Father's Day: Thoughts to Inspire All Men

When my daughter was born, my husband had the duty of following her to the nursery for tests, and making sure we left with the right child. While watching through the glass, my husband admired a lovely baby wrapped in her blanket, lying in a bassinet. Only when the nurse rapped on the glass to get his attention did he realize he was admiring the wrong baby! Lesson learned, and mistake made, he never left her side until we left the hospital. And he has never failed her since.

So, what makes a great dad? While covering the basic financial responsibilities is certainly important, there is so much more to the nature of being a great parent. Knowing when to say no, for example, is certainly a trait not instilled from the get go (as evidenced by the mounds of toys my husband tries to buy every time we go to the toy department). But more important is to teach with love, always being the soft place for your child to fall.

So, this Father's Day, in the spirit of Dad, are some inspirational quotes to honor the fathers, uncles, grandfathers, and mentors in our lives. And to my wonderful husband Bryant, Happy Father's Day!

Love

I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection.
-Sigmund Freud

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

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

Small boys become big men through the influence of big men who care about small boys.
-Unknown

Life/Sacrifice

My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, "You're tearing up the grass." "We're not raising grass," Dad would reply. "We're raising boys."
-Harmon Killebrew

He didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.
-Clarence Budington Kelland

When a father gives to his son, both laugh; when a son gives to his father, both cry.
-Jewish proverb

A father is a man who expects his son to be as good a man as he meant to be.
-Frank A. Clark

When one has not had a good father, one must create one.
-Friedrich Nietzsche

Lessons

Life was a lot simpler when what we honored was father and mother rather than all major credit cards.
-Robert Orben

I talk and talk and talk, and I haven't taught people in 50 years what my father taught by example in one week.
-Mario Cuomo

I have never been a material girl. My father always told me never to love anything that cannot love you back.
-Imelda Marcos

Humor

A father carries his pictures where his money used to be.
-Unknown

Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap-on-a-rope.
-Bill Cosby

Never raise your hand to your kids. It leaves your groin unprotected.
-Red Buttons

There are three stages of a man's live: He believes in Santa Claus, he doesn't believe in Santa Claus, he is Santa Claus.
-Unknown