“You could hear the wind in the leaves, and on that wind traveled the screams of the kids on the playground in the distance, the little kids figuring out how to be alive, how to navigate a world that was not built for them by navigating a playground that was.”— John Green, Hazel, amazon.com
“We talk about ‘loving one’s child’ as if a child were a mystical unicorn. Ninety-eight percent of American parents secretly feel that if you have not had and raised a child, your capacity for love is somehow diminished. Ninety-eight percent of American parents secretly believe that non-parents canno…”— Anne Lamott, salon.com
“A father is the one friend upon whom we can always rely. In the hour of need, when all else fails, we remember him upon whose knees we sat when children, and who soothed our sorrows; and even though he may be unable to assist us, his mere presence serves to comfort and strengthen us.”— Émile Gaboriau, christianitydaily.com
“Dads are like chocolate chip cookies; they may have chips or be totally nutty, but they are sweet and make the world a better place, especially for their children.”— Hilllary Lytle, christianitydaily.com
“Maybe not. But maybe that's how the world changes, Isaiah. One father, one child, at a time.”— Barbara Samuel, amazon.com
“Without my father on his Delhi rooftop, why was I here? Without him there, why should I go back? Without that ache between us, what was I made of?”— Kiran Desai, amazon.com
“There is nothing that moves a loving father's soul quite like his child's cry.”— Joni Eareckson Tada, amazon.com
“Sometimes I think my papa is an accordion. When he looks at me and smiles and breathes, I hear the notes.”— Makrus Zusak, Liesel, amazon.com
“I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren't trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.”— Umberto Eco, amazon.com
“No one worries about you like your mother, and when she is gone, the world seems unsafe, things that happen unwieldy. You cannot turn to her anymore, and it changes your life forever. There is no one on earth who knew you from the day you were born; who knew why you cried, or when you’d had enough f…”— Adriana Trigiani, amazon.com
“A mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dates all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path.”— Agatha Christie, amazon.com
“The only way to make peace with who you are is to make peace with your past. Explore your childhood. Your history. It brought you here and it made you who you are; but is this you at your fullest potential? Do you see love in everything? Is this your purpose?”— Rachel Brathen, instagram.com
“I had a wonderful childhood, which is tough because it’s hard to adjust to a miserable adulthood.”— Larry David, twitter.com
“From childhood’s hour I have not been As others were— I have not seen As others saw — I could not bring My passions from a common spring. From the same source I have not taken My sorrow; I could not awaken My heart to joy at the same tone; And all I loved, I loved alone. Then— in my childhood— in th…”— Edgar Allan Poe, poetryfoundation.org
“See, I live. On what? Childhood and future are equally present. Sheer abundance of being floods my heart.”— Rainer Maria Rilke, joannamacy.net
“Only children seem to be better at tolerating boredom because they were always faced with it as youngsters.”— Laura Donovan, hellogiggles.com
“I learned how to talk to adults early on, something that some children don’t learn until they are adults themselves. Some might say it’s a rub against only children but I don’t feel like I missed out on any part of childhood.”— Kayley Kravitz, huffingtonpost.com