90 Father's Day Quotes to Tell Dad Exactly How You Feel

Our best friends, our confidants, our favorite bad-joke makers, fathers deserve to be celebrated all year, but every June there's one special day to shower them with love. This year, it's June 18, so we have until then to think up new ways to show Dad how much we care—and, of course, come up with the perfect message to write in his card. We've all stared at that blank page and wondered how on earth to condense our feelings into such a small space. That's where the best Father's Day quotes come in handy.

Whether it's his first Father's Day or 15th, every dad and father figure wants to feel appreciated. These inspiring quotes, spoken by famous fathers like Barack Obama and Matt Damon, are the perfect addition to your own heartfelt words; they can help you express your feelings in a genuine way instead of feeling like you phoned it in. Ahead, we've gathered 90 of the greatest quotes about fathers and fatherhood by and about some of the greatest dads in history. They'll help you make Father's Day extra special for the greatest guy in your life.

Quotes About Fathers

1. "A father's smile has been known to light up a child's entire day." —Susan Gale

2. "A father doesn't tell you that he loves you. He shows you." —Dimitri the Stoneheart

3. "Fathers just have a way of putting everything together." —Erika Cosby

4. "Behind every great daughter is a truly amazing father." —Unknown

5. "The older I get, the smarter my father seems to get." —Tim Russert

6. "No music is so pleasant to my ears as that word―father." —Lydia Maria Child

7. "I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection." —Sigmund Freud

8. "No one in this world can love a girl more than her father." —Michael Ratnadeepak

9. "It doesn't matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was." —Anne Sexton

10. "My father gave me my dreams. Thanks to him, I could see a future." —Liza Minnelli

11. "No man I ever met was my father's equal, and I never loved any other man as much." —Hedy Lamarr

12. "My father didn't do anything unusual. He only did what dads are supposed to do: be there." —Max Lucado

13. "I have an excellent father." —Taylor Swift
    

14. "Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad, and that's why I call you Dad, because you are so special to me. You taught me the game, and you taught me how to play it right." —Wade Boggs

15. "She did not stand alone, but what stood behind her, the most potent moral force in her life, was the love of her father." —Harper Lee, Go Set a Watchman

16. "It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived." —Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

17. "My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person: He believed in me.” —Jim Valvano

18. "An almost perfect relationship with his father was the earthly root of all his wisdom." —C.S. Lewis
    

19. "[My father] always provided me a safe place to land and a hard place from which to launch." —Chelsea Clinton
    

20. "A father is someone you look up to no matter how tall you grow." —Unknown
    

21. “The older I get, the smarter my father seems to get.” —Tim Russert
    

22. "Every son's first superhero is his father" —Tiger Shroff
    

23. "One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters." —George Herbert
    

24. "Some people don't believe in heroes, but they haven't met my dad." —Unknown
    

25. "No man stands taller than when he stoops to help a child." —Abraham Lincoln
    

26. "When a father gives to his son, both laugh; when a son gives to his father, both cry." —William Shakespeare
    

27. "I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren't trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom." —Umberto Eco, Foucault's Pendulum
    

28. "To her, the name of father was another name for love." —Fanny Fern
    

29. "Lately all my friends are worried they're turning into their fathers. I'm worried I'm not." —Dan Zevin

30. "There is nothing that moves a loving father's soul quite like his child's cry." —Joni Eareckson Tada

31. "Dad: a son’s first hero, a daughter’s first love." —Unknown

32. "The power of a dad in a child's life is unmatched." —Justin Ricklefs

33. "It is a wise father that knows his own child." —William Shakespeare

34. "I remember a very important lesson that my father gave me when I was 12 or 13. He said, 'You know, today I welded a perfect seam and I signed my name to it.' And I said, 'But, Daddy, no one's going to see it!' And he said, 'Yeah, but I know it's there.'" —Toni Morrison

35. "He was a father. That's what a father does. Eases the burdens of those he loves." —George Saunders

36. "One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters." —George Herbert

37. "It's the courage to raise a child that makes you a father." —Barack Obama

38. "He adopted a role called being a father so that his child would have something mythical and infinitely important: a protector." —Tom Wolfe, The Bonfire of the Vanities

39. "My daddy was my hero. He was always there for me when I needed him. He listened to me and taught me so many things. But most of all, he was fun." —Bindi Irwin

40. "My dear father; my dear friend; the best and wisest man I ever knew, who taught me many lessons and showed me many things as we went together along the country by-ways." —Sarah Orne Jewett

41. "He sweeps her hair back from her ears; he swings her above his head. He says she is his émerveillement. He says he will never leave her, not in a million years." —Anthony Doerr

42. "We don't lose ourselves in parenthood. We find parts of ourselves we never knew existed." —L.R. Knost

43. "My dad taught me that good health is all about living in gratitude." —Mariska Hargitay

Quotes by Fathers

1. "To a father growing old nothing is dearer than a daughter." —Euripides

2. "A father carries pictures where his money used to be." —Steve Martin

3. "It almost seemed impossible to love the first [child] any more than you loved them. And then suddenly the second one comes, and you think there's so much room for love. There's so much room." —Kevin Costner

4. "The biggest lesson for my kids is that they know they are the most important things I have. No matter what is going on in my life, your kids are forever." —Lin-Manuel Miranda

5. "My favorite thing about being a father is just seeing my kids grow and do some of the same things that I did when I was a kid, man." —LeBron James

6. "Having a kid is like falling in love for the first time when you’re 12, but every day." —Mike Myers

7. "The only way I can describe it…at the end of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, you know how his heart grows, like, five times its size? Everything is full. It's just full all the time." —Matt Damon

8. "Fatherhood is the best thing I ever did. It changes your perspective. You can write a book, you can make a movie, you can paint a painting, but having kids is really the most extraordinary thing I have taken on." —Brad Pitt

9. "Daddies don't just love their children every now and then, it's a love without end, amen." —George Strait

10. "It doesn't matter what time of the night it is or how tired you are, they make you smile, they make you happy." —David Beckham

11. "By profession, I am a soldier and take great pride in that fact, but I am also prouder, infinitely prouder, to be a father. A soldier destroys in order to build; the father only builds, never destroys." —General Douglas MacArthur

12. "What I've learned as a father is that the most important thing in the world is listening. It's not about trying to be right." —Kevin Hart

13. "To be the father of a nation is a great honor, but to be the father of a family is a greater joy." —Nelson Mandela

14. "The love of being a father was not something I had to work on…It was physical, it was emotional, spiritual, you know. The attachment to my children I felt entirely and completely. I thought to myself: 'OK. If the baseline is unconditional love, I've got that.'" —Barack Obama

Funny Quotes About Fathers

1. "Dad taught me everything I know. Unfortunately, he didn't teach me everything he knows." —Al Unser

2. "A good father is one whose only reason for putting down a laughing baby is to pick up a crying one." —Linda Poindexter

3. "A man knows when he is growing old because he begins to look like his father." —Gabriel García Márquez

4. "You can tell what was the best year of your father's life, because they seem to freeze that clothing style and ride it out." —Jerry Seinfeld

5. "A father is a banker provided by nature." —French proverb

6. "A father is a man who expects his son to be as good a man as he meant to be." —Frank A. Clark

7. "You don't have to deserve your mother's love. You have to deserve your father's. He's more particular." —Robert Frost

8. "My daughter got me a 'world's best dad’ mug. So we know she's sarcastic." —Bob Odenkirk

9. "Having children is like living in a frat house: nobody sleeps, everything's broken, and there's a lot of throwing up." —Ray Romano

10. "Having one child makes you a parent. Having two kids makes you a referee." —David Frost

11. "Raising kids is part joy and part guerilla warfare." —Ed Asner

12. "There should be a children's song: 'If you're happy and you know it, keep it to yourself and let dad sleep." —Jim Gaffigan

13. "The worst part about being a parent is when one of your kids farts and you have to pretend it wasn't cool." —Rob Delaney
    

14. "It is admirable for a man to take his son fishing, but there is a special place in heaven for the father who takes his daughter shopping." —John Sinor

Quotes About Grandfathers

1. "The best dads get promoted to grandpa." —Unknown

2. "To a small child, the perfect granddad is unafraid of big dogs and fierce storms, but absolutely terrified of the word boo." —Robert Brault

3. "We never know the love of a parent till we become parents ourselves." —Henry Ward Beecher

4. "Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices call him father." —Lydia Maria Child

5. "When you teach your son, you teach your son's son." —The Talmud

6. "Sometimes the poorest man leaves his children the richest inheritance." —Ruth E. Renkel

7. "There are three stages of a man's life: He believes in Santa Claus, he doesn't believe in Santa Claus, he is Santa Claus." —Unknown

8. "A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society." —Billy Graham

Quotes About Husbands and Partners

1. "The greatest thing a father can do for his children is love their mother." —Anjaneth Garcia Untalan

2. "A happy family is a reflection of a good father and a loving husband." —Unknown

3. "The thrill of being a great father is not seeing your children go on to become successful adults. The thrill of a great father is the journey, experiencing your child's successes along the pathway to their greatness." —Reed Markham

4. "A man's worth is measured by how he parents his children. What he gives them, what he keeps away from them, the lessons he teaches, and the lessons he allows them to learn on their own." —Lisa Rogers

5. "Nothing has brought me more peace and content in life than simply being a good husband and father." —Frank Abagnale

6. "There's something like a line of gold thread running through a man's words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years it gets to be long enough for you to pick up in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself." —John Gregory Brown

7. "The only thing better than having you for a husband is our children having you for a daddy." —Unknown

8. "My Father's Day gift to you is letting you pretend to be in charge of the family for a day." —Unknown

9. "I always thought you'd make a great dad. Now, I know it. Happy Father's Day to an amazing husband." —Unknown

10. "The reward of child-rearing is spending the rest of your life proudly knowing this person you helped guide." —Mike Sager

11. "A man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child." —Knights of Pythagoras

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