Family Quotes

Change makes us confront the great unknown. It introduces different things into our lives. Different places. Different ideas. Different people. It's all hard to accept at times, and change can often be a little scary. But if there's one fact that I've learned from raising a family, from running several businesses, from serving in Congress and now as Governor, it's that nothing has ever grown without changing.
– Bob Riley
Well I'm a third-generation musician. My Grandfather's a musician and my father and mother were both musicians and so I'm a musician. It was just natural that I should be a musician 'cause I was born into the family.
– Sam Rivers
I'm still about as pigeon-toed as you can get. But I learned to manage pretty well on a bike. Should have had a bicycle then, when I was a kid, but our family didn't have the money for such luxuries. I saved up to buy one myself a few years later.
– Norman Rockwell
The Kennedys, they were great... I always admired President John Kennedy very much. He had a marvelous personality. A great, strong face to paint, too. Robert Kennedy was the one, though, I guess I enjoyed painting the most. His hair fascinated me. That wild, curly hair was something else again. I made a real study of his hair. They all have wonderful smiles, too, that whole family.
– Norman Rockwell
America cannot continue to lead the family of nations around the world if we suffer the collapse of the family here at home.
– Mitt Romney
America's culture is also defined by the fact that we are a religious people. We recognize our God not only in our Declaration of Independence, but even in our currency. And we are also unique in that we recognize that the family is the fundamental building block of American society.
– Mitt Romney
I try and take the family with me everywhere I can. It's getting harder the more kids I have. But celibacy sucks.
– Tim Roth
Have a deputy and develop a successor. Don't be consumed by the job or you'll risk losing your balance. Keep your mooring lines to the outside world - family, friends, neighbors, people out of government, and people who may not agree with you.
– Donald H. Rumsfeld
When the bell tolls three times, it will announce that I have been killed. If I am killed by common men, you and your children will rule Russia for centuries to come; if I am killed by one of your stock, you and your family will be killed by the Russian people! Pray Tsar of Russia. Pray.
– Grigori Rasputin
Right ho, I'll marry you. That'll keep your family happy. But I won't live with you - ever.
– Simon Raven
Money is pyramiding. Religion is pyramiding. Education is pyramiding. The environment is pyramiding. The pyramid of progress has destroyed the marbles circle, it's destroyed the family circle.
– Gene Ray
Feminism is a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.
– Pat Robertson
We know the pain the president has caused our society and his family and his friends, but we know, too, how much the president has done for this country.
– Charles Ruff
Most of us would prefer that our own aged and infirm family member be cared for at home with the right kind of supporting services, as opposed to in a nursing home. For that reason the state created the PASSPORT program, which provides services to elderly and disabled people in their own homes.
– Bob Taft
What happened on September 11 compels us to focus on who we are as Americans, what we stand for, what really matters in our lives - family, friends, faith and freedom.
– Bob Taft
What we don't talk about enough is Ohio's unique and remarkable quality of life. We are a state of cities, small towns and growing suburbs where life is affordable and destinations within reach. There is no better place to raise a family.
– Bob Taft
My family's always been really funny. I feel like comedy's hard. I feel like it's so important.
– Christine Taylor
Movies these days have made killers into funny people. What's that all about? I've got kids and family and friends, and I don't like bad things. I don't think they're funny, and it's irresponsible to make movies that don't show you how that's not good.
– Billy Bob Thornton
You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.
– Desmond Tutu
I believe that a family is very important. You must have someone to come to after work to forget the stressful day. With Roy I have someone like that.
– Liv Tyler
The old philosophy was that parents, especially mothers, caused their kids to become schizophrenic. Now we see that when a kid is this crazy, he'll make the family begin to seem crazy.
– John Talbott
Stick to the basics, hold on to your family and friends - they will never go out of fashion.
– Niki Taylor
The church's family program, in the final analysis, is God's program. In this sense, the church's proposal, while assuming the positive aspects of the United Nations' proposal, goes further, not in the sense that it sacrifices determined values and needs of so-called modernity, but in the sense that it offers a broader and richer vision.
– Dionigi Tettamanzi
Here was a monument, in fieldstone, to the art of family life.
– Judith Thurman
All things, material and spiritual, originate from one source and are related as if they were one family. The past, present, and future are all contained in the life force. The universe emerged and developed from one source, and we evolved through the optimal process of unification and harmonization.
– Morihei Ueshiba
Do you want to trace your family tree? Run for public office.
– Patricia H. Vance
Let us tackle the big issues with bold ideas that transform Iowa to accomplish our shared mission to grow Iowa, and realize our shared vision of Iowa as the best place to live, work and raise a family.
– Thomas Vilsack
Birds in their little nest agree; and 'Tis a shameful sight, when children of one family fall out, and chide, and fight.
– Isaac Watts
Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends, and society are the natural enemies of the writer. He must be alone, uninterrupted, and slightly savage if he is to sustain and complete an undertaking.
– Jessamyn West
The last three generations of our family, there hasn't been one natural death. There were eight of us children, born in the Ozark mountains. Today there only remain my mother, my sister and myself. The rest all died in various accidents. So you see my fate will get me sooner or later.
– Pearl White
Fathers should be neither seen nor heard. That is the only proper basis for family life.
– Oscar Wilde
The one thing that kept our family together was the music. The only thing that our family would share emotionally was to have our dad cry over something the kids did with music.
– Dennis Wilson
For everyone of us that succeeds, it's because there's somebody there to show you the way out. The light doesn't always necessarily have to be in your family; for me it was teachers and school.
– Oprah Winfrey
My films are always concerned with family, friendship, honor, and patriotism.
– John Woo
When I was in high school, I dreamed of being a film-maker, but my family was so poor that they couldn't afford for me to go to college.
– John Woo
I am a combination of my entire family.
– Dionne Warwick
The upcoming primaries will be a test of their old family football cheer: Clap your hands! Stamp your feet! 'Cause Daddy's team can't be beat.
– Amy Wilentz
The most common given name in the world is Mohammad; the most common family name in the world is Chang. Can you imagine the enormous number of people in the world named Mohammad Chang?
– Derek Wills
We want you nervous. We want you to realize this country and its allies are on the march and that we are on the side of those whom you - the Mubaraks, the Saudi royal family - most fear: we're on the side of your own people.
– James Woolsey
I am neither Jew nor Gentile, Mahomedan nor Theist; I am but a member of the human family.
– Frances Wright
The most important thing is that you have really good friends and family, and when you go back to them, it's like 'what?'. You carry on as who you are.
– Michelle Yeoh
I can't imagine dating a boy, meeting him only outside the home. What's a home and family for if it's not the center of one's life?
– Loretta Young
I was very lucky. I had a marvelous family behind me. A wise mother.
– Loretta Young
A young musician plays scales in his room and only bores his family. A beginning writer, on the other hand, sometimes has the misfortune of getting into print.
– Marguerite Yourcenar
Pride in boasting of family antiquity, makes duration stand for merit.
– John Zimmerman
If you have only two pennies left in the world, with the first penny, you should buy rice to feed your family. With the second penny, say the wise Japanese, you should buy a lily. The Japanese understand the importance of dreaming...
– Japanese Proverb
Even as the cell is the unit of the organic body, so the family is the unit of society.
– Ruth Nanda Anshen
It is my mission to help in the breaking down of classes, and to make all men feel as if they were brethren of the same family, sharing the same rights, the same capabilities, and the same responsibilities. While my hand can hold a pen, I will use it to this end; and while my brain can earn a dollar, I will devote it to this end.
– Lydia Maria Child
And you, systematic Utopians, who make an abstraction of human nature, fomentors of atheism, fed on chimerae and hatreds, emancipators of woman, destroyers of the family, genealogists of the simian race, you whose name was but lately an outrage, be satisfied: you shall have been the prophets, and your disciples will be the high-priests of an abominable future!
– Comte de Falloux
If then the power of speech is as great as any that can be named,—if the origin of language is by many philosophers considered nothing short of divine—if by means of words the secrets of the heart are brought to light, pain of soul is relieved, hidden grief is carried off, sympathy conveyed, experience recorded, and wisdom perpetuated,—if by great authors the many are drawn up into unity, national character is fixed, a people speaks, the past and the future, the East and the West are brought into communication with each other,—if such men are, in a word, the spokesmen and the prophets of the human family—it will not answer to make light of Literature or to neglect its study: rather we may be sure that, in proportion as we master it in whatever language, and imbibe its spirit, we shall ourselves become in our own measure the ministers of like benefits to others—be they many or few, be they in the obscurer or the more distinguished walks of life—who are united to us by social ties, and are within the sphere of our personal influence.
– John Henry Cardinal Newman
...with the black marble which gives the fireplace the air of a miniature family vault, to suggest early Victorian commercial respectability, belief in money, Bible fetichism, fear of hell always at war with fear of poverty, instinctive horror of the passionate character of art, love and Roman Catholic religion, and all the first fruits of plutocracy in the early generations of the industrial revolution.
– George Bernard Shaw
My thoughts just before the first real college game of my life: The honor of my race, family and self is at stake. Everyone is expecting me to do big things. I will. My whole body and soul are to be thrown recklessly about the field. Every time the ball is snapped, I will be trying to do more than my part. Fight low, with your eyes open and toward the play. Watch out for crossbucks and reverse end runs. Be on your toes every minute if you expect to make good. (signed) Jack
– Jack Trice
I don't want to sound Pollyannaish, but I hope that out of a tragedy like this something good will come. I hope we understand we're one family.
– Madeleine Albright
The family is changing not disappearing. We have to broaden our understanding of it, look for the new metaphors.
– Mary Catherine Bateson
Many men can make a fortune by very few can build a family.
– J. S. Bryan
Heirlooms we don't have in our family. But stories we've got.
– Rose Cherin
What is it about genus arboretum that socks us in the figurative solar plexus? We see a logging truck go cruising down the road, stacked with a bunch of those fresh-cut giants, we feel like we lost a brother. Next thing you know, we're in The Brick, we're flopping money down on the bar. Wood. We're under a roof. Wood. We're walking the floors. Wood. Grabbing a pool cue. That's wood. Our friends in the forest carry a set of luggage from the mythical baggage carousel. Tree of life, tree of knowledge, family tree, Buddha's Bodhi tree. Page one of life, in the beginning. Genesis 3:22. Adam and Eve. They're kicking back in the garden of Eden and boom, they get an eviction notice. Why is that? Lest they should also take of the tree of life, eat and live forever. A definitive Yahweh no-no. Be good to yourself, go out and plant a wet one on a tree.
– Diane Frolov and Robin Green
Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.
– Jane Howard
The family is the country of the heart.
– Giuseppe Mazzini
Let us make one point, that we meet each other with a smile, when it is difficult to smile. Smile at each other, make time for each other in your family.
– Mother Teresa
I think people that have a brother or sister don't realize how lucky they are. Sure, they fight a lot, but to know that there's always somebody there, somebody that's family.
– Trey Parker and Matt Stone
Family isn't about whose blood you have. It's about who you care about.
– Trey Parker and Matt Stone
I've learned that all a person has in life is family and friends. If you lose those, you have nothing, so friends are to be treasured more than anything else in the world.
– Trey Parker and Matt Stone
Having a holiday weekend without a family member felt like putting on a sweater that had an extra arm.
– Pamela Ribon
The fact that we don't know this man, isn't important really. Cause his experience is our experience, and his fate is our fate. Vani tass, vani tatum, et omni i vani tass, says the preacher. All is vanity I think that's a pretty good epitaph for all of us. When we're stripped of all our worldly possessions and all our fame, family, friends, we all face death alone. But it's that solitude in death that's our common bond in life. I know it's ironic, but that's just the way things are. Vani tass, vani tatum, et omni i vani tass. Only when we understand all is vanity, only then, it isn't.
– Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
– Leo Tolstoy
When you finally decide how successful you really want to be, you've got to set priorities. Then, each and every day, you've got to take care of the top ones. The lower ones may fall behind, but you can't let the top ones slip. You don't forget about the lower ones though because they can add up to hurt you. Just take care of the top ones first. In 25 years as a head coach and assistant, I think I might have missed one practice. Why? Because practice is my top priority. A day doesn't go by when I don't accomplish something in my family life or my profession because those two things are my top priorities.
– Dan Gable
My family has never been there for me. They expect things because we’re blood.
– Eminem
Your crew becomes your family and you trust the director and the other actors on the set, and it's a very safe place.
– Aleksa Palladino
You're scrutinized all through your life - you're scrutinized by your family, by yourself, by society, and your friends in a certain way, shape, or form.
– Colin Farrell
You should be able to afford health care for your family. You should be able to retire with dignity and respect. And you should be able to give your children the kind of education that allows them to dream even bigger, go even farther and accomplish even more than you could ever imagine.
– Cory Booker
You know, true love really matters, friends really matter, family really matters. Being responsible and disciplined and healthy really matters.
– Courtney Thorne Smith
You know, my life's changed now. I'm starting to experience what people are really supposed to do. You supposed to be married. You're supposed to have a family, kids, treat your wife right.
– Mike Epps
You know, my dad wasn't a photographer or filmmaker by profession, but on Sundays, he would take pictures of me and my family or his pals horseback riding, and it was a means of communication and affection, a means of not being so dysfunctional with each other.
– Bruce Weber
You know, every family and every business in California knows what it means to go through tough times.
– Carly Fiorina
You know that family is going to be there for you no matter what. My dad gave me a freakin' kidney!
– Sarah Hyland
You have to respect your parents. They are giving you an at-bat. If you're an entrepreneur and go into the family business, you want to grow fast. Patience is important. But respect the other party... My dad and I pulled it off because we really respect each other.
– Gary Vaynerchuk
You can't have a happy family if you don't have a happy marriage.
– Jeremy Sisto
You can be cool and at the same time respect your woman, who will hopefully become your wife, who will hopefully become the mother of your kids. America needs to get back to family values.
– Martin Lawrence
You all know that I have been sustained throughout my life by three saving graces - my family, my friends, and a faith in the power of resilience and hope. These graces have carried me through difficult times and they have brought more joy to the good times than I ever could have imagined.
– Elizabeth Edwards
Work ethic has always been stressed in my family. My dad is going to be 80 years old and he still works part time. My mom just retired a couple years ago and she's in her mid- to late 70s.
– Jamie Moyer
With the world as it now presents itself, there is something perverse, and probably dysfunctional, about a person who stays in the same house for 40 years. What about the expanding family syndrome, the school-lottery migration, the property portfolio neurosis? Have you no imagination?
– Iain Sinclair
With millions of family wage manufacturing jobs lost since 2001, we need an energy bill that takes bold action to tap into American ingenuity in order to lead the world in new clean energy technology, rather than playing catch-up to the Japanese, Danish, and Germans.
– Jay Inslee
Whenever I'm in theatre situations I will go out of my way not to talk about my father, but in the film world I can be really proud of my family and say, 'You know what: my dad's a really, really famous theatre director,' because nobody has any idea.
– Rebecca Hall
When you're shooting a film, you really don't get to be a dad, and you don't really get to be a husband. You don't really exist at all. But I do drag my family with me on location whenever I can.
– Eric Bana
When you're out grocery shopping for your family, maybe you can put a can of cat or dog food in your cart and bring it to an animal relief center.
– Rachael Ray
When you look at Michael Jackson, there's nobody who loves him in that family, nobody. If they did, they'd tell him he didn't have to do all that in order to be famous. All he has to do is keep doing his music and be himself. Michael's been a little touched for about 20 years, but somebody needs to pull him aside and tell him they love him.
– Jamie Foxx
When you grow up in a family of languages, you develop a kind of casual fluency, so that languages, though differently colored, all seem transparent to experience.
– David Antin
When you go to the movies with your whole family, it's a different experience. For some reason, it's something that you're all doing together and you take away something special in that.
– Vin Diesel
When women earn the money for the family, everyone in the family benefits. We also know that when women have an income, everyone wins because women dedicate 90% of the income to health, education, to food security, to the children, to the family, or to the community, so when women have an income, everybody wins.
– Michelle Bachelet
When the question arose whether I, as a member of the royal family, should take part in active combat in the Falklands, there was no question in her mind, and it only took her two days to sort the issue.
– Prince Andrew
When men take pleasure in feeling their minds elevated with strong drink, and so indulge their appetite as to disorder their understandings, neglect their duty as members of a family or civil society, and cast off all regard to religion, their case is much to be pitied.
– John Woolman
When I've had hard times in my life, the one thing about being in TV is that it's positive. I withdrew to 'Cheers,' it was familiar in that it was family. It had a kind of realistic positiveness to it.
– Bruno Heller
When I was younger, my family would go camping and fishing on our ranches. My dad loves being around all kinds of animals. He's the one who got me to be a really big animal lover.
– Paris Hilton
When I was young, I had two older sisters, and since I was the youngest in my family, my mom took me around with her all the time. I was forever with her when she was having coffee in the middle of the afternoon with her three sisters. And they would talk about men. I absorbed a lot of that.
– Richard LaGravenese
When I was in college, I was in the theater department, which for anyone who has been involved in any kind of theater program, you know that it's really wacky and tight-knit, a real family. Me and my good friends from college would do random shows and plays that were sometimes serious, but most of the time really goofy and funny.
– Darren Criss
When I was going on auditions, it was nerve-racking. I'd always say to my mom that it would be awesome if I could get a series. When Modern Family came along, I said, 'You know what, Mom? I believe I'm going to get this role.'
– Rico Rodriguez
When I was a kid, the only way I saw movies was from the back seat of my family's car at the drive-in.
– Forest Whitaker
When I turned 30, due to my father's heart history and my family genetics, I vowed to start seeing a cardiologist every year and just really be proactive and take my own heart health into my own hands.
– Jennie Garth
When I started law school I was shocked to learn that our legal system traditionally had the man as the head and master of the family. As late as the '70s and '80s when we were fighting for the Equal Rights Amendment, states like Louisiana still had a head and master law.
– Patricia Ireland