Famous quotes
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“Children who only have a mother and no father are the children of a not very good mother. And children who only have a father are not children, because a man alone can make a robot. But he cannot make children.”
Rocco Buttiglione (born 1948) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Marco Marozzi, Buttiglione contro le madri single: "I bambini nascano in famiglia", Repubblica.it, 16 October 2004
“Nothing threatens a father’s involvement in the family more than his obligation to be the family’s “financial womb,” creating “The Father’s ‘Catch-22’”: loving the family by being away from the family. It is the irony of traditional fatherhood: being a father by not being a father.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“India was the motherland of our race, and Sanskrit the mother of Europe's languages: she was the mother of our philosophy; mother, through the Arabs, of much of our mathematics; mother, through the Buddha, of the ideals embodied in Christianity; mother, through the village community, of self-government and democracy. Mother India is in many ways the mother of us all.”
Will Durant (1885–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is so even today in Nigeria: when you have lost your father, you have lost your parents. Your mother is only a woman, and women are supposed to be boneless. A fatherless family is a family without a head, a family without shelter, a family without parents, in fact a non-existing family. Such traditions do not change very much.”
Buchi Emecheta (1944–2017) said by 2017 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Before you can learn to someone else you have to love your self secondly build your self esteem. And when we come to family. The family is the beginning of someone's if we are not able to manage the home well am not sure will have a good family, family don't don't depend on the biological father and mother. Love is all that matters in the life of the family for it to grow strong.”
Amarachi Okafor (born 1977) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The body of the mother is the physical planet. The physical planet therefore symbolizes the mother. The body of the father is the sun. The sun symbolizes the father. Neither the sun nor the earth are the father and the mother, but they are forms representing them.”
Martin Cecil, 7th Marquess of Exeter (1909–1988) said by 1988 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Thus It Is, 1989, p. 6
“I was raised by my mother, but around my father's family. She was alone. My father's family rejected my mother because she was too dark, and they were only a slight shade lighter. Their attitude was based on racist criteria of appearances that people had back then, when the hue of your skin defined who you were, where you were able to go, what you I could learn, do, and achieve in life.”
Sandra María Esteves (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The idea of feminine authority is so deeply embedded in the human subconscious that even after all these centuries of father-right the young child instinctively regards the mother as the supreme authority. He looks upon the father as equal with himself, equally subject to the woman's rule. Children have to be taught to love, honor, and respect the father, a task usually assumed by the mother.”
Elizabeth Gould Davis (1910–1974) first seen 1971 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The First Sex, ch. 7 - Mother-Right (1971).
“Being a single lady and a mother are two different things. Now I have a family and children looking up to me. There are certain things I could do when I was younger that I cannot do as a mother. When it comes to my job, when I was single I was always on movie sets but as a mother and a wife, I had to balance it; know when to stay at home with my family and when to be at work.”
Bimbo Oshin (born 1971) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: How motherhood has changed her personality (June 25, 2016)
“I know Jungle Boy, he looked at me like a father figure, he sure did. But here's the thing, Jungle Boy, I never wanted to be your father, I never wanted to be your father figure. You have a father. But your father is dead.”
Christian Cage (born 1973) first seen 2022 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 22 June 2022 at AEW Dynamite 142
“The wanton smil'd, father wept, Mother cried, baby lept; More he crow'd, more we cried, Nature could not sorrow hide: He must go, he must kiss Child and mother, baby bless, For he left his pretty boy, Father's sorrow, father's joy.”
Robert Greene (dramatist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Laughing at his own son, who got his mother, and by his mother's means his father also, to indulge him, he told him that he had the most power of any one in Greece: "For the Athenians command the rest of Greece, I command the Athenians, your mother commands me, and you command your mother.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“In Ibuza sons help their father more than they help their mother. A mother's joy is only in the name. She worries over them, looks after them when they are small; but in the actual help on the farm, the upholding of the family name, all belong to the father.”
Buchi Emecheta (1944–2017) said by 2017 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I learned the right way to live from my parents. I never heard any hate in my house. I never heard my father say a mean word to my mother, or my mother to my father, either. During the war, when food was hard to get, my parents fed their children first and they ate what was left. They always thought of us.”
Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) first seen 1966 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Clemente, 32, Pays Tribute to Parents" by Les Biederman, in The Sporting News (September 3, 1966), p. 12
“Outside Palestine the ancient East treated women as slaves without rights... in the fourth commandment, Thou shalt honour thy father and thy mother, the mother is set upon the same level as the father in the eyes of the children. Such reverence for women was not revealed by oriental 'flesh and blood.'”
Michael von Faulhaber (1869–1952) said by 1952 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For the traditionalists the Enlightenment boiled down to a fatal misunderstanding. All philosophes had been wrong about the nature and also, if one could put it that way, about the sex of prejudice. They had mistaken an earth mother who sustained and inspired her children for a bogeyman of a father. Then, seeking to overthrow this father, they had in reality done away with the mother-figure.”
Alain Finkielkraut (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I wonder that affectionate parents can ever give their consent to their children's marriage at all. I can understand a father having no particular objection to his son's wife, and a mother to her daughter's husband; but how a father can ever even tolerate his daughter's husband or a mother the wife of her son, that is beyond my imagination.”
E. V. Lucas (1868–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We have stated things we thought were normal, almost taken for granted: that for a country to grow, it needs people to have children; that a mother is called a mother (and not "parent 1"); that a father is called a father (and not "parent 2").”
Lorenzo Fontana (born 1980) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Indeed a father is a very special person in the family unit whose impact can be felt from family level and to national level. The impact of a father is the most powerful in a family setup.”
Sethomo Lelatisitswe (died 2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I came from a large family of 4 sisters and 2 brothers. We lived in Cairo and my father was a civil servant and an actor and my mother was a homemaker. My father believed that the place for women is home to raise children. He did not believe that a girl’s education is important”
Kawthar Zaki (born 1940) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Visitation” reflects the era of the absentee father; “parent time” influences the re-emergence of the involved father. “Visitation” reflects the destruction of the family; “parent time” influences the reconstruction of the family. “Parent time” influences an era that understands that as either parents loses, so lose the children.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When speaking of the family we do not only think of a husband and wife, a father and mother, but also of the children, that is to say adolescents and young people. Family pastoral work must be organized in an integral way embracing and establishing close links to pastoral work of young people and vocational pastoral work.”
José Dimas Cedeño Delgado (born 1933) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: H.Exc. Most Rev. José Dimas CEDEÑO DELGADO , Archbishop of Panama (24 November 1997) Press Office of the Holy See
“Orthodox Christians are like a family, the children of Yessou Christ, and in a good family, the mother is always highly respected (the Mother of God), just as older brothers are respected and honored by the younger ones, and these latter imitate the former.”
John of Kronstadt (1829–1909) said by 1909 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No man encouraged his characters so much as Dickens. "I am an affectionate father," he says, "to every child of my fancy." He was not only an affectionate father, he was an overindulgent father. The children of his fancy are spoilt children. They shake the house like heavy and shouting schoolboys; they smash the story to pieces like so much furniture.”
G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A country that does not love, does not pay attention to its children most in need, is like a family where both the father and mother are not interested in their children.”
Vincenzo Paglia (born 1945) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The saint of all El Salvador" - beatification of Mgr. Romero on 23 May (12 March 2015) Fides News Agency
“I have five children, when Kartel first asked me four, and I have my mother in Flankers. I have a big family to support and they are a security. I was not ready to move at first. Now he lives in Kingston and the children come and visit during the weekends when they don't have school or he goes to them. Otherwise they live with their mothers or with his mother”
Tommy Lee Sparta (born 1987) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If I have to give you an everyday example, Samastha is acting like a father who deserted his children when they were young. But when the children got educated and became successful, the father would return as a frail man. It is a good thing. But he should not create trouble for the children.”
Hakeem Faizy Adrisseri first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "How CPM's shadow over Samastha is pushing IUML into a conservative corner", Onmanorama (Malayala Manorama), 27 February 2023.
“My children and I have a very open relationship and we talk about everything. They understand my sexuality. Yes, they were bullied at school but my children made the other children understand that 'hey! If your mother has a husband, then my mother can have a wife and that's that”
Nomsa Buthelezi (born 1982) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One day Bird had approached his father with this question; he was six years old: Father, where was I a hundred years before I was born? Where will I be a hundred years after I die? Father, what will happen to me when I die? Without a word, his young father had punched him in the mouth, broke two of his teeth and bloodied his face, and Bird forgot the fear of death.”
Kenzaburō Ōe (1935–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'd like to die like my father died... My father died fucking. My father was 57 when he died. The woman was 18. My father came and went at the same time.”
Richard Pryor (1940–2005) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The time of his life", The Guardian (7 June 2004)
“My father obtained the rights to the E-meter in 1952 from Volney Mathison in the same manner that he does everything— through fraud and coercion. My father learned about the E-meter from Mathison who developed it and my father fraudulently extracted those rights from Mathison so that my father could use it in Scientology auditing.”
Ronald DeWolf (1934–1991) said by 1991 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A girl needs a father. A girl needs her father, this girl will always love her father. This girl will dearly miss her father. Rest well daddy, you will always be in our hearts!”
“Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee; When thou art old there’s grief enough for thee. Mother's wag, pretty boy. Father's sorrow, father's joy; When thy father first did see Such a boy by him and me, He was glad, I was woe; Fortune changed made him so, When he left his pretty boy, Last his sorrow, first his joy.”
Robert Greene (dramatist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You don’t have to deserve your mother’s love. You have to deserve your father’s. He’s more particular.... The father is always a Republican towards his son, and his mother’s always a Democrat.”
Robert Frost (1874–1963) first seen 1963 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview in Writers at Work (1963)
“One of the worst major wrong actions is for a man to curse his parents." It was said, "O Messenger of Allah, how can a man curse his parents?" He said, "He may curse another man's father who in turn curses his father, and curse his mother and he in turn curses his mother.”
Muhammad (571–632) said by 632 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You will meet and become acquainted with your eternal Mother, the wife of your Father in Heaven… How could a Father claim His title unless there were also a Mother to share that parenthood?”
Joseph Smith Jr. (1805–1844) first seen 1844 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Joseph Smith, n. d. (before his death on June 27, 1844), according to a reminiscence by Zina Diantha Huntington Young reported in Susa Young Gates, History of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association of the Chur…
“At the opening of the Odyssey, Telemachus, inspired by the male-born Athena, searches for his father by turning against his mother. Jesus too publicly spurns his mother to be about his father’s business. Male adulthood begins with the breaking of female chains.”
Camille Paglia (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He also said to them, "You completely invalidate God's command in order to maintain your tradition! For Moses said: Honor your father and your mother; and, Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.”
Jesus (6 BC–33) said by 33 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think what he went through as a child was very heavy. He never got over his mother leaving his father, and following her mother to Florida, to an area that was very different, and losing his father. When he was seven years old, this was a very sensitive boy, who was wide-eyed and trusting, and not knowing how to protect himself at all.”
Sandra Seacat (1936–2023) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As heard in the "Mickey Rourke" installment of The Dark Side of Fame with Piers Morgan, broadcast October 6, 2008.
“I committed to art because it was one of the most prominent things in my surroundings as a child – my mother being an interior designer, my father an architect. Still, I remember my mother’s fabrics and my father’s drawings in my mind years later.”
Ekene Emeka Maduka (born 1996) first seen 2021 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ekene Emeka Maduka Friezes Truth and History in Her Paintings". The Art Gorgeous. July 4, 2021. Retrieved 20 March 2025.
“I was born in Barbados. My father was from Barbados and was a math professor with a PhD in the area of math called group theory. My mother was a teacher from Ghana. My father studied in the UK and first worked in Ghana, where he met my mother, then eventually moved back to the Caribbean where I was born and grew up. I also lived in Ghana and in the UK before moving to Canada.”
Lucy Campbell (mathematician) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Martha of Bethany, who has the distinction of having hosted Jesus, was of royal descent on both her father Syro's and her mother Eucaria's side. Her father, Siro, ruled Syria and many coastal cities, while Martha, with her sister, was mistress, through her mother's line, of the entire cities of Magdala and Bethany, as well as part of Jerusalem. (p. 560)”
Jacobus de Voragine (1228–1298) said by 1298 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“‘Look, Mene, you are my only son. Even I suffered plenty before I born you. I have born six of you, and you are the only one still alive. I want you to live and bury me when! die. I don’t want to die like chicken, no burial. I have no father, no mother, no brother, no sister. You are my father, my mother, my brother and my sister. Do you hear me? Don’t go and think of foolish thing.”
Ken Saro-Wiwa (1941–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Narrated Abu Hurairah: A man came to Allah's Messenger and said, "Who is more entitled to be treated with the best companionship by me?" The Prophet said, "Your mother." The man said. "Who is next?" The Prophet said, "Your mother." The man further said, "Who is next?" The Prophet said, "Your mother." The man asked for the fourth time, "Who is next?" The Prophet said, "Your father.”
Muhammad (571–632) said by 632 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Much male fear of feminism is the fear that, in becoming whole human beings, women will cease to mother men, to provide the breast, the lullaby, the continuous attention associated by the infant with the mother. Much male fear of feminism is infantilism–the longing to remain the mother’s son, to possess a woman who exists purely for him. ("Husband-Right and Father-Right" 1977)”
Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
Jesus (6 BC–33) said by 33 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mother stands for comfort. Mother will hide the murderer. Mother hides the madman. Mother will stay mum.”
“[Final lines] mother, mother, save your unhappy son! Let a tear fall on his aching head! See how they torture him! Press the poor orphan to your bosom! He has no rest in this world; they hunt him from place to place. Mother, mother, have pity on your sick child! And do you know that the Bey of Algiers has a wart under his nose?”
Nikolai Gogol (1809–1852) said by 1852 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Awake Hindus: Mother! The flowers of our worship have crowned thee! Parsees: Mother! The flame of our hope shall surround you Mussulmans: Mother! The sword of our love shall defend thee Christians: Mother! The song of thy faith shall attend thee All creeds: Shall not our dauntless devotion avail thee? Harken! O Queen O!goddess, we hail thee!”
Sarojini Naidu (1879–1949) first seen 1828 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Her poem in "The Golden Treasury of Indo-Anglian Poetry, 1828-1965", p=161
“And also, one is a mother in order to understand the inexplicable. One is a mother to lighten the darkness. One is a mother to shield when lightning streaks the night, when thunder shakes the earth, when mud bogs one down. One is a mother in order to love without beginning or end.”