"There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings."
Hodding Carter
ParentingLegacy
Parenting Quotes
200 FAMOUS QUOTES · PARENTING
Parenting Quotes
Best parenting quotes from Kahlil Gibran, Anne Frank, Benjamin Spock, Oscar Wilde, Frederick Douglass and Gandhi: 200 wise lines on raising children.
"Children are not things to be molded, but are people to be unfolded."
Jess Lair
ChildrenGrowth
"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."
Frederick Douglass
ChildrenCharacter
"Children learn more from what you are than what you teach."
W. E. B. Du Bois
ExampleTeaching
"The best way to make children good is to make them happy."Oscar Wilde
ChildrenHappiness
"Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you."
Robert Fulghum
ExampleParenting
"Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children."
Charles R. Swindoll
MemoriesChildren
"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales."
Albert Einstein
ReadingImagination
"Children must be taught how to think, not what to think."
Margaret Mead
EducationThinking
"What's done to children, they will do to society."
Karl Menninger
ChildrenSociety
"The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice."
Peggy O'Mara
WordsParenting
"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."
Elizabeth Stone
LoveParenthood
"Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands."
Anne Frank
CharacterGuidance
"Before I got married I had six theories about raising children; now, I have six children and no theories."
John Wilmot
"There is no such thing as a perfect parent. So just be a real one."
Sue Atkins
ParentingAuthenticity
"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them."
James Baldwin
ExampleChildren
"The most important thing that parents can teach their children is how to get along without them."
Frank A. Clark
"Insanity is hereditary; you get it from your children."
Sam Levenson
"Raising kids is part joy and part guerrilla warfare."
Ed Asner
"Always kiss your children goodnight, even if they're already asleep."
H. Jackson Brown Jr.
LoveAffection
"Encourage and support your kids because children are apt to live up to what you believe of them."
Lady Bird Johnson
EncouragementBelief
"Let parents bequeath to their children not riches, but the spirit of reverence."Plato
ValuesLegacy
"A child educated only at school is an uneducated child."
George Santayana
"Behind every young child who believes in himself is a parent who believed first."
Matthew Jacobson
BeliefEncouragement
"The quality of a father can be seen in the goals, dreams and aspirations he sets not only for himself, but for his family."
Reed Markham
FathersFamily
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About Parenting Quotes
# Parenting Quotes
Raising a child is one of life's greatest joys and hardest jobs. Writers, thinkers and parents have tried for centuries to put it into words. Kahlil Gibran described children as living arrows sent forth from their parents' bow. Frederick Douglass noted that it is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. Benjamin Spock's best advice to parents was simply: trust yourself.
This collection gathers the best parenting quotes on love, patience, discipline, family and letting go, from Anne Frank, Oscar Wilde, Margaret Mead, Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and many more. Whether you're a new parent, a grandparent or a teacher, these lines offer wisdom, encouragement and a few laughs along the way.
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers about Parenting quotes.
What is the most famous parenting quote?
One of the best-known is Hodding Carter's "There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings." It sums up the two great jobs of a parent: giving children a secure foundation and the freedom to fly on their own.
What did Kahlil Gibran say about children?
In the poem "On Children" from *The Prophet* (1923), Kahlil Gibran wrote "Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself," and described parents as the bows from which children are sent forth as living arrows. It remains one of the most quoted pieces of writing on parenthood.
What are some funny parenting quotes?
Popular funny lines include Sam Levenson's "Insanity is hereditary; you get it from your children," Phyllis Diller's joke that cleaning the house while kids are growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing, and Leo J. Burke's "People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one."
What is a good quote for new parents?
Dr. Benjamin Spock's "Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do" is a classic reassurance for new parents. Elizabeth Stone's line about having a child meaning "to have your heart go walking around outside your body" perfectly captures how parenthood feels.
What do famous people say about leading by example?
Many thinkers agree that children copy what parents do more than what they say. Robert Fulghum warned to worry that children "are always watching you," James Baldwin said children "have never failed to imitate" their elders, and Carl Jung wrote that children are educated by what the grown-up is, not by his talk.
How can I use parenting quotes?
Parenting quotes work well in Mother's Day and Father's Day cards, baby shower notes, social media captions, school newsletters and family photo albums. Many parents also keep a favourite quote on the fridge as a daily reminder of the kind of parent they want to be.