For my own part, speaking personally, I have found the happiness of parenthood greater than any other that I have experienced.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 13 “Family” (1930)
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Quotations about:
parenthood
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
Children sweeten labors; but they make misfortunes more bitter.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
“Of Parents and Children,” Essays (1625)
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Parents are often so busy with the physical rearing of children that they miss the glory of parenthood, just as the grandeur of trees is lost when raking leaves.
Marcelene Cox (1900-1998) American writer, columnist, aphorist
“Ask Any Woman” column, Ladies’ Home Journal (1945-05)
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LEAR: How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is
To have a thankless child.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
King Lear, Act 1, sc. 4, l. 302ff (1.4.302-303) (1606)
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Now the thing about having a baby — and I can’t be the first person to have noticed this — is that thereafter you have it.
Jean Kerr (1922-2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Essay (1957), “Introduction,” Please Don’t Eat the Daisies
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For high is the price of parenthood,
And daughters may cost you double.
You dare not forget, as you thought you could,
That youth is a plague and a trouble.
There are many kinds of success in life worth having. It is exceedingly interesting and attractive to be a successful business man, or railroad man, or farmer, or a successful lawyer or doctor; or a writer, or a President, or a ranchman, or the colonel of a fighting regiment, or to kill grizzly bears and lions. But for unflagging interest and enjoyment, a household of children, if things go reasonably well, certainly makes all other forms of success and achievement lose their importance by comparison.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Autobiography, ch. 9 “Outdoors and Indoors” (1913)
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A baby is an inestimable blessing and bother.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Letter (1876-09-01) to Annie Webster
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This quote is widely cited, but I was unable to find a decent source for it online.
