De Vaderdag Site

That is the thankless position of the father in the family-the provider for all, and the enemy of all.
J. August Strindberg (1849-1912), Swedish dramatist, novelist, poet. The Son of a Servant (1886; tr. by Claud Field, 1913).

It is a wise father that knows his own child. William Shakespeare (1564-1616), It doesn't matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was.
Anne Sexton (1928-1974), U.S. poet.

One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters.
English Proverb (17th century).

To be a successful father . . . there's one absolute rule: when you have a kid, don't look at it for the first two years.
Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961), U.S. author.

A man knows when he is growing old because he begins to look like his father.
Gabriel García Márquez (b. 1928), Colombian writer.

I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection.
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), Austrian psychiatrist. Civilization and Its Discontents

If the new American father feels bewildered and even defeated, let him take comfort from the fact that whatever he does in any fathering situation has a fifty percent chance of being right.
Bill Cosby (b. 1937), U.S. comedian, actor. Fatherhood, ch. 5 (1986).

Be kind to thy father, for when thou wert young, Who loved thee so fondly as he? He caught the first accents that fell from thy tongue, And joined in thy innocent glee.
Margaret Courtney (1822-62), U.S. poet. Be Kind.

We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow; Our wiser sons, no doubt will think us so.
Alexander Pope (1688-1744), English satirical poet. Essay on Criticism.

A man's desire for a son is usually nothing but the wish to duplicate himself in order that such a remarkable pattern may not be lost to the world.
Helen Rowland (1875-1950), U.S. journalist. Reflections of a Bachelor Girl (1903).

Leontine: An only son, sir, might expect more indulgence. Croaker: An only father, sir, might expect more obedience.
Oliver Goldsmith (1728-74), Anglo-Irish author. The Good Natur'd Man, act 1.