Quotes About Family

It is not until much later, as the skin sags and the heart weakens, that children understand; their stories, and all their accomplishments, sit atop the stories of their mothers and fathers, stones upon stones, beneath the waters of their lives.

Behind all your stories is always your mother's story. Because hers is where yours begin.

When death takes your mother, it steals that word forever.

The fact is, there is no foundation, no secure ground, upon which people may stand today if it isn't the family. If you don't have the support and love and caring and concern that you get from a family, you don't have much at all. Love is so supremely important. As our great poet Auden said, 'Love each other or perish'.

Sacrifice is a part of life. It's supposed to be. It's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to. Little sacrifices. Big sacrifices. A mother works so her son can go to school. A daughter moves home to take care of her sick father.

You count the hours you could have spent with your mother, it's a lifetime in itself.

Sometimes, kids want you to hurt the way they hurt.

You have one family, Charley. For good or bad. You have one family. You can't trade them in. You can't lie to them. You can't run two at once, substituting back and forth. "Sticking with your family is what makes it a family.

And I realized when you look at your mother, you are looking at the purest love you will ever know.

I love you every day, Mom

But behind all your stories is always your mother's story, because hers is where yours begins.

I saw in her expression that old, unshakable mountain of concern. And I realized when you look at your mother, you are looking at the purest love you will ever know

I made the wrong choice , I whispered. My mother shook her head. A child should never have to choose.

Invest in the human family. Invest in people. Build a little community of those you love and who love you.

You can be a mama's boy, be a daddy's boy, but you can't be both. So you cling to the one you think you might lose.

She cared. She gave a crap. When I lacked even the self-respect to keep myself alive, she dabbed my cuts and I fell back into being a son; I fell as easily as you fall into your pillow at night. And I didn't want it to end. That's the best way I can explain it. I knew it was impossible. But I didn't want it to end.

Kids chase the love that eludes them, and for me, that was my father's love. He kept it tucked away, like papers in a briefcase. And I kept trying to get in there.

It was sad, the imbalance of it all. Why do kids assume so much from one parent and hold the other to a lower, looser standard?

A mother's voice is like no other. We recognize every lilt and whisper, every warble or shriek.

Tell me about your family, I said. And so she did. I listened intently as my mother went through each branch of the tree. Years later, after the funeral, Maria had asked me questions about the family - who was related to whom - and I struggled. I couldn't remember. A big chunk of our history had been buried with my mother. You should never let your past disappear that way.

My mother was French Protestant, and my father was Italian Catholic, and their union was an excess of God, guilt and sauce.

Once heaven is done with grandma, we'd like her back, thanks.

This is a story about a family and, as there is a ghost involved, you might cal it a ghost story. But every family is a ghost story. The dead sit at out tables long after they have gone.

This is part of what a family is about, not just love, but letting others know there's someone who is watching out for them. It's what I missed so much when my mother died—what I call your 'spiritual security'—knowing that your family will be there watching out for you. Nothing else will give you that. Not money. Not fame.