These Father’s Day Quotes Will Make You Laugh and Cry—or Both
Some dads are the strong, silent types—men of few words—and others won’t stop talking. Whether they're sharing life lessons their pops taught them or revelations of from their own experiences, dads have a lot to say and we love to listen. In honor of Father’s Day, here are 50 heartfelt quotes from our favorite famous dads.
Kobe Bryant
"Be thankful that you've been given that gift because girls are amazing. I would have five more girls if I could. I’m a girl dad.”
Elton John
“I'm a great lover of children. I never thought that one day I'd actually be a father, but I'm very pleased that I changed my mind. Children are extremely important. They are the future of the world.”
Stephen Colbert
“A father has to be a provider, a teacher, a role model, but most importantly, a distant authority figure who can never be pleased. Otherwise, how will children ever understand the concept of God?”
Hugh Jackman
“When I come home, my daughter will run to the door and give me a big hug, and everything that’s happened that day just melts away.”
Dwayne Wade
“Fatherhood is the best thing that could happen to me, and I’m just glad I can share my voice.”
David Oyelowo
“I am a father, I am very aware of the things that I'm putting out in the world knowing that one day my children will watch the work that I've done. I want to be able to stand by it.”
Nate Berkus
"I love the ceremony of waking (my kids) up in the morning, picking them up when they fall, and walking them through the complexities of their day.”
Jonathan Safran Foer
“When you’re a dad, there’s no one above you. If I don’t do something that has to be done, who is going to do it?”
Christopher Walken
“My father was a lesson. He had his own bakery, and it was closed one day a week, but he would go anyway. He did it because he really loved his bakery. It wasn't a job.”
David Bowie
"I don't like to read things that people write about me. I'd rather read what kids have to say about me because it's not their profession to do that.”
Barack Obama
"Any fool can have a child. That doesn't make you a father. It's the courage to raise a child that makes you a father."
Michael Bublé
"Fatherhood is the greatest thing that could ever happen. You can't explain it until it happens—it's like telling someone what water feels like before they've ever swam in it."
David Beckham
"In my career, there's many things I've won and many things I've achieved, but for me, my greatest achievement is my children and my family. It's about being a good father, a good husband, just being connected to family as much as possible."
Harry S. Truman
"I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it."
John Kinnear
"Sometimes I'm amazed that my wife and I created two human beings from scratch yet struggle to assemble the most basic of IKEA cabinets."
Mike Myers
"Having a kid is like falling in love for the first time when you're 12, but every single day."
Mark Twain
"When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant, I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."
Tom Wolfe
"He adopted a role called being a father so that his child would have something mythical and infinitely important: a protector."
Magic Johnson
"It's all about you not trying to decide what your daughter or son should be or what you want them to be, it's all about loving them no matter who they are or what they decide to do."
John Stewart
"Fatherhood is great because you can ruin someone from scratch."
Michael Jordan
"My father used to say that it's never too late to do anything you wanted to do. And he said, 'You never know what you can accomplish until you try.'"
Charles Wadsworth
"By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he's wrong."
Robert Downey Jr.
“For new fathers, understand that whatever you think you’re going through or whatever you might be nervous about has no comparison to the new mother.”
C.S. Lewis
"An almost perfect relationship with his father was the earthly root of all his wisdom."
John Green
"The nature of fatherhood is that you're doing something that you're unqualified to do, and then you become qualified when you do it."
Ryan Reynolds
“Being a dad isn’t just about eating a huge bag of gummy-bears as your wife gives birth. It means being comfortable with the word hero.”
Abraham Lincoln
"No man stands taller than when he stoops to help a child."
Jay-Z
"I thought I would be more inspired to have all these new feelings to talk about, but I really just want to hang out with my daughter."
Clarence Budington Kelland
"My father didn’t tell me how to live. He lived, and let me watch him do it."
Neil Patrick Harris
"What I’ve realized is that life doesn’t count for much unless you’re willing to do your small part to leave our children—all of our children—a better world."
Justin Timberlake
“[Fatherhood] is the most insanely amazing, most beautiful, unbelievable thing that can ever happen to you.”
George Herbert
"One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters."
John Krazinski
“There is a mirror that is held up to me now. You have someone watching you. You have to lead by example.”
Gregory E. Lang
“A daughter needs a dad to be the standard against which she will judge all men.”
Steve Martin
"A father carries pictures where his money used to be."
Ty Burrell
“I think once I fail enough as a dad, I'll be looking for help wherever I can get it. I just need enough time to screw things up and then I'll start looking to TV dads for advice.”
John Legend
”You just have this little human that’s a product of yours and your partner’s love. And I think that’s really incredible to see ourselves reflected in our little child that we get to raise and teach and nurture, and I’m excited to do that."
Ray Romano
"Having children is a lot like living in a frat house—nobody sleeps, everything's broken, and there's a lot of throwing up."
Beau Bridges
"My father was my teacher. But most importantly he was a great dad."
Umberto Eco
"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 the little scraps of wisdom."
Corey Hart
"There is nothing more important in my life than being a father. I will never allow any of my career choices or aspiration to threaten this bond."
Dan Zevin
"Lately all my friends are worried that they're turning into fathers. I'm worried that I'm not."
Jim Valvano
"My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could ever give another person: he believed in me."
Keith Urban
"I only hope when I have my own family that everyday I see a little more of my father in me."
John Wilmot
"Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children; now, I have six children and no theories."
Matthew McConaughey
"Never is a man more of a man than when he is the father of a newborn."
William Shakespeare
"When a father gives to his son, both laugh; when a son gives to his father, they both cry."
Dave Barry
"Remember: What dad really wants is a nap. Really."
Bill Graham
"A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society."
Wade Boggs
"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."
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