{ "type": "topic", "site": { "name": "Leafy Quotes", "language": "en", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com" }, "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.", "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father", "heading": "Quotes about father", "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father.json", "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father.md", "quotes_count": 52, "authors_count": 38, "parent": { "name": "family", "slug": "family", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/family", "heading": "Quotes about family" }, "children": [], "quotes": [ { "id": "8ff0e3e6-70d2-40fc-ba1c-db389cad9606", "slug": "a-quarter-of-a-century", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-wright/black-boy/a-quarter-of-a-century", "text": "A quarter of a century was to elapse between the time when I saw my father sitting with the strange woman and the time when I was to see him again, standing alone upon the red clay of a Mississippi plantation, a sharecropper, clad in ragged overalls, holding a muddy hoe in his gnarled, veined hands—a quarter of a century during which my mind and consciousness had become so greatly and violently altered that when I tried to talk to him I realized that, though ties of blood made us kin, though I could see a shadow of my face in his face, though there was an echo of my voice in his voice, we were forever strangers, speaking a different language, living on vastly distant planes of reality.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard Wright", "slug": "richard-wright", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-wright" }, "book": { "title": "Black Boy", "slug": "black-boy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-wright/black-boy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Wright#Black_Boy_(1945)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T14:30:04" }, { "id": "11deaf14-9279-47f5-8367-7c66979235f1", "slug": "it-is-impossible", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-de-la-fontaine/fables/it-is-impossible", "text": "It is impossible to please all the world and one's father.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean de La Fontaine", "slug": "jean-de-la-fontaine", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-de-la-fontaine" }, "book": { "title": "Fables", "slug": "fables", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-de-la-fontaine/fables" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_de_La_Fontaine#Book_III", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T08:10:00" }, { "id": "ddecbe28-c229-4610-b4dc-7a39b9f6c936", "slug": "so-come-dear", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virgil/the-aeneid/so-come-dear", "text": "So come, dear father, climb up onto my shoulders! I will carry you on my back. This labor of love will never wear me down. Whatever falls to us now, we both will share one peril, one path to safety. Little Iulus, walk beside me, and you, my wife, follow me at a distance, in my footsteps.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Virgil", "slug": "virgil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virgil" }, "book": { "title": "The Aeneid", "slug": "the-aeneid", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virgil/the-aeneid" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "family", "slug": "family", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/family" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aeneid#Book_II", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T08:09:56" }, { "id": "1c351757-391e-47e9-9c1d-5ce50770f450", "slug": "he-follows-his", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virgil/the-aeneid/he-follows-his", "text": "He follows his father, but not with equal steps.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Virgil", "slug": "virgil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virgil" }, "book": { "title": "The Aeneid", "slug": "the-aeneid", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virgil/the-aeneid" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aeneid#Book_II", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T08:09:56" }, { "id": "ac3556fa-86db-403f-9c6f-9e43a2cba264", "slug": "learn-fortitude-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virgil/the-aeneid/learn-fortitude-and", "text": "Learn fortitude and toil from me, my son, Ache of true toil. Good fortune learn from others.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Virgil", "slug": "virgil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virgil" }, "book": { "title": "The Aeneid", "slug": "the-aeneid", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virgil/the-aeneid" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "work", "slug": "work", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work" }, { "name": "perseverance", "slug": "perseverance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/perseverance" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Virgil#Book_XII", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T08:09:55" }, { "id": "84cad058-c366-4d9c-aa5a-49b9e0a13e49", "slug": "my-father-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo/les-miserables/my-father-was", "text": "My father... was a humble and heroic man, who served the republic and France gloriously, who was great in the greatest history that men have made, who lived a quarter of a century in the camp, by day under grape and under balls, by night in the snow, in the mud, and in the rain, who captured colours, who received twenty wounds, who died forgotten and abandoned, and who had but one fault; that was in loving too dearly two ingrates, his country and me.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Victor Hugo", "slug": "victor-hugo", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo" }, "book": { "title": "Les Miserables", "slug": "les-miserables", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo/les-miserables" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 544, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Les_Mis%C3%A9rables#Book_III_-_The_Grandfather_and_the_Grandson", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T08:09:48" }, { "id": "51f03942-baa3-471f-9361-db0725822d70", "slug": "daddy-thinks-history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-smiley/a-thousand-acres/daddy-thinks-history", "text": "Daddy thinks history starts fresh every day, every minute, that time itself begins with the feelings he’s having right now. That’s how he keeps betraying us, why he roars at us with such conviction.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jane Smiley", "slug": "jane-smiley", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-smiley" }, "book": { "title": "A Thousand Acres", "slug": "a-thousand-acres", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-smiley/a-thousand-acres" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" }, { "name": "betrayal", "slug": "betrayal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/betrayal" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jane_Smiley#A_Thousand_Acres_(1991)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:06:25" }, { "id": "151d4e16-f9d8-4c5b-bd15-cf7111ab0df3", "slug": "her-father-had", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/nation/her-father-had", "text": "Her father had said that if you knew where to look, you could find Mrs. Ethel J. Bundy’s Birthday Island, and loaned her a large magnifying glass. She spent long Sunday afternoons lying on her stomach, minutely examining every necklace of dots, and concluded that Mrs. Ethel J. Bundy’s Birthday Island was a Father Joke, i.e., not very funny but sort of lovable in its silliness.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Terry Pratchett", "slug": "terry-pratchett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett" }, "book": { "title": "Nation", "slug": "nation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/nation" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 76, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nation_(novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:06:10" }, { "id": "499e3562-f848-4728-ae34-1098b4563659", "slug": "my-father-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/adaobi-tricia-nwaubani/i-do-not-come-to-you-by-chance/my-father-was", "text": "My father was a walking encyclopedia, and he flipped his pages with the zeal and precision of a magician.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani", "slug": "adaobi-tricia-nwaubani", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/adaobi-tricia-nwaubani" }, "book": { "title": "I Do Not Come to You by Chance", "slug": "i-do-not-come-to-you-by-chance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/adaobi-tricia-nwaubani/i-do-not-come-to-you-by-chance" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 22, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "knowledge", "slug": "knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adaobi_Tricia_Nwaubani#I_Do_Not_Come_To_You_By_Chance_(2009)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:06" }, { "id": "daaa88e1-1fb9-4e53-b6e3-274a1a977dba", "slug": "from-mama-we-learned", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dorit-rabinyan/strand-of-a-thousand-pearls/from-mama-we-learned", "text": "From Mama we learned what sort of people we should be, and we loved her as a confidante; but Papa's image was the mold of our dreams. (p52)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Dorit Rabinyan", "slug": "dorit-rabinyan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dorit-rabinyan" }, "book": { "title": "Strand of a Thousand Pearls", "slug": "strand-of-a-thousand-pearls", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dorit-rabinyan/strand-of-a-thousand-pearls" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "dreams and aspirations", "slug": "dreams-and-aspirations", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/dreams-and-aspirations" }, { "name": "mother", "slug": "mother", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mother" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dorit_Rabinyan#Strand_of_a_Thousand_Pearls_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:57" }, { "id": "37300011-471c-4f62-b4ae-61d3e0cd2c5d", "slug": "honestly-with-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole/honestly-with-all", "text": "Honestly, with all the noise a father makes about demanding respect and obedience, I don't think there can be a father in the world who doesn't, at the bottom of his heart, want a simple thing: for his son to like him.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Steve Toltz", "slug": "steve-toltz", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz" }, "book": { "title": "A Fraction Of The Whole", "slug": "a-fraction-of-the-whole", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "parents", "slug": "parents", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/parents" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steve_Toltz#Five", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:11" }, { "id": "d7863499-9c44-4d39-85cc-615b495ca095", "slug": "my-father-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/maaza-mengiste/the-shadow-king/my-father-was", "text": "My father was always a stranger to me, he will say. I knew him through his questions, not his answers.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Maaza Mengiste", "slug": "maaza-mengiste", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/maaza-mengiste" }, "book": { "title": "The Shadow King", "slug": "the-shadow-king", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/maaza-mengiste/the-shadow-king" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Maaza_Mengiste#Shadow_King_(2019)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:54" }, { "id": "ba5b597e-0688-4734-8f4a-3870ede357b1", "slug": "for-years-he-forced", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tomi-adeyemi/children-of-virtue-and-vengeance/for-years-he-forced", "text": "For years he forced Inan and me to trade blows and bruises under his watchful eye, never relenting, no matter how hard we cried. Every battle was a chance to correct his mistakes, to bring his first family back to life. If we got strong enough, no sword could take us down, no maji could burn our flesh. We fought for his approval, stuck in a battle for his love neither of us would ever win. We raised our swords against each other because neither of us had the courage to raise one against him.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tomi Adeyemi", "slug": "tomi-adeyemi", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tomi-adeyemi" }, "book": { "title": "Children of Virtue and Vengeance", "slug": "children-of-virtue-and-vengeance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tomi-adeyemi/children-of-virtue-and-vengeance" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tomi_Adeyemi#Children_of_Virtue_and_Vengeance", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:50" }, { "id": "6791667b-f3a5-41a0-b8da-60962b206b4b", "slug": "he-couldnt-help", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-yates/a-good-school/he-couldnt-help", "text": "He couldn't help pondering how he would feel if his own father were to die. It was unthinkable: Jock MacKenzie was in the very prime of life, a laughing, sailing, golf- and tennis-playing man who could still defeat his son at arm-wrestling any time he felt like it, and often did. Still, there were heart attacks; there were strokes; there was cancer. Nobody lived forever. Jock MacKenzie's anger could be terrible, but in his gentle moods there was no finer companion in the world. Every worthwhile thing Steve knew, it seemed, was something he had learned from his father. As a condition of receiving a car on his sixteenth birthday, Steve had been made to memorise the whole of Kipling's \"If\", which later helped him earn the only \"A\" he'd ever had in Pop Driscoll's course; and certain lines of that poem, remembered now as they sounded in his father's voice , were enough to fill his eyes with tears. This Sunday, he promised himself, he would call home and have a good long talk with the old man. \"When you're talking, Steve\", Jock MacKenzie had told him once, \"and I don't care who it's to or what it's about, the important thing is knowing when to stop. Never say anything that doesn't improve on silence.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard Yates", "slug": "richard-yates", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-yates" }, "book": { "title": "A Good School", "slug": "a-good-school", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-yates/a-good-school" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 85, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "silence", "slug": "silence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/silence" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Yates#A_Good_School_(1978)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:43" }, { "id": "a5b0eb8d-37cf-4224-8fc7-96548fd0e1d0", "slug": "logan-rourke-wasnt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jodi-picoult/nineteen-minutes/logan-rourke-wasnt", "text": "Logan Rourke wasn’t her father, not any more than the guy who’d taken their coins at the toll booth or any other stranger. You could share DNA with someone and still have nothing in common with them", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jodi Picoult", "slug": "jodi-picoult", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jodi-picoult" }, "book": { "title": "Nineteen Minutes", "slug": "nineteen-minutes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jodi-picoult/nineteen-minutes" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "family", "slug": "family", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/family" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jodi_Picoult#Nineteen_Minutes_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:24" }, { "id": "e9275a18-6a6b-43e9-a418-82f94be3e194", "slug": "a-fathers-traditional", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/warren-farrell/women-cant-hear-what-men-dont-say/a-fathers-traditional", "text": "A father’s traditional role prepared him to love his family by being away from the love of his family.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Warren Farrell", "slug": "warren-farrell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/warren-farrell" }, "book": { "title": "Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say", "slug": "women-cant-hear-what-men-dont-say", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/warren-farrell/women-cant-hear-what-men-dont-say" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "family", "slug": "family", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/family" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Warren_Farrell#Women_Can't_Hear_What_Men_Don't_Say_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:05" }, { "id": "97663ee9-f806-44ff-9224-8ecb071107b3", "slug": "a-man-should", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chinua-achebe/arrow-of-god/a-man-should", "text": "a man should hold his compound together, not plant dissension among his children", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chinua Achebe", "slug": "chinua-achebe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chinua-achebe" }, "book": { "title": "Arrow of God", "slug": "arrow-of-god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chinua-achebe/arrow-of-god" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "family", "slug": "family", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/family" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Chinua_Achebe#Arrow_of_God_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:55" }, { "id": "7f0876c8-d0c4-495c-92e1-efb5a328b41e", "slug": "a-man-does", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chinua-achebe/arrow-of-god/a-man-does", "text": "A man does not speak a lie to his son,” he said. “Remember that always. To say My father told me is to swear the greatest oath", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chinua Achebe", "slug": "chinua-achebe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chinua-achebe" }, "book": { "title": "Arrow of God", "slug": "arrow-of-god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chinua-achebe/arrow-of-god" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Chinua_Achebe#Arrow_of_God_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:55" }, { "id": "575967d1-58f2-40d3-bc3f-f7dd1fc57998", "slug": "my-dad-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/randy-pausch/the-last-lecture/my-dad-was", "text": "My dad was so full of life, anything with him was an adventure. [Shows picture of his Dad holding a brown paper bag] I don’t know what’s in that bag, but I know it’s cool. My dad dressed up as Santa Claus, but he also did very, very significant things to help lots of people. This is a dormitory in Thailand that my mom and dad underwrote. And every year about 30 students get to go to school who wouldn’t have otherwise. This is something my wife and I have also been involved in heavily. And these are the kind of things that I think everybody ought to be doing. Helping others.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Randy Pausch", "slug": "randy-pausch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/randy-pausch" }, "book": { "title": "The Last Lecture", "slug": "the-last-lecture", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/randy-pausch/the-last-lecture" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" }, { "name": "altruism", "slug": "altruism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/altruism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Randy_Pausch#The_Last_Lecture_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:46" }, { "id": "fedc845f-6ac8-4ece-ba3b-22d5a7577762", "slug": "you-have-to-carry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy/the-road/you-have-to-carry", "text": "You have to carry the fire. I don't know how to. Yes, you do. Is the fire real? The fire? Yes it is. Where is it? I don't know where it is. Yes you do. It's inside you. It always was there. I can see it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Cormac McCarthy", "slug": "cormac-mccarthy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy" }, "book": { "title": "The Road", "slug": "the-road", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy/the-road" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "hope", "slug": "hope", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hope" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Road#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:43" }, { "id": "291a23aa-0ca0-485e-8f1b-37696773adfe", "slug": "you-said-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy/the-road/you-said-you", "text": "You said you wouldn't ever leave me. I know. I’m sorry. You have my whole heart. You always did. You’re the best guy. You always were. If I’m not here you can still talk to me. You can talk to me and I’ll talk to you. You’ll see.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Cormac McCarthy", "slug": "cormac-mccarthy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy" }, "book": { "title": "The Road", "slug": "the-road", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy/the-road" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Road#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:42" }, { "id": "11b6fc2d-1caf-43df-a7dd-2be356530ba2", "slug": "i-should-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy/the-road/i-should-have", "text": "I should have been more careful, he said. The boy didn't answer. You have to talk to me. Okay. You wanted to know what the bad guys looked like. Now you know. It may happen again. My job is to take care of you. I was appointed to do that by God. I will kill anyone who touches you. Do you understand? Yes. He sat there cowled in the blanket. After a while he looked up. Are we still the good guys? he said. Yes. We're still the good guys. And we always will be. Yes. We always will be.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Cormac McCarthy", "slug": "cormac-mccarthy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy" }, "book": { "title": "The Road", "slug": "the-road", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy/the-road" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "kindness", "slug": "kindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/kindness" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Road#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:42" }, { "id": "184e1f57-f2e3-4e7a-a60b-70aaf70e7ef3", "slug": "well-this-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/cosm/well-this-was", "text": "Well, this was what dads were for: saying the unsayable when you needed it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gregory Benford", "slug": "gregory-benford", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford" }, "book": { "title": "Cosm", "slug": "cosm", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/cosm" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 285, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gregory_Benford#Cosm_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:24" }, { "id": "55277137-092c-4297-8860-052c2c02ff50", "slug": "but-as-many", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson/the-diamond-age/but-as-many", "text": "But as many first-time fathers had realized in the delivery room, there was something about the sight of an actual baby that focused the mind. In a world of abstractions, nothing was more concrete than a baby.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neal Stephenson", "slug": "neal-stephenson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson" }, "book": { "title": "The Diamond Age", "slug": "the-diamond-age", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson/the-diamond-age" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "children", "slug": "children", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/children" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age#Part_the_First", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:12" }, { "id": "d8abb4ae-4c29-4000-b6c2-1ca512e97d25", "slug": "if-fathers-who", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-pittman/man-enough/if-fathers-who", "text": "If fathers who fear fathering and run away from it could only see how little fathering is enough. Mostly, the father just needs to be there.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Pittman", "slug": "frank-pittman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-pittman" }, "book": { "title": "Man Enough", "slug": "man-enough", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-pittman/man-enough" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frank_Pittman#Man_Enough_(1993)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:34" }, { "id": "b0cbc41a-9ea9-4ebc-8fa8-00ba9cd07778", "slug": "as-boys-without", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-pittman/man-enough/as-boys-without", "text": "As boys without bonds to their fathers grow older and more desperate about their masculinity, they are in danger of forming gangs in which they strut their masculinity for one another, often overdo it, and sometimes turn to displays of fierce, macho bravado and even violence.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Pittman", "slug": "frank-pittman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-pittman" }, "book": { "title": "Man Enough", "slug": "man-enough", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-pittman/man-enough" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "violence", "slug": "violence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/violence" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" }, { "name": "masculinity", "slug": "masculinity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/masculinity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frank_Pittman#Man_Enough_(1993)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:34" }, { "id": "31d16805-c2b4-4e29-956f-e46a0b94f563", "slug": "perhaps-that-is-what", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicole-krauss/the-history-of-love/perhaps-that-is-what", "text": "Perhaps that is what it means to be a father- to teach your child to live without you. If so, no one was a greater father than I.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nicole Krauss", "slug": "nicole-krauss", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicole-krauss" }, "book": { "title": "The History of Love", "slug": "the-history-of-love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicole-krauss/the-history-of-love" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 164, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "parents", "slug": "parents", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/parents" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nicole_Krauss#The_History_of_Love_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:18" }, { "id": "5331ade6-5157-430c-b900-df71ba1c02e4", "slug": "a-man-can", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilynne-robinson/gilead/a-man-can", "text": "A man can know his father, or his son, and there might still be nothing between them but loyalty and love and mutual incomprehension.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Marilynne Robinson", "slug": "marilynne-robinson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilynne-robinson" }, "book": { "title": "Gilead", "slug": "gilead", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilynne-robinson/gilead" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "children", "slug": "children", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/children" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marilynne_Robinson#Gilead_(2004)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:42" }, { "id": "49f67597-b90d-4d08-bfd7-693e99c6f858", "slug": "we-all-come", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-hughes/things-i-didnt-know/we-all-come", "text": "We all come into the world with baggage which, in the end, we have no hope of reclaiming, The main item in mine was my father.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Hughes", "slug": "robert-hughes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-hughes" }, "book": { "title": "Things I Didn't Know", "slug": "things-i-didnt-know", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-hughes/things-i-didnt-know" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Hughes#Things_I_Didn't_Know_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:39" }, { "id": "5dd16d21-10a4-4ddc-a128-5fe3d5cfc6ad", "slug": "before-he-can", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mitch-albom/the-five-people-you-meet-in-heaven/before-he-can", "text": "Before he can devote himself to God or a woman, a boy will devote himself to his father, even foolishly, even beyond explanation.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Mitch Albom", "slug": "mitch-albom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mitch-albom" }, "book": { "title": "The Five People You Meet in Heaven", "slug": "the-five-people-you-meet-in-heaven", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mitch-albom/the-five-people-you-meet-in-heaven" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mitch_Albom#The_Five_People_You_Meet_in_Heaven_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:36" }, { "id": "5ade872e-bebd-4c1e-b719-91b07eb77683", "slug": "when-i-woke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elie-wiesel/night/when-i-woke", "text": "When I woke up, it was daylight. That is when I remembered that I had a father. During the alert, I had followed the mob, not taking care of him. I knew he was running out of strength, close to death, and yet had abandoned him. I went to look for him. Yet at the same time a thought crept into my mind: If only I didn't find him! If only I were relieved of this responsibility, I could use all my strength to fight for my own survival, to take care of myself...Instantly, I felt ashamed, ashamed of myself forever.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Elie Wiesel", "slug": "elie-wiesel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elie-wiesel" }, "book": { "title": "Night", "slug": "night", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elie-wiesel/night" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "shame", "slug": "shame", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/shame" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elie_Wiesel#Night_(1960)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:20" }, { "id": "2478b22d-1728-497a-b5d1-5b6265f671e3", "slug": "when-you-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dick-gregory/nigger/when-you-have", "text": "When you have a good mother and no father, God kind of sits in. It's not enough, but it helps.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Dick Gregory", "slug": "dick-gregory", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dick-gregory" }, "book": { "title": "Nigger", "slug": "nigger", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dick-gregory/nigger" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "mother", "slug": "mother", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mother" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dick_Gregory#Nigger:_An_Autobiography_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:10" }, { "id": "18f8699f-1cca-4733-a462-2e41ed0a3022", "slug": "if-a-father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/earthborn/if-a-father", "text": "If a father commands a son to commit a crime so terrible that the son can't do it and live with himself, then is it betrayal for the son to disobey his father?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Earthborn", "slug": "earthborn", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/earthborn" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "crime", "slug": "crime", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/crime" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" }, { "name": "obedience", "slug": "obedience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/obedience" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card#Earthborn_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:10" }, { "id": "a96e3f4f-17c7-4bd1-a6eb-7cfdf044a6ea", "slug": "it-was-his", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/enchantment/it-was-his", "text": "It was his father who had shrunk, who no longer had the power of the giant, of the god, to enfold him and keep him safe.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Enchantment", "slug": "enchantment", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/enchantment" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "growing up", "slug": "growing-up", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card#Enchantment_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:08" }, { "id": "9a304931-9084-4135-bed3-53300535326f", "slug": "my-father-used", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/job-a-comedy-of-justice/my-father-used", "text": "My father used to tell me, \"Alex, there is nothing wrong with being scared...as long as you don't let it affect you until the danger is over. Being hysterical is okay, too...afterwards and in private. Tears are not unmanly...in the bathroom with the door locked. The difference between a coward and a brave man is mostly a matter of timing.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Job: A Comedy of Justice", "slug": "job-a-comedy-of-justice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/job-a-comedy-of-justice" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 13, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "fear", "slug": "fear", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fear" }, { "name": "courage", "slug": "courage", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/courage" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Job:_A_Comedy_of_Justice#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:20" }, { "id": "c9f908c9-01a6-4d56-b4e1-35f6c30a8556", "slug": "doubting-the-great", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-p-feynman/what-do-you-care-what-other-people-think/doubting-the-great", "text": "Doubting the great Descartes ... was a reaction I learned from my father: Have no respect whatsoever for authority; forget who said it and instead look what he starts with, where he ends up, and ask yourself, \"Is it reasonable?\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard P. Feynman", "slug": "richard-p-feynman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-p-feynman" }, "book": { "title": "'What Do You Care What Other People Think?'", "slug": "what-do-you-care-what-other-people-think", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-p-feynman/what-do-you-care-what-other-people-think" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 28, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" }, { "name": "skepticism", "slug": "skepticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/skepticism" }, { "name": "authority figures", "slug": "authority-figures", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/authority-figures" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman#What_Do_You_Care_What_Other_People_Think%3F_(1988)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:00" }, { "id": "c3f6c0a2-6149-47cc-a88f-8016731027e2", "slug": "there-is-probably", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune/there-is-probably", "text": "There is probably no more terrible instance of enlightenment than the one in which you discover your father is a man — with human flesh.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Dune", "slug": "dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "growing up", "slug": "growing-up", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Book_1:_Dune", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:48" }, { "id": "b6e66c1e-eac4-46ff-9878-a0b7b63bf9be", "slug": "i-may-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-ashe/days-of-grace/i-may-not", "text": "I may not be walking with you all the way, or even much of the way, as I walk with you now. Don’t be angry with me if I am not there in person, alive and well, when you need me. I would like nothing more than to be with you always. Do not feel sorry for me if I am gone. When we were together, I loved you deeply and you gave me so much happiness I can never repay you. Camera, wherever I am when you feel sick at heart and weary of life, or when you stumble and fall and don’t know if you can get up again, think of me. I will be watching and smiling and cheering you on.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Arthur Ashe", "slug": "arthur-ashe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-ashe" }, "book": { "title": "Days of Grace", "slug": "days-of-grace", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-ashe/days-of-grace" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 341, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_Ashe#Days_of_Grace:_A_Memoir_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:16" }, { "id": "e33207d6-7e3d-42a4-9deb-67c7c1cb0ddf", "slug": "dad-on-friendship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-sedaris/theft-by-finding/dad-on-friendship", "text": "Dad on friendship: \"Sure, some people are nice. Real nice. Nice like carpets so you can walk all over them.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Sedaris", "slug": "david-sedaris", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-sedaris" }, "book": { "title": "Theft by Finding", "slug": "theft-by-finding", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-sedaris/theft-by-finding" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 31, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "kindness", "slug": "kindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/kindness" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Sedaris#Theft_by_Finding:_Diaries,_Volume_1_(1977-2002)_(2017)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:59" }, { "id": "2ed47c52-4b7b-472c-8e04-0747f9b0d6d1", "slug": "in-the-coming", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-sedaris/dress-your-family-in-corduroy-and-denim/in-the-coming", "text": "In the coming years our father would continue to promise what he couldn't deliver, and in time we grew to think of him as an actor auditioning for the role of a benevolent millionaire. He'd never get the part but liked the way the words felt in his mouth.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Sedaris", "slug": "david-sedaris", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-sedaris" }, "book": { "title": "Dress Your Family In Corduroy And Denim", "slug": "dress-your-family-in-corduroy-and-denim", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-sedaris/dress-your-family-in-corduroy-and-denim" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 28, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" }, { "name": "promises", "slug": "promises", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/promises" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Sedaris#Dress_Your_Family_in_Corduroy_and_Denim_(2004)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:58" }, { "id": "69db907a-2786-4322-a636-6a8c2d62d7d2", "slug": "it-seems-to-me-now", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-eliot/adam-bede/it-seems-to-me-now", "text": "It seems to me now, if I was to find Father at home to-night, I should behave different; but there's no knowing — perhaps nothing 'ud be a lesson to us if it didn't come too late.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Eliot", "slug": "george-eliot", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-eliot" }, "book": { "title": "Adam Bede", "slug": "adam-bede", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-eliot/adam-bede" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "guilt", "slug": "guilt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/guilt" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Eliot#Adam_Bede_(1859)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:49" }, { "id": "5cc277b3-7fd5-4777-bac4-ba44cb9c8b12", "slug": "to-have-committed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born/to-have-committed", "text": "To have committed every crime but that of being a father.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emil Cioran", "slug": "emil-cioran", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran" }, "book": { "title": "The Trouble With Being Born", "slug": "the-trouble-with-being-born", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" }, { "name": "dark humor", "slug": "dark-humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/dark-humor" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emil_Cioran#The_Trouble_With_Being_Born_(1973)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:41" }, { "id": "f1d63d62-f789-4ba8-997c-c01a490a9168", "slug": "ambition-avarice-tyranny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/ambition-avarice-tyranny", "text": "Ambition, avarice, tyranny, the mistaken foresight of fathers, their neglect, their harshness, are a hundredfold more harmful to the child than the blind affection of the mother.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "upbringing", "slug": "upbringing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/upbringing" }, { "name": "mother", "slug": "mother", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mother" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_I", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:31" }, { "id": "242d4dc8-0d71-47b4-8024-5ead52d3192c", "slug": "he-has-no-right", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/he-has-no-right", "text": "He has no right to be a father if he cannot fulfil a father's duties. Poverty, pressure of business, mistaken social prejudices, none of these can excuse a man from his duty, which is to support and educate his own children. If a man of any natural feeling neglects these sacred duties he will repent it with bitter tears and will never be comforted.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "responsibility", "slug": "responsibility", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_I", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:31" }, { "id": "e093549f-f322-4f70-9ed1-86c8ac4d8516", "slug": "paternity-may-be-a-legal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/ulysses/paternity-may-be-a-legal", "text": "Paternity may be a legal fiction. Who is the father of any son that any son should love him or he any son?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Joyce", "slug": "james-joyce", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce" }, "book": { "title": "Ulysses", "slug": "ulysses", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/ulysses" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ulysses_(novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:32" }, { "id": "c70d97f1-2bce-4d44-9da2-8d7673aa2f08", "slug": "they-are-sundered", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/ulysses/they-are-sundered", "text": "— They are sundered by a bodily shame so steadfast that the criminal annals of the world, stained with all other incests and bestialities, hardly record its breach. Sons with mothers, sires with daughters, lesbic sisters, loves that dare not speak their name, nephews with grandmothers, jailbirds with keyholes, queens with prize bulls. The son unborn mars beauty: born, he brings pain, divides affection, increases care. He is a new male: his growth is his father's decline, his youth his father's envy, his friend his father's enemy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Joyce", "slug": "james-joyce", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce" }, "book": { "title": "Ulysses", "slug": "ulysses", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/ulysses" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "family", "slug": "family", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/family" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ulysses_(novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:32" }, { "id": "bac32129-e80d-4545-b511-f90896dcc782", "slug": "a-father-said", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/ulysses/a-father-said", "text": "A father, said Stephen, battling against hopelessness, is a necessary evil.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Joyce", "slug": "james-joyce", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce" }, "book": { "title": "Ulysses", "slug": "ulysses", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/ulysses" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ulysses_(novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:32" }, { "id": "98917e23-3ff5-457d-b0e1-c5dcbbf1cfaa", "slug": "my-fathers-moral", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography/my-fathers-moral", "text": "My father's moral inculcations were at all times mainly those of the \"Socratici viri;\" justice, temperance (to which he gave a very extended application), veracity, perseverance, readiness to encounter pain and especially labour; regard for the public good; estimation of persons according to their merits, and of things according to their intrinsic usefulness; a life of exertion in contradiction to one of self-indulgent sloth. These and other moralities he conveyed in brief sentences, uttered as occasion arose, of grave exhortation, or stern reprobation and contempt. But though direct moral teaching does much, indirect does more; and the effect my father produced on my character, did not depend solely on what he said or did with that direct object, but also, and still more, on what manner of man he was.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Stuart Mill", "slug": "john-stuart-mill", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill" }, "book": { "title": "Autobiography", "slug": "autobiography", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 47, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" }, { "name": "character", "slug": "character", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/character" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill#Ch._2:_Moral_Influences_in_Early_Youth._My_Father's_Character_and_Opinions.", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:31" }, { "id": "4294024f-ff2e-40c9-aa2f-200096eeb733", "slug": "all-this-is-merely", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography/all-this-is-merely", "text": "All this is merely saying that he, in a degree once common, but now very unusual, threw his feelings into his opinions; which truly it is difficult to understand how any one who possesses much of both, can fail to do. None but those who do not care about opinions, will confound it with intolerance. Those, who having opinions which they hold to be immensely important, and their contraries to be prodigiously hurtful, have any deep regard for the general good, will necessarily dislike, as a class and in the abstract, those who think wrong what they think right, and right what they think wrong: though they need not therefore be, nor was my father, insensible to good qualities in an opponent, nor governed in their estimation of individuals by one general presumption, instead of by the whole of their character.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Stuart Mill", "slug": "john-stuart-mill", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill" }, "book": { "title": "Autobiography", "slug": "autobiography", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 50, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "beliefs", "slug": "beliefs", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/beliefs" }, { "name": "tolerance", "slug": "tolerance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tolerance" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill#Ch._2:_Moral_Influences_in_Early_Youth._My_Father's_Character_and_Opinions.", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:31" }, { "id": "f198c487-1bbb-46e9-aca6-6ef5c7538126", "slug": "it-is-evident", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography/it-is-evident", "text": "It is evident that this, among many other of the purposes of my father's scheme of education, could not have been accomplished if he had not carefully kept me from having any great amount of intercourse with other boys. He was earnestly bent upon my escaping not only the ordinary corrupting influence which boys exercise over boys, but the contagion of vulgar modes of thought and feeling; and for this he was willing that I should pay the price of inferiority in the accomplishments which schoolboys in all countries chiefly cultivate. The deficiencies in my education were principally in the things which boys learn from being turned out to shift for themselves, and from being brought together in large numbers.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Stuart Mill", "slug": "john-stuart-mill", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill" }, "book": { "title": "Autobiography", "slug": "autobiography", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 35, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "childhood", "slug": "childhood", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/childhood" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill#Ch._1:_Childhood_and_Early_Education", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:30" }, { "id": "8f5eecbf-ed01-42d1-a224-197168223890", "slug": "i-have-no-remembrance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography/i-have-no-remembrance", "text": "I have no remembrance of the time when I began to learn Greek. I have been told that it was when I was three years old. My earliest recollection on the subject, is that of committing to memory what my father termed Vocables, being lists of common Greek words, with their signification in English, which he wrote out for me on cards. Of grammar, until some years later, I learnt no more than the inflexions of the nouns and verbs, but, after a course of vocables, proceeded at once to translation; and I faintly remember going through AEsop's Fables, the first Greek book which I read. The Anabasis, which I remember better, was the second. I learnt no Latin until my eighth year. At that time I had read, under my father's tuition, a number of Greek prose authors, among whom I remember the whole of Herodotus, and of Xenophon's Cyropaedia and Memorials of Socrates; some of the lives of the philosophers by Diogenes Laertius; part of Lucian, and Isocrates' ad Demonicum and ad Nicoclem. I also read, in 1813, the first six dialogues (in the common arrangement) of Plato, from the Euthyphron to the Theaetetus inclusive: which last dialogue, I venture to think, would have been better omitted, as it was totally impossible I should understand it. But my father, in all his teaching, demanded of me not only the utmost that I could do, but much that I could by no possibility have done. What he was himself willing to undergo for the sake of my instruction, may be judged from the fact, that I went through the whole process of preparing my Greek lessons in the same room and at the same table at which he was writing: and as in those days Greek and English lexicons were not, and I could make no more use of a Greek and Latin lexicon than could be made without having yet begun to learn Latin, I was forced to have recourse to him for the meaning of every word which I did not know. This incessant interruption, he, one of the most impatient of men, submitted to, and wrote under that interruption several volumes of his History and all else that he had to write during those years.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Stuart Mill", "slug": "john-stuart-mill", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill" }, "book": { "title": "Autobiography", "slug": "autobiography", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 5, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "childhood", "slug": "childhood", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/childhood" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill#Ch._1:_Childhood_and_Early_Education", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:30" }, { "id": "e7ba414d-cf03-4268-8a0c-16c8ccda5cdc", "slug": "the-house-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/second-foundation/the-house-was", "text": "The house was somehow very lonely at night and Dr. Darell found that the fate of the Galaxy made remarkably little difference while his daughter's mad little life was in danger.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Isaac Asimov", "slug": "isaac-asimov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov" }, "book": { "title": "Second Foundation", "slug": "second-foundation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/second-foundation" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "family", "slug": "family", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/family" }, { "name": "father", "slug": "father", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/father" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov#Second_Foundation_(1953)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:22" } ] }