Father's Day Quotes

Father’s Day is a thin page on Wikiquote, so this one is assembled from the pages on fathers, parenting and gratitude. Do not expect lines written for the day. What you get is whatever those three pages rate highest, sorted by quality.

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Most quoted on father's day:

Now the good gods forbid
That our renowned Rome, whose gratitude
Towards her deserved children is enroll'd
In Jove's own book, like an unnatural dam
Should now eat up her own!

William Shakespeare

From too much love of living,
From hope and fear set free,
We thank with brief thanksgiving
Whatever gods may be
That no man lives forever,
That dead men rise up never;
That even the weariest river
Winds somewhere safe to sea.

Algernon Charles Swinburne Poems and Ballads: First Series (1866)

Do not let the empty cup be your first teacher of the blessings you had when it was full. Do not let a hard place here and there in the bed destroy your rest. Seek, as a plain duty, to cultivate a buoyant, joyous sense of the crowded kindnesses of God in your daily life.

Alexander Maclaren

The picture of paternal affection.

Virgil

No more shall thy family welcome thee home,
Nor around thee thy wife and sweet little ones come;
All clamouring joyous to snatch the first kiss,
Transporting thy bosom with exquisite bliss.

Lucretius

The still small voice of gratitude.

Thomas Gray

I’ve heard it said that sometimes, in return for the gifts of the earth, gratitude is enough. It is our uniquely human gift to express thanks, because we have the awareness and the collective memory to remember that the world could well be otherwise, less generous than it is. But I think we are called to go beyond cultures of gratitude, to once again become cultures of reciprocity.

Robin Wall Kimmerer Braiding Sweetgrass (2013)

Parent and father of the fatherland,
Was Cicero styled by liberated Rome.

Juvenal

I suppose that every parent loves his child; but I know, without any supposing, that in a large number of homes the love is hidden behind authority, or its expression is crowded out by daily duties and cares.

Abbott Eliot Kittredge

What..should be the effort on the part of parents and educators? First, and above everything else, the effort should be made to provide an atmosphere wherein certain qualities can flourish and emerge...

Alice Bailey Education in the New Age (1954)

Jane weeps not for her dad when none is by,
Yet when one enters she begins to cry.
Not by its wish for praise is true grief shown:
He mourns indeed who mourns when he’s alone.

Martial

When we talk of parental influence we do not think of terror in connection with it—that is not the primary idea—it is not terror and coercion, but kindness and affection, which may bias the child's mind, and induce the child to do that which may be highly imprudent, and which, if the child were properly protected, he would never do.

William Wood, 1st Baron Hatherley Turner v. Collins (1871)

Every young adult has the potential power to help the entire world. He just needs the right guidance and support. A garden with different flowers becomes beautiful when it blossoms. Similarly, if parents learn how to be a ‘gardener’ and are able to recognize their child's personality and nourish it, then their ‘garden’ will become fragrant! This is what positive parenting is all about!

Dada Bhagwan PARENT – CHILD INTERACTION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A JUVENILE’S PERSONALITY (2019)

Eradication of envy: gratitude.

Giannina Braschi United States of Banana (2011)

As we give thanks for the Earth, will we live in such a way that the Earth can be grateful for us? (2015)

Robin Wall Kimmerer

If hush'd the loud whirlwind that ruffled the deep,
The sky if no longer dark tempests deform;
When our perils are past shall our gratitude sleep?
No! Here's to the pilot that weather'd the storm!

George Canning

Many children harbor hidden anger and resentment toward their parents and often the cause is inauthenticity in the relationship. The child has a deep longing for the parent to be there as a human being, not as a role, no matter how conscientiously that role is being played. You may be doing all the right things and the best you can for your child, but even doing the best you can is not enough.

Eckhart Tolle A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose (2005)

Every person needs to be parented. By this I mean that every person needs to be helped, encouraged, and supported in becoming accountable to themselves and others. To not be threatened by taking other people into account. To not be frightened of difference.

Sarah Schulman Conflict Is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility, and the Duty of Repair (2016)

While expressing gratitude seems innocent enough, it is a revolutionary idea. In a consumer society, contentment is a radical proposition. Recognizing abundance rather than scarcity undermines an economy that thrives by creating unmet desires. Gratitude cultivates an ethic of fullness, but the economy needs emptiness.

Robin Wall Kimmerer Braiding Sweetgrass (2013)

The thing that impresses me most about America is the way parents obey their children.

Edward VIII

Father's Day Quotes

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