On Parents Quotes

#1. To grow up is to stop putting blame on parents

Maya Angelou

#2. I did a lot of acting when I was a child. I was very shy - the kind of kid who ran into a corner and cried on parents' visiting day.

Adrienne Shelly

#3. God, she loved this kid. Wendy had one of those waves, the ones that sneak up on parents and crush them and make them just want to wrap their arms around their kid and never let him go.

Harlan Coben

#4. We will make the law clearer on parents' liability for failing to prevent their child being subjected to FGM, and we are working to improve the police response.

Theresa May

#5. The Founding Fathers in their wisdom decided that children were an unnatural strain on parents. So they provided jails called schools, equipped with tortures called an education.

John Updike

#6. In either case genetics and neuroscience are showing that a heart of darkness cannot always be blamed on parents or society.

Steven Pinker

#7. Trapped in the bureaucracy nightmare, real families suffer when the big banks and their servicers force foreclosures. The emotional toll on children packing up their rooms and on parents struggling to find a temporary roof is a deep one.

Sheldon Whitehouse

#8. [On parents:] They're not gods to be pleased or devils to be exorcised. They're just there, and we can only hope they understand when we seem less than perfect. And try to understand, ourselves, when they're not all we'd like them to be.

Helen Van Slyke

#9. In addition, Steinberg has found that adolescence is especially rough on parents who don't have an outside interest, whether it be work or a hobby, to absorb their interests as their child is pulling away.

Jennifer Senior

#10. One thing both my parents agree on is this: if people are doing something unfair, it's part of our job to remind them what's fair, even if sometimes it still doesn't turn out the way we want it to.

Kelly Jones

#11. I know my parents loved me - they certainly did everything they could for me - but displays of affection were kept on a distinctly low flame.

Laurie Graham

#12. I never had becoming Miss America on my radar screen. But when I was 17, I decided to quit the violin and my parents were devastated.

Gretchen Carlson

#13. As is said about most writers: on the one hand all I ever did from when I was a child was read, and I was a loner, which was furthered by my parents and my upbringing.

Elfriede Jelinek

#14. A corporal, who had lost an eye after two years on the Russian front, ascertained before we marched that his wife, his two children, and both of his parents had been killed. He had one cigarette. He shared it with me.

Kurt Vonnegut

#15. My parents are my inspiration. Believe it or not, they're my personal coaches. After every game I still call them and get their take on how I played.

Vince Carter

#16. I mean, you can't have sex until you're married if you're Mormon. The first time I had sex, my parents found out. They were listening in on the phone while I was talking about sex to my girlfriend. They freaked out, man. They both cornered me in my bedroom.

Bert McCracken

#17. My love of reading and the English language is something given to me by my parents, and I've passed it on to my children.

Corin Tucker

#18. I grew up in New York City, and both my parents worked. On weekends, we'd go out to the country, and on Sunday nights we'd come back. Sometimes we were a little cranky - it was a long drive. But we could always look forward to one thing: my mother's ziti and meat sauce.

Christa Miller

#19. Irreverence ran on both sides of our family ... my parents brought me up to think we could all change the world.

Richard Branson

#20. My parents can take themselves off on a scenic tour of hell before they tell me who my friends will be, Gan said pleasantly.

Mercedes Lackey

#21. No more excuses. I can't blame anything on my parents. I'm responsible for my mistakes and my choices.

Brad Pitt

#22. We busted a lot of family secrets with this. But to make a long story short, my parents relationship was built heavily on security issues for my Mom, and when my Dad couldn't provide security, the relationship unraveled.

Kenny Loggins

#23. She kissed me on the cheek, and my mom sang Theresa's name from the open front door. She loves Theresa. I think she loves me more when I'm with her.

Kenneth Logan

#24. American Psychological Association, the girlie-girl culture's emphasis on beauty and play-sexiness can increase girls' vulnerability to the pitfalls that most concern parents: depression, eating disorders, distorted body image, risky sexual behavior.

Peggy Orenstein

#25. Of all the subjects on this planet, I think my parents would have been hard put to name one less useful than Greek mythology to securing the keys to an executive bathroom.

J.K. Rowling

#26. I could have blamed it on the intoxication of youth.
Others might find fault on just intoxication.
My parents would say that it was an act of plain stupidity.
Reality would point out that it was Thursday night at college and the youth are prone to err.

Mara Joaquin

#27. Children leave ... and parents stay behind. Still, some things are deeper than time and distance. And your father will always be your father ... And he will always leave a light on for you.

Fred Savage

#28. The sad reality is, it's not just the people I go to school with that are doing it. It's their parents too. Their noses are all turned up at me, like because of my diagnosis; I'm an alien to them. I'm not like their son or daughter so that means I'm not worthy of respect.

Melyssa Winchester

#29. Today it feels as if rock'n'roll has sort of turned in on its self, kids are 'rockin' to the same groups their parents do/did. We've seen it recently with The Stone Roses reunion shows, quite unique but is it healthy. Wasn't the 60's about rebelling against the tastes of your parents?

Andrew Loog Oldham

#30. I always managed to get in trouble, like every kid. But I had to learn a lot of hard lessons on my own, without parents who would nurture me and guard me through that part of life, at a very young age.

Ted Dekker

#31. Both my parents died on the young side. My father was 45, and my mother was 61, so cancer's affected me in a big way.

Kevin Connolly

#32. My parents strapped a pair of plastic skis on my boots when I was two years old and sent me down our driveway in Vail. Of course, they were holding on to me the whole time, but that was my first experience 'skiing.'

Mikaela Shiffrin

#33. Scream at the mangled leather carcass lying at the foot of the stairs, and my parents would roar with laughter. That's what you get for leaving your wallet on the kitchen table.

David Sedaris

#34. And despite being seventeen - Hattori Mariko knew her place in life. She would marry Minamoto Raiden. Her parents would have the prestige of a daughter in the Heian Castle. And Mariko would be the only one to know the stain on that honor.

Renee Ahdieh

#35. My parents went through the dictionary looking for a beautiful name, nearly called me Banyan, flicked on a few pages and came to China, which is cockney rhyming slang for mate.

China Mieville

#36. We are trapped in a net of our our own self-doubt, on the programming force fed to us by parents, schools, society. In a certain light, on certain days, you can see that net. And once you can see it, you can learn to make it go away.

Chloe Thurlow

#37. The only person I can count on is myself. It's up to me to create the life I want. I can't blame my parents or Scott or anyone else for the way things are.

Susane Colasanti

#38. My parents are in many ways embodiments of the American Dream. They came to this country with basically nothing but the clothes on their backs, and after twenty years of hard work, sweat, and sacrifice, they were getting divorced, totally broke, and deep in therapy.

David Henry Sterry

#39. Didn't it often happen, she thought, that aged parents die exactly at the moment when other people (your husband, your adolescent children) have stopped being thrilled to see you coming? But a parent is always thrilled, always dwells so lovingly on your face as you are speaking.

Anne Tyler

#40. At Cornell University, it was well known that after five years on Wall Street, you could expect to be making half a million a year in salary and bonus; after 10 years, you could expect a million or more. I had 60 grand of university debt, and my parents had no retirement. I needed that money.

Philipp Meyer

#41. When I was 13 or 14, my parents had a bit of a windfall so bought a lovely new kitchen, but I burnt it down. I was making cheese on toast when flames escaped from the grill. My father stopped the fire with blind panic and excessive water. I was forgiven, but it put me off cooking for years.

Erin O'Connor

#42. Certain people are not going to connect with a book about the effect a dog has on a family. But every one of us has parents and has either said goodbye to those parents or knows that someday they will.

John Grogan

#43. My parents were divorced and I didn't grow up with my father, but I spent a lot of time around him, and his influence on me has been profound.

Laura Linney

#44. Takes a lot of tries before you hit perfection." He paused to reconsider that. "Well, except for my parents. They got it on the first try." (Adrian)

Richelle Mead

#45. I don't remember my parents together, ever: my father was much older, and really only interested in collecting magazines and bathroom suites; we were the only family in the area to have a bathroom suite on the lawn.

Paula Yates

#46. Every day after school, for three hours a day, I would sell those pralines on the street corner. I was just eight years old. I'd bring the money home to my parents and say, "This is just the beginning."

Richard Simmons

#47. My father is a jazz musician, so I grew up hearing jazz. My parents loved it, but I didn't like it. It went on for too long. Yes, I had certain teachers that really inspired me, like Danny Barker, and John Longo. And I had no idea that I would have any impact on jazz.

Wynton Marsalis

#48. It's a tough business. To my parents or to their friends, I was not a success, but to me I was a huge success. I was having a blast. I was working on shows I loved, I was working with actors I loved, and I was making a living as an actor. And I loved every second of it.

Christina Hendricks

#49. You'd put our parents at risk for some piece of tail?" Ghleanna demanded.
"She saved my life."
"You can fight your own battles!"
"Not when I'm knocked out on my ass!"
"You mean knocked out on your fat ass!"
"My ass, like the rest of me, is perfection!

G.A. Aiken

#50. He was part of a ruined generation of young men coddled by their parents -by their mothers especially- raised on unearned self-esteem, in a bubble of overaffection, in a sad incubator of phony achievement.

Jess Walter

#51. Some parents place undue priority on temporal and material possessions. Some are far less diligent in their efforts to immerse their children in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Remember that having religious observance in the home is as important as providing food, clothing and shelter.

Quentin L. Cook

#52. In the festival which concludes the period, before they go to the temple, both wives and children fall on their knees before their husbands or parents and confess everything in which they have either erred or failed in their duty, and beg pardon for it.

Thomas More

#53. I was raised to be kind. My parents were underdogs. Immigrant Jews. I spoke with an accent. I didn't speak English even - I spoke French and Yiddish mostly. I was picked on.

Saul Rubinek

#54. You should hear what my parents wanted to call me. It was between Brown Rice, Neon Hitch and Z. Ziggurat Zanzibar Zandorf. I'm not joking. Imagine fitting that on my passport!

Neon Hitch

#55. As children, many of us were taught never to talk to strangers. As parents and grandparents, our message must change with technology to include strangers on the Internet.

Judy Biggert

#56. Without intervention today, the cost of care for adults with autism will be significantly greater and the burden will no longer lie with the parents, but on our entire society.

Jenny McCarthy

#57. I have three sons, a husband, parents, and I'll fight and get angry, but what is very important that I have found as I've matured, is that I have to move on.

Jami Gertz

#58. I delivered Chinese food on Long island, which is pretty depressing. I lived with my parents and did that for six months. I got a job a few towns over from mine so I wouldn't have to see people from my high school.

Darin Strauss

#59. I was just a little girl watching TV and wanting to be in it. My parents had no idea how to get me there, but here I am as a part of this great cast on the Disney Channel. Truly, if you just want to do this, then you have to commit to it.

Brenda Song

#60. It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.

Maya Angelou

#61. I was going to show my kids that no matter what happened with their parents, parole officers and other teachers, I wouldn't give up on them. I let them know it matters to me that you come to class, it matters to me that you try, it matters to me when you succeed.

Erin Gruwell

#62. The fundamental difference is that conservatives think man is created in God's image. Liberals think they [themselves] are gods - they want to create utopia on Earth with wealth redistribution, breaking the bonds of marriage and ties between parents and a child.

Ann Coulter

#63. We need to make sure parents and coaches are aware of the dangers an on the look-out for the warning signs. Performance enhancing drugs are too damaging to young people for parents and coaches to not be involved.

Chuck Grassley

#64. Then you can blame it on your parents,' I said, smiling. 'Won't that be a relief?

Richard Bachman

#65. By the time I was 10 or 12, I had discovered the lure of the romance genre - and the dusty copy of 'The Thorn Birds' on my parents' bookshelf.

Sarah MacLean

#66. The government gets it right on Head Start. We are providing opportunities for children in underserved areas where parents may not be able to afford preschool so they can begin their schooling with a running or Head Start.

Bob Filner

#67. I was born on an even keel. Family lore says I never cried, even at birth. I felt at ease on earth, in the right place. And like many children, I took comfort in life's regularity: Every few days it rained, the school bus came and went, and my parents were rooted in their union.

Amity Gaige

#68. All anti-abortion protesters should be presented, on the spot, with an application to sign up as foster parents. They should also be given the names of children in their area in need of adoptive parents. And if they won't sign or volunteer, they should shut up.

Kurt Eichenwald

#69. I realised that you could easily turn any room into a cinema with a projector, so I went on and on at my parents for one. They eventually got me a projector for Christmas when I was ten, and I realised I'd made a ridiculous mistake - I'd forgotten to say 'movie' projector; I got a still one.

Kevin Brownlow

#70. I rushed us out of your parents' house because I didn't think I could manage two hours at the dinner table with everyone focused on Joe Loosey's joystick sitting in the refrigerator next to the applesauce.

Janet Evanovich

#71. I have a great support team. I have very understanding parents that do not put too much pressure on me, and I have close friends that I lean on for support.

Olivia Stuck

#72. My parents and my grandfather on my mom's side would travel the earth. They went to Australia and China, and they went to probably every soccer game I ever played.

Brandi Chastain

#73. The one thing I would hope would go on my tombstone is, 'I made my parents proud.'

Roger Goodell

#74. My parents were gigantic influences on me. I had a deep hunger to impress my father, who was a professor and an intellectual. I wanted his approval.

Siri Hustvedt

#75. I've always enjoyed acting. When we were younger, my sisters and I would put on plays for our parents.

Serena Williams

#76. If we can get kids talking about conservation and doing it, they can have a great influence on their parents by lecturing them and pointing the finger.

Kevin Richardson

#77. I've never done a blind date but my parents met on a blind date.

Hunter Parrish

#78. Always obey your parents. When they are present. This is the best policy in the long run. Because if you don't, they will make you. Most parents think they know better than you do, and you can generally make more by humoring that superstition than you can by acting on your own better judgment.

Mark Twain

#79. This next house is a classic. It was built in 1908." Ms. Knight was a realtor trying hard to sell us a house, and my parents thought that the one she just showed us had stunk. My mom made a note on her clipboard

Carrie Cross

#80. For me, the toughest thing for kids to deal with is when the parents are fighting. It's not violence on them - it's the feeling of violence in the family.

Avi Arad

#81. What is it that affectionate parents require of their Children; for all their care, anxiety, and toil on their accounts? Only that they would be wise and virtuous, Benevolent and kind.

Abigail Adams

#82. We live in an age of generational turmoil. Baby-boom parents are accused of clinging on to jobs and houses which they should be freeing up for their children. Twentysomethings who can't afford to leave home and can't get jobs are attacked as aimless and immature.

Jane Ridley

#83. I grew up with probably three different authors having a seminal influence on my childhood, Dr. Seuss being one and Maurice Sendak being another. That was my parents, who exposed me to their stories. That's how I was introduced to the whole idea of not just reading, but storytelling in general.

Christopher Meledandri

#84. When I was a child growing up in Maine, one of my favorite things to do was to look for sand dollars on the seashores of Maine, because my parents told me it would bring me luck. But you know, these shells, they're hard to find. They're covered in sand. They're difficult to see.

Sarah Parcak

#85. Your teacher didn't lie to you. A centaur never lies. He merely edited his information, on orders from the King, so as not to force on the impressionable minds of children things their parents did not want them to hear. Education has ever been thus.

Piers Anthony

#86. In some families, parents don't read or don't have the money to spend on books.

Victoria Osteen

#87. If parents simply read for pleasure at home on their own, their children were more likely to enjoy reading, too. That pattern held fast across very different countries and different levels of family income. Kids could see what parents valued, and it mattered more than what parents said.

Amanda Ripley

#88. Water helped ancient man learn those first lessons about the rights of others and responsibility to a larger society ... It became part of the moral and mental legacy parents passed on to their children.

Max Meyer

#89. Parents and children were put on earth to give each other grief. You were my punishment for how I behaved to my own father. And I'll have my revenge when you have children of your own.

Mary Jo Putney

#90. Everyone, from the Mother Superior to the priests to my parents
they were so upset and reproachful ... I felt as if something they all passionately believed in depended on me carrying on with something I didn't.

Philip Pullman

#91. At 11, I went to live with my maternal nan and granddad temporarily, after my parents separated, and Nan would let me have a go on her piano. My grandparents were like something out of the Noel Coward play, 'This Happy Breed,' and it was magical to hear them sing music-hall songs.

Jools Holland

#92. I remember when I was prosecutor we had truancy and curfew issues and we made a refrigerator magnet, and that was hot with parents. They loved putting it up on the wall and saying, you know, if you don't follow these rules, you could get prosecuted.

Amy Klobuchar

#93. When you're a kid, you think you're going to have this deep well of time with your parents when you grow up and you're all on equal footing.

Elisabeth Egan

#94. On the day I was signed, Mr. Finley, the owner of the Athletics at that time came up to me and said, 'When you were six you ran away from home, and when your parents found you at a nearby lake, you had already caught two catfish and were pulling in a third. Now repeat it back to me.'

Catfish Hunter

#95. Halloween was confusing. All my life my parents said, "Never take candy from strangers." And then they dressed me up and said, "Go beg for it." I didn't know what to do! I'd knock on people's doors and go, "Trick or treat." "No thank you."

Rita Rudner

#96. To be told that one can be dependent on one's parents until age 26 should strike a young person who wants to grow up as demeaning, not as something to celebrate.

Dennis Prager

#97. And so we go and I meet his parents. And it's a very strange thing meeting your girlfriend's boyfriend's parents for the first time. Part of you is angry for obvious reasons and part of you still wants to make a good impression. On a side note, they seemed in perfect health.

Mike Birbiglia

#98. It's all arbitrary. Had Faye attended a different school. Had her parents moved away. Had Peggy been sick that day. Had she chosen a different boy. And on and on. A thousand permutations, a million possibilities, and almost all of them kept Faye from sitting here in the sand with Henry.

Nathan Hill

#99. Dead parents are gruesome, yes, but anyone who's anyone in children's literature has either been orphaned or abandoned; well-adjusted kids from stable two-parent homes don't go on hero quests.

Lynn Messina

#100. Happy is the child who happens in upon his parents from time to time to see him on his knees, or going aside regularly, to keep times with the Lord.

Larry Christenson