There are no adequate substitutes for father mother and children bound together in a loving commitment to nurture and protect. No government no matter how well-intentioned can take the place of the family in the scheme of things.

My father was brought up in an orphanage in the Catskills. He was a factory worker. And because his family wasn't there for him family was everything. We could disagree inside the house but outside the house it was us against the world. So when I became a drag actor he looked sideways but said okay.

All the laws and legislation in the world will never heal this world like the loving hearts and arms of mothers and fathers. If every child could drift to sleep feeling wrapped in the love of their family - and God's love - this world would be a far more gentle and better place.

Fathers should be neither seen nor heard. That is the only proper basis for family life.

Like all my family and class I considered it a sign of weakness to show affection to have been caught kissing my mother would have been a disgrace and to have shown affection for my father would have been a disaster.

There are things that you cannot talk to your mother and father about there are things that you cannot talk to your children about.

I have a lot of very close girlfriends and sisters - I'm from an all female family. My father often quips that even the cat was neutered!

If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the father the mother and the teacher.

The principal end both of my father and of myself in the conquest of India... has been the propagation of the holy Catholic faith.

The solid middle-class values of hard work responsibility family community and faith my father talked about tirelessly from Iowa to New York he lived at home. The hopes he had for his family and for me he had for all Americans. I think Americans understood this.

At times of distress we all like to recall the advice of fathers and mothers. The best advice my father gave me was to keep faith and deep confidence in the potential of the Greek people nurture the belief that they can do things.

I am an Episcopalian who takes the faith of my fathers seriously and I would I think be disheartened if my own young children were to turn away from the church when they grow up. I am also a critic of Christianity if by critic one means an observer who brings historical and literary judgment to bear on the texts and traditions of the church.

My father who died a few years ago was a good simple very honest man. His faith and affection for his family was just unassailable without question.

No matter how old we become we can still call them 'Holy Mother' and 'Father' and put a child-like trust in them.

What does God the Father look like? Although I've never seen Him I believe - as with the Holy Spirit - He looks like Jesus looked on earth.

But whatever my failure I have this thing to remember - that I was a pioneer in my profession just as my grandfathers were in theirs in that I was the first man in this section to earn his living as a writer.

The one phrase you can use is that success has a thousand fathers and failure is an orphan.

I think I've always been somebody since the deaths of my father and brother who was afraid to hope. So I was more prepared for failure and for rejection than for success.

The biggest problem in my life is trying to be the kind of man that I want to be the father that I want to be and how to process the failure of my marriage.

Before I was married I didn't consider my failure to manage even basic hand tools a feminist inadequacy. I thought it had more to do with being Jewish. The Jews I knew growing up didn't do 'do-it-yourself.' When my father needed to hammer something he generally used his shoe and the only real tool he owned was a pair of needle-nose pliers.

While it is important for people to see your promise you must also remember that hope is the keeper of both happiness and disappointment the father of both progress and failure.

You're working on being a father so that is something that when you experience it you'll understand the profundity of wanting to protect something dear to you.

I would love to be a father. I had a great father who taught me how gratifying that is. I'm not going to deny myself that. I think I'd be good at it. Everybody wants that experience. I definitely do.

In my experience it's all wonderful with girls until about 16. Around that time boys kind of calm down and start focusing their testosterone. Girls get a little challenging especially for fathers.