Family Quotes

And the end of this paradox is that only when the child is thus free can he have the proper attachment to his parents; only when we allow his independence can he then freely offer us love and respect, without conflict and without resentment. It is the hardest lesson to learn that the goal of parenthood is not to reign forever but to abdicate gracefully at the right time.

~ Sydney J. Harris

And most of the failures in parent-child relationships, from my observation, begin when the child begins to acquire a mind and a will of its own, to make independent decisions and to question the omnipotence or the wisdom of the parent.

~ Sydney J. Harris

I am convinced that an immense number of people who have children should not have them, and do not particularly want them, except as symbols of family life. What they want are ideal children, not real ones; and as soon as the real ones show no intention of conforming to the ideal in the parent's mind, they are treated as burdens, shipped away to school or otherwise neglected.

~ Sydney J. Harris

Genuine love for a child, it seems to me, must include a desire for his maturity and ultimately his independence. WAtching a personality unfold is perhaps the deepest pleasure of parenthood; wishing, or trying, to retard this growth is one of the deepest sins.

~ Sydney J. Harris

He was not being courageous as he bore the freezing stream for his wife and children. He simply chose between the lesser of two evils—the pain and suffering he would endure in the river, a physical pain that he could stand to bear, or the pain and suffering he would feel if he had to watch his family wade across and freeze. It was not a decision. The choice had already been made the moment Ole proposed marriage to his wife and welcomed these beautiful daughters into the world.

~ Sage Steadman

Children have no business expressing opinions on anything except Do you have enough room in the toes?

~ Florence King

And then there will be the times when I see you laughing. Like the time you’ll be playing with the neighbor’s puppy, poking your hands through the chain-link fence separating our back yards, and you’ll be laughing so hard you’ll start hiccupping. The puppy will run inside the neighbor’s house, and your laughter will gradually subside, letting you catch your breath. Then the puppy will come back to the fence to lick your fingers again, and you’ll shriek and start laughing again. It will be the most wonderful sound I could ever imagine, a sound that makes me feel like a fountain, or a wellspring.

~ Ted Chiang

Children who are not encouraged to do, to try, to explore, to master, and to risk failure, often feel helpless and inadequate. Over-controlled by anxious, fearful parents, these children often become anxious and fearful themselves. This makes it difficult for them to mature. Many never outgrow the need for ongoing parental guidance and control. As a result, their parents continue to invade, manipulate, and frequently dominate their lives.

~ Susan Forward

Just as verbally and physically abused children internalize blame, so do incest victims. However, in incest, the blame is compounded by the shame. The belief that ‘it’s all my fault’ is never more intense than with the incest victim. This belief fosters strong feelings of self-loathing and shame. In addition to having somehow to cope with the actual incest, the victim must now guard against being caught and exposed as a ‘dirty, disgusting’ person

~ Susan Forward

Children do not find fault with their parents until later. In the beginning, the love you get is the love that sets.

~ Jeanette Winterson

The innocence of such children doesn't answer our deepest questions about this vale of tears to which we are condemned, but it helps to dispel them. That is the secret to family life.

~ Joyce Carol Oates

As we embrace the mystery of love, we see that it contains not an absence of error, but the presence of grace. It contains not the absence of anger or pain, but the presence of forgiveness and healing. Not the absence of disharmony or confusion, but the presence of peace and clarity.To make a home into a sanctuary, we must be willing to make room in our hearts for one another's limitations, as well as our gifts. For it is here in this sacred space of the home and family, so brimming with life, so full of every emotion available to our hearts, that we learn what it means to love within all the nuances of an intimate relationship.

~ Shea Darian

He was taking a leap here, negotiating with a crackhead, under the table, in a dark cantina. The courage etched on his face came from loving Aidia so much he’d close his eyes and walk through fire to see her safe.

~ Laura Anderson Kurk

There is nothing better for your family than for you to be at your best, for you to be at your own peace, for you to be showing them in every way who you are, and what you stand for.

~ Steve Maraboli

Smile at the Fates and you will feel less their Slave.

~ Denise Sevier Fries

Even with my deepest soul I knew too well that all of these were just a stairs to heaven.

~ Fernando Lachica

Poetry is a tool for writers to create literature in different forms of expression and messages.

~ Vanessa M. Chattman

Can the child who is Dell; be the outer emoodiment of man's quest to save himself? To cure himself?...Or, to be himself?

~ Milkweed L. Augustine

I did not want to set my world alight, to watch it burn because of the sister I had come to love too much.

~ Sarah Swainson

To get here had been painful, but for once in my life I felt free.

~ Sarah Swainson

It was as though everything that mattered was encapsulated in that last moment of my blissful state of oblivion.

~ Sarah Swainson

The morning was brisk and the coffee was hot and roasted with little gurgles in the room. Rosie hadn’t moved, but she let out a tiny snore every now and again that made everything perfect.

~ Ruth Mcleod-Kearns

No,” I said. “I can’t remember doing this.”“Oh,” Rena made and gestured dramatically. “You don’t remember it. And that automatically means you didn’t do it?

~ Lili Frings

In the beginning we start with roses. The king’s flower right? Only they wilt in less than a day, especially when exposed to the elements. But Carnations? Oh, what a beautiful flower. They come in every color. True, some are painted, but that doesn’t mean they are less beautiful, and they never wilt.

~ Ruth Mcleod-Kearns

We all fight for money, some for power, but most of all for love. But me, I fight to become a champion.

~ Jonathan Anthony Burkett

Mankind has a mandate to care for the earth and all that is within it, especially the animals, and an animal should never be placed in a position where he needs to be concerned about such things. But this is not that time.

~ Tara Pollard

I'm sure it's not any wish of mine that I'm born with inclinations for better things. If I could be born again, and had the designing of myself, I'd be born the lowest and coarsest-minded person imaginable, so that I could find plenty of companionship, or I'd be born an idiot, which would be better still.

~ Miles Franklin

Repudiating the vulnerability I felt had wrecked the lives of women around me, I modelled myself on my controlled father. I wanted his freedom and his focus. To him, a family was an aquarium: controlled, contained. To the women I knew, a family was everything.

~ Antonella Gambotto-Burke

What we are now witnessing in the 21st century is the fracture or complete breakdown of families, societies, and governments as a result of centuries of dehumanization that have taken a toll. More natural disasters (tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, etc.) merely uncover the reality of the national disasters we have created by granting sanctuary to dehumanization via the law.

~ Liza Lugo

What we are now witnessing in the 21st century is the fracture or complete breakdown of families, societies, and governments as a result of centuries of dehumanization that have taken a toll. More natural disasters (tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, etc.) merely uncover the reality of the national disasters we have created by grandting sanctuary to dehumanization via the law.

~ Liza Lugo

she wasn't veryinterestingbut few peopleare.

~ Charles Bukowski

A small world where people know each other, and still so deep, able to get lost.

~ Anthony Liccione

Anybody who tries to change society without first examining the family, is trying to push a shadow without moving a statue.

~ Stefan Molyneux

The family is the basis of society. As the family is, so is the society, and it is human beings who make a family-not the quantity of them, but the quality of them.

~ Ashley Montagu

If you think people in your life are normal, then you undoubtedly have not spent any time getting to know the abnormal side of them.

~ Shannon L. Alder

Disorder in society is the result of disorder in the family.

~ St. Angela Merici

Families that feel together, heal together.

~ Christina G. Hibbert Psy.d.

I recently consulted to a therapist who felt he had accomplished something by getting his dissociative client to remain in her ANP throughout her sessions with him. His view reflects the fundamental mistake that untrained therapists tend to make with DID and DDNOS. Although his client was properly diagnosed, he assumed that the ANP should be encouraged to take charge of the other parts at all times. He also expected her to speak for them—in other words, to do their therapy. This denied the other parts the opportunity to reveal their secrets, heal their pain, or correct their childhood-based beliefs about the world.If you were doing family therapy, would it be a good idea to only meet with the father, especially if he had not talked with his children or his spouse in years? Would the other family members feel as if their experiences and feelings mattered?Would they be able to improve their relationships? You must work with the parts who are inside of the system. Directly.

~ Alison Miller

Family’s the luck of the draw, Lena. What you make of yourself, because of or despite it, that’s where the spine and heart come in.

~ Nora Roberts

The strength was always in you. All you had to do was find it.

~ Katherine Givens