The joys of parents are secret, and so are their grieves and fears.
~ Francis Bacon

The unjustifiable severity of a parent is loaded with this aggravation, that those whom he injures are always in his sight.
~ Joseph Addison

It's a sad moment, really, when parents first become a bit frightened of their children.
~ Ama Ata Aidoo

This is the reason why mothers are more devoted to their children than fathers: it is that they suffer more in giving them birth and are more certain that they are their own.
~ Aristotle

It's frightening to think that you mark your children merely by being yourself. It seems unfair. You can't assume the responsibility for everything you do --or don't do.
~ Simone De Beauvoir

Let me go to hell, that's all I ask, and go on cursing them there, and them look down and hear me, that might take some of the shine off their bliss.
~ Samuel Beckett

We never know the love of the parent till we become parents ourselves.
~ Henry Ward Beecher

He that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death. [Exodus 21:17]
~ Bible

I don't know any parents that look into the eyes of a newborn baby and say, How can we screw this kid up.
~ Russell Bishop

Fathers and mothers have lost the idea that the highest aspiration they might have for their children is for them to be wise... specialized competence and success are all that they can imagine.
~ Allan Bloom

I take a very practical view of raising children. I put a sign in each of their rooms: ''Checkout Time is 18 years.''
~ Erma Bombeck

Live so that when your children think of fairness and integrity, they think of you.
~ H. Jackson Brown Jr.

You have to love your children unselfishly. That is hard. But it is the only way.
~ Barbara Bush

Parents are the last people on earth who ought to have children.
~ Samuel Butler

No fathers or mothers think their own children ugly.
~ Miguel De Cervantes

A child, like your stomach, doesn't need all you can afford to give it.
~ Frank A. Clark

The most important thing that parents can teach their children is how to get along without them.
~ Frank A. Clark

Parenthood is not an object of appetite or even desire. It is an object of will. There is no appetite for parenthood; there is only a purpose or intention of parenthood.
~ Robin G. Collingwood

No matter how calmly you try to referee, parenting will eventually produce bizarre behavior, and I'm not talking about the kids. Their behavior is always normal.
~ Bill Cosby

Parents are not quite interested injustice, they are interested in quiet.
~ Bill Cosby