; Truth is reason—truth eternal Tells me I’ve a mother there. When I leave this frail existence— When I lay this mortal by, Father, mother, may I meet you In your royal court on high?”
Eliza R. Snow (1804–1887) first seen 1039 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: My Father in Heaven", Times and Seasons (Nauvoo, IL), November 15, 1845, p. 1039, compiled in 1.14 of The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women's History (Church Historian's Press,…
“[M]y father was an architect. He and my mother separated when I was young, but before that I went with them to Russia, where he had an assignment; then World War I broke out, and he was arrested and sent to Siberia. My mother and I had a terrible journey back, on an ice-cold train, first to Paris, eventually home.”
Alfred Lion (1898–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The four days are few because, for a mother who has complications while giving birth or gave birth to a premature baby, it is the husband who takes care of the wife. So, I think the father will not be able to take care of the mother and the child in those four days. It would be helpful if this paternity leave should increase to at least two weeks or a month.”
Annoncée Manirarora (born 1976) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Rwandan MPs Seek To Introduce One-Month Paternity Leave Citizen Digital, (March 22, 2023)
“My mother is a retired nurse while my father was a mining engineer. Growing up, I was influenced by many people including my aunt’s friend who was an air hostess. At one point I wanted to be an air hostess. I also aspired to be a news anchor and a high court judge. But along the way, I leaned more towards medicine following in my mother and sister’s footsteps.”
Sabrina Kitaka (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Yes. Some people feel me and my mother are unhealthily close. I look like my father, but I am my mother; like, this is her character! She is my best friend. She is the best antidote. By the time I leave at 9:30, I feel like I’m Superwoman.”
Nana Kagga (born 1979) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The reason why my father exerted himself to make me queen was to begin what—for lack of a better name—Ibshall call a tradition. My mother had been the first carnival queen in her day. I suppose it fascinated him to think of a daughter following her mother's footsteps, as indeed the newspapers then kept pointing out. It was a beautiful thought. It satisfied his hobby for collections.”
Maria Kalaw Katigbak (1912–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Well, I'd always grown around books. My father had a decent library. My mother was a school mistress, and there was always the contact with books. I read my mother's copy of Arrow of God, the first of the Achebe books that I read, in primary four. It was in the same period that I read Ngugi's Weep not Child, and Alan Paton's, Cry, the Beloved Country.”
Obi Nwakanma wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All women are fighters... It is just that we fight different wars. My mother carrying a gun doesn't make her stronger than your mother, who's been fighting for you since your father left.”
Sulaiman Addonia (born 1974) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My mother made me a scientist without ever intending to. Every other Jewish mother in Brooklyn would ask her child after school: So? Did you learn anything today? But not my mother. "Izzy," she would say, "did you ask a good question today?" That difference — asking good questions — made me become a scientist.”
Isidor Isaac Rabi (1898–1988) said by 1988 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Great Minds Start With Questions" in Parents Magazine (September 1993).
“My beautiful Grandmother -- Caroline Garlinghouse -- came from Pittsburgh -- my mother's mother. I never met her but I have followed many of her ideas -- through my mother -- And it has given me a warm spot in my heart for your city...My grandmother's brother, Fred Garlinghouse, lived in Pittsburgh, was an engineer and apparently worked for Jones and Laughlin Steel Company.”
Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) first seen 1984 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Writing in June 1984, in response to news of a planned retrospective of her films in Pittsburgh the following September; as quoted in Christopher Rawson "On Stage: Kate Hepburn, Richard Rauh and old Nixon" Pittsburgh Po…
“You must wake and call me early, call me early, mother dear; Tomorrow 'ill be the happiest time of all the glad New-year; Of all the glad New-year, mother, the maddest merriest day, For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May.”
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) first seen 1832 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The May Queen", st. 1 (1832)
“Asma' bint Abi Bakr as-Siddiq said, "My mother came to me during the time of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, while she was still an idolater and I asked the Messenger of Allah, 'My mother has come to me, wanting something. Shall I give it to her?' He said, 'Yes. Give to your mother.'”
Muhammad (571–632) said by 632 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So an out-of-control wild man kills beautiful Ashli Babbitt, a true Patriot, who was the only one killed on January 6th. Her mother goes to protest her death and memory, and they arrest her mother. Something has to be done about these Communists and Marxists that are taking over and destroying our Country. Pray for Ashli, and her wonderful, brave mother!”
Donald Trump (born 1946) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 8 January 2023 gab
“Faith is a loyal Wife. Charity is a Mother. An ardent mother, noble-hearted. Or an older sister who is like a mother. Hope is a little girl, nothing at all.”
Charles Péguy (1873–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source