It’s time to celebrate that all-important guy in your life—dad. To mark Father’s Day, we’ve rounded up 50 inspiring, funny, poignant, and even just silly quotes about and from famous fathers. These missives come from all types of people, from authors, comedians, and musicians to politicians, athletes, and actors. They’re from across a huge span of time: some were recorded in the 17th century; others were uttered just last week. Some are so classic you’ve likely read or heard them before; others are more obscure. Barack Obama and William Shakespeare are quoted here; so are Louis C.K. and even Jay-Z. But they all have one thing in common: they all celebrate fatherhood. 1. “Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap-on-a-rope.” —Bill Cosby 2. “I think back to the day I drove Michelle and a newborn Malia home from the hospital nearly 13 years ago—crawling along, miles under the speed limit, feeling the weight of my daughter’s future resting in my hands. I think about the pledge I made to her that day: that I would give her what I never had—that if I could be anything in life, I would be a good father. I knew that day that my own life wouldn’t count for much unless she had every opportunity in hers.” —Barack Obama 3. “The only way I can describe [fatherhood]—it sounds stupid, but—at the end of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, you know how his heart grows like five times? Everything is full; It’s just full all the time.” —Matt Damon 4. “What makes Will the best father in the world to me is that he’s there, not just there in a way that’s traditional. The emotional support he offers his children is immeasurable.” —Jada Pinkett Smith 5. “It’s chaos at times, but there’s such joy in the house. I look and there’s our boy from Vietnam and our daughter from Ethiopia, and our girl was born in Namibia, and our son is from Cambodia, and they’re brothers and sisters, man. They’re brothers and sisters and it’s a sight for elation. We have the capability to give a child a home, and let me tell you it’s selfish, too, because the reward has been extraordinary.” —Brad Pitt 6. “Any man can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad.” —Anne Geddes 7. “I just sit there and make up songs and sing to [my son] in gibberish. I’m very good at gibberish now.” —Elton John 8. “During the sole argument we had when [Chelsea] was in high school, the subject of which I don’t even remember, I looked at her and said, ‘As long as you’re in this house, being president is my second most important job’” —Bill Clinton 9. “He has always provided me a safe place to land and a hard place from which to launch.” —Chelsea Clinton 10. “There should be a children’s song: ‘If you’re happy and you know it, keep it to yourself and let your dad sleep.’” —Jim Gaffigan 11. “I found out that I’m a pretty bad father. I make a lot of mistakes and I don’t know what I’m doing. But my kids love me. Go figure.” —Louis C.K. 12. “I want my son to wear a helmet 24 hours a day. If it was socially acceptable I’d be the first one to have my kid in a full helmet and like a cage across his face mask.” —Will Arnett 13. “Having a kid is like falling in love for the first time when you’re 12, but every day.” —Mike Myers 14. “My father would lift me high / And dance with my mother and me and then / Spin me around til I fell asleep / Then up the stairs he would carry me / And I knew for sure I was loved.” —Luther Vandross 15. “Years ago we used to play / He used to laugh when I ran away / But when I fell and hurt my knee / He would run to comfort me / And the pain would go away.” —The Monkees 16. “The older I get the more I can see / How much he loved my mother and my brother and me / And he did the best that he could / And I only hope when I have my own family That everyday I see a little more of my father in me.” —Keith Urban 17. “I imagined the hard things that pulled us apart / Will never again, sir, tear us from each other’s hearts.” —Bruce Springsteen 18. “The most amazing feeling I feel / Words can’t describe what I’m feeling for real / Maybe I paint the sky blue / My greatest creation was you.” —Jay-Z 19. “It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons.” —Friedrich Schiller 20. “I decided in my life that I would do nothing that did not reflect positively on my father’s life.” —Sidney Poitier 21. “I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.” —Harry S. Truman 22. “The older I get, the smarter my father seems to get.” —Tim Russert 23. “When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.” —Mark Twain Getty Images Mark Twain (Getty Images) 24. “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 50 percent chance of being right.” —Bill Cosby 25. “Fatherhood is great because you can ruin someone from scratch.” —Jon Stewart 26. “I’ll never forget the moment I became a dad. It’s hard to describe—that level of responsibility, the desire to give such joy, the clarity: Nothing is more important than this.” —Tom Cruise 27. “I’m probably the most uncool guy that [my daughters] know—as far as they are concerned anyway—‘cause I’m Dad. I mean dads just aren’t cool—especially when I dance! They don’t want me to dance.” —Tim McGraw 28. “I’ve never been part of anything so great as those three kids.” —Al Roker 29. “My sisters and I can still recite Dad’s grilling rules: Rule No. 1: Dad is in charge. Rule No. 2: Repeat Rule No. 1.” —Connie Schultz 30. “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 31. “I’m so proud of you that it makes me proud of me. I hope you know that.” —John Green and David Levithan 32. “A man knows he is growing old because he begins to look like his father.” —Gabriel Garcia Marquez 33. “My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person: he believed in me.” —Jim Valvano 34. “I know that I will never find my father in any other man who comes into my life, because it is a void in my life that can only be filled by [my father].” —Halle Berry 35. “My father taught me that the only way you can make good at anything is to practice, and then practice some more.” —Pete Rose 36. “Having children is like living in a frat house—nobody sleeps, everything’s broken, and there’s a lot of throwing up.” —Ray Romano 37. “The nicest Father’s Day surprise of all for Dad would be if you handed him a box, and he unwrapped it, and there, inside, sitting on a bed of folded tissue, was the pair of his undershorts that somebody threw away six months ago (without asking Dad) because they had reached the stage where they were 3 percent undershorts and 97 percent holes. Dad misses those undershorts. They were his Faithful Undershorts Companion.” —Dave Barry 38. “Before I got married I had six theories about raising children; now, I have six children and no theories.” ―John Wilmot 39. “I had watched Dad climb into the biggest arena and succeed. I wanted to find out if I had what it took to join him.” —George W. Bush 40. “He was a father. That’s what a father does. Eases the burdens of those he loves. Saves the ones he loves from painful last images that might endure for a lifetime.” —George Saunders 41. “”I think that my strong determination for justice comes from the very strong, dynamic personality of my father … I have rarely ever met a person more fearless and courageous than my father … The thing that I admire most about my dad is his genuine Christian character. He is a man of real integrity, deeply committed to moral and ethical principles. He is conscientious in all of his undertakings … If I had a problem I could always call Daddy.” —Martin Luther King, Jr. 42. “My dad, like any coach, has always stressed the fundamentals. He taught me responsibility, accountability, and the importance of hard work.” —Steve Young 43. “I remember my daughter Deni coming along, and she was so pure and caring of everybody and everything. And somehow, this little being managed to get around all the obstacles — the gun turrets, the walls, the moats, the sentries — that were wrapped around my heart. My heart at that time needed her … I think it’s the best thing going, parenthood.” —Woody Harrelson 44. “Parenting is about being competent and responsible. It’s not about gender, necessarily.” —Dan Savage 45. “When you have kids, there’s no such thing as quality time. There’s just time. There’s no, ‘Ooh, his graduation’s better than going to the mall.’ It’s all kind of equal. Changing her diaper and her winning a contest — it’s all good.” —Chris Rock 46. “Men should always change diapers. It’s a very rewarding experience. It’s mentally cleansing. It’s like washing dishes, but imagine if the dishes were your kids, so you really love the dishes.” —Chris Martin 47. “Whenever one of my children says, ‘Goodnight, Daddy,’ I always think to myself, ‘You don’t mean that.” —Jim Gaffigan 48. “Being Chinese immigrants in the United States, it was important for my parents to maintain ties that went back a long time. They led by example. My dad didn’t bring his work pressures home. We were always aware of them and would go as kids to his office and run around. But when he came home, he was able to leave things behind, at least from our perspective, and focus on us.” —C.C. Pei, son of I.M. Pei, architect of the Louvre Pyramid 49. “It is a wise father that knows his own child.” —William Shakespeare 50. “He never stopped wanting to save the world.” —Ron Reagan
Posted on: Sat, 14 Jun 2014 03:24:42 +0000
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