Quotes About Family

But the impact of national identity on state strength is not limited to its coercive power. Much of what passes for corruption is not simply a matter of greed but rather the by-product of legislators or public officials who feel more obligated to family, tribe, region, or ethnic group than to the national community and therefore divert money in that direction.

Putting one's parents out to pasture in a nursing home has very deep historical roots in Western Europe.

A middle-class voter could equally well take a proffered government job, or be persuaded that his or her family's long-term interests are better served by a system that recruits the best possible people on an impersonal basis. The choice actually made often depends on how these ideas are publically articulated.

Much of what passes for corruption is not simply a matter of greed but rather the by-product of legislators or public officials who feel more obligated to family, tribe, region, or ethnic group than to the national community and therefore divert money in that direction.

When China decollectivized under Deng Xiaoping's household responsibility reforms in 1978, the peasant family sprang back to life and became one of the chief engines of the economic miracle that subsequently unfolded in the People's Republic.25

in some sense, it was the tyranny of cousins that allowed Indians to resist the tyranny of tyrants.

When a rural Greek is hospitalized, relatives are in constant attendance to keep a check on the doctor and the treatment he prescribes.

The desire to pass resources on to kin is one of the most enduring constants in human politics.

Maximize the material, short-run advantage of the nuclear family; assume that all others will do likewise.

The desolation and terror of, for the first time, realizing that the mother can lose you, or you her, and your own abysmal loneliness and helplessness without her.

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

A baby is born with a need to be loved–and never outgrows it.

Whatever power I have is nothing if I can't use it to keep safe those who mean the most to me.

We're family," Alyss said. Redd snorted. "Is that supposed to mean something?" Family," Alyss said again, trying to convince herself more than Redd. Don't talk to me about family! You were never disowned by your parents!" I'd rather have been disowned by them then see them murdered.

a feeling that blowing off his father's head was the natural and logical way of discovering the contents of the will in which he was mildly interested, a strange indifference to the money that might result—

When I started to write about my family, no abstract or conceptual language could account for the world I was trying to capture." —Frank Bidart

With a more expansive stretch, there's a better chance that I'll be around at the precise, random moment when one of my nephews drops his guard and solicits my advice about something private. Or when one of my nieces will need someone other than her parents to tell her that she's smart and beautiful.

I want to stay healthy, keep fit, eat well, keep a low profile and be a good dad.

Her name was Sorcha--the English call it Sarah--and she grew up in a family related to the king of Leinster.

Marriage is very important. Marrying a girl is the most important thing a man can do. Never mind business or politics or sport or any of that, there's nothing so vital to the world as a man marrying a woman. That's where we get our children from, that's how the human race goes forward. And if it's too late for children, there's the companionship of a safe and trusted person.

Since the presidency of Ronald Reagan, conservatives have succeeded by adhering to a platform that rests firmly on three legs: smaller government, faith and family, and a strong national defense. These three legs do not merely represent a political coalition they are three necessary components of a strong and secure America.

When I was a kid, my father didn't really have much hope for me. He thought I was a dreamer he didn't think I would amount to anything. My mother also.

This is why the Word of God exhorts husbands to love their wives, wives to love their husbands, parents to love their children and Christians to love one another. Love defeats the devil, but rejection opens a door of opportunity for the devil to do an evil work.

Blood is thicker than water, but politics are thicker than blood.