It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons. Johann Schiller

An ounce of blood is worth more than a pound of friendship. Spanish Proverb

We all grow up with the weight of history on us. Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies. Shirley Abbott

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. Desmond Tutu

A father's a treasure; a brother's a comfort; a friend is both. Benjamin Franklin

A brother may not be a friend, but a friend will always be a brother. Benjamin Franklin

Families are the compass that guides us. They are the inspiration to reach great heights, and our comfort when we occasionally falter. Brad Henry

Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we're related for better or for worse and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum. Rick Riordan

Home is where you are loved the most and act the worst. Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Be it ever so humble there's no place like home. unknown

Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible -- the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family. Virginia Satir

Children are a poor man's riches. English Proverb

Children have more need of models than critics. French (on parents and children)

What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life - to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories. George Eliot

Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children. Charles R. Swindoll

One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters. George Herbert

That's what people do who love you. They put their arms around you and love you when you're not so lovable. Deb Caletti

Families ties are cherished things, forged in childhood days, by love of parents, deep and true, and sweet familiar ways. Terri Burritt

Having children makes you no more a parent than having a piano makes you a pianist. Michael Levinve

The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother. Theodore Hesburgh

While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about. Angela Schwindt

All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair. Mitch Albom

It is a wise father that knows his own child. William Shakespeare

Bringing up a family should be an adventure, not an anxious discipline in which everybody is constantly graded for performance. Milton R. Saperstein

Parents are like God because you wanna know they're out there, and you want them to think well of you, but you really only call when you need something. Chuck Palahniuk

Parents were the only ones obligated to love you; from the rest of the world you had to earn it. Ann Brashares

The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof. Richard Bach

The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home. Confucius

A mother is not a person to lean on, but a person to make leaning unnecessary. Dorothy C. Fisher

The best inheritance a parent can give to his children is a few minutes of their time each day. M. Grundler

The children despise their parents until the age of when they suddenly become just like them - thus preserving the system. Quentin

This is part of what a family is about, not just love. It's knowing that your family will be there watching out for you. Nothing else will give you that. Not money. Not fame. Not work. Mitch Albom

Home is people. Not a place. If you go back there after the people are gone, then all you can see is what is not there any more. Robin Hobb

A daughter without her mother is a woman broken. It is a loss that turns to arthritis and settles deep into her bones. Kristin Hannah

The informality of family life is a blessed condition that allows us to become our best while looking our worst. Marge Kennedy

We cannot destroy kindred: our chains stretch a little sometimes, but they never break. Marquise de Sevigne

This was the trouble with families. Like invidious doctors, they knew just where it hurt. Arundhati Roy

Blood is thicker than water. German Proverb

A house divided cannot stand. Bible (Matthew 12:25)

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Asian Proverb

A crab walks, so walks his children. African proverb Kpelle Tribe

What children say, they have heard at home. Wolof (West African (on parenting and children)

You can do anything with children if only you play with them. German (on parenting and children)

To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right. Confucius

Like father, like son. Asian Proverb

Home is where the heart is. J.J. McCloskey

Give an extra piece of cake to a stepchild. Korean (on parenting and children)

Charity begins at home. Tobias George Smollett

When you educate a man you educate an individual. When you educate a woman you educate a whole family. Robert M. Maciver

Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life. Albert Einstein

In every conceivable manner, the family is a link to our past, bridge to our future. Alex Haley

Without a family, man, alone in the world, trembles with the cold. Andre Maurois

You leave home to seek your fortune and, when you get it, you go home and share it with your family. Anita Baker

Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family. Anthony Brandt

To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there. Barbara Bush

Cherish your human connections – your relationships with friends and family. Barbara Bush

A man that raises a large family does, indeed, while he lives to observe them, stand a broader mark for sorrow; but then he stands a broader mark for pleasure too. Benjamin Franklin

In time of test, family is best. Burmese Proverb

To understand your parents’ love, you must raise children yourself. Chinese Proverb

Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten. David Ogden Stiers

The family – that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape, nor, in our inmost hearts, ever quite wish to. Dodie Smith

You are born into your family and your family is born into you. No returns. No exchanges. Elizabeth Berg

Family: A social unit where the father is concerned with parking space, the children with outer space, and the mother with closet space. Evan Esar

Family quarrels are bitter things. They don’t go according to any rules. They’re not like aches or wounds, they’re more like splits in the skin that won’t heal because there’s not enough material. F. Scott Fitzgerald

You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you. Frederick Buechner

In family life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together, and the music that brings harmony. Friedrich Nietzsche

A happy family is but an earlier heaven. George Bernard Shaw

Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city. George Burns

The family is one of nature’s masterpieces. George Santayana

The family is the test of freedom; because the family is the only thing that the free man makes for himself and by himself. Gilbert K. Chesterton

When trouble comes, it’s your family that supports you. Guy Lafleur

So much of what is best in us is bound up in our love of family, that it remains the measure of our stability because it measures our sense of loyalty. All other pacts of love or fear derive from it and are modelled upon it. Haniel Long

So much of what is best in us is bound up in our love of family, that it remains the measure of our stability because it measures our sense of loyalty. Haniel Long

Being part of a family means smiling for photos. Harry Morgan

Nothing is better than going home to family and eating good food and relaxing. Irina Shayk

Family is a life jacket in the stormy sea of life. J.K. Rowling

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. Elizabeth Jane Howard

Family is a unique gift that needs to be appreciated and treasured, even when they’re driving you crazy. As much as they make you mad, interrupt you, annoy you, curse at you, try to control you, these are the people who know you the best and who love you. Jenna Morasca

My mother used to tell me that when push comes to shove, you always know who to turn to. That being a family isn't a social construct but an instinct. Jodi Picoult

Family and friendships are two of the greatest facilitators of happiness. John C. Maxwell

The most important thing in the world is family and love. John Wooden

Think of your family today and every day thereafter, don’t let the busy world of today keep you from showing how much you love and appreciate your family. Josiah

The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works, is the family. Lee Iacocca

All happy families are alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Leo Tolstoy

I am blessed to have so many great things in my life – family, friends, and God. All will be in my thoughts daily. Lil’ Kim

Being a family means you are a part of something very wonderful. It means you will love and be loved for the rest of your life. Lisa Weed

In truth a family is what you make it. It is made strong, not by number of heads counted at the dinner table, but by the rituals you help family members create, by the memories you share, by the commitment of time, caring, and love you show to one another, and by the hopes for the future you have as individuals and as a unit. Marge Kennedy

The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, is in its loyalty to each other. Mario Puzo

A dysfunctional family is any family with more than one person in it. Mary Karr

I sustain myself with the love of family. Maya Angelou

Family is not an important thing, it’s everything. Michael J. Fox

What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family. Mother Teresa

Having somewhere to go is home. Having someone to love is family. And having both is a blessing. Nancy Parker Brummett

Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world. Napoleon Bonaparte

Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family. Most of us would give our own life for the survival of a family member, yet we lead our daily life too often as if we take our family for granted. Paul Pearsall

It didn’t matter how big our house was; it mattered that there was love in it. Peter Buffett

The family is the first essential cell of human society. Pope John XXIII

I don't think quantity time is as special as quality time with your family. Reba McEntire

Family life is too intimate to be preserved by the spirit of justice. It can be sustained by a spirit of love which goes beyond justice. Reinhold Niebuhr

One’s family is the most important thing in life. I look at it this way: One of these days I’ll be over in a hospital somewhere with four walls around me. And the only people who’ll be with me will be my family. Robert Byrd

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Romans 12:9

You must remember, family is often born of blood, but it doesn't depend on blood. Nor is it exclusive friendship. Family members can be your best friends, you know. And best friends, whether or not they are related to you, can be your family. Trenton Lee Stewart

Treat your family like friends and your friends like family. unknown

Family isn’t always blood. It’s the people in your life who want you in theirs; the ones who accept you for who you are. The ones that would do anything to see your smile and who love you no matter what. unknown

Families are like branches on a tree. We grow in different directions, yet our roots remain as one. unknown

The Family is where life begins and love never ends. unknown

Family and friends are hidden treasures, seek them and enjoy their riches. Wanda Hope Carter

There’s nothing I value more than the closeness of friends and family, a smile as I pass someone on the street. Willie Stargell

There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues of human society are created, strengthened and maintained. Winston Churchill