Fathers
Quotes - Biology does not make a man a father
“It
was easier then. Easier when she could release all of the worries in her heart
to her father. She knew he would carry them. Every day, he had taught her to
empty her “worry pocket.” As a little child each night before prayers and bed,
she would take out her invisible worries from the tiny pocket of her shift,
laying them one by one into her father’s large, calloused hand. He would gather
them. Thank her for giving them to him, kiss her forehead with his whiskers
tickling her soft skin, then pray with her.”
―
Victoria Lynn, Once I Knew
“Mama,”
the child exclaimed, breathless and agitated.
Phoebe
looked down at him in concern. “Justin, what is it?”
“Galoshes
brought me a dead mouse. She dropped it on the floor right in front of me!”
“Oh,
dear.” Tenderly Phoebe smoothed his dark, ruffled hair. “I’m afraid that’s what
cats do. She thought it was a fine gift.”
“Nanny
won’t touch it, and the housemaid screamed, and I had a fight with Ivo.”
Although
Phoebe’s younger brother Ivo was technically Justin’s uncle, the boys were
close enough in age to play together and quarrel.
“About
the mouse?” Phoebe asked sympathetically.
“No,
before the mouse. Ivo said there’s going to be a honeymoon and I can’t go
because it’s for grownups.” The boy tilted his head back to look up at her, his
lower lip quivering. “You wouldn’t go to the honeymoon without me, would you,
Mama?”
“Darling,
we’ve made no plans to travel yet. There’s too much to be done here, and we all
need time to settle in. Perhaps in the spring—”
“Dad
wouldn’t want to leave me behind. I know he wouldn’t!”
In
the electrified silence that followed, Tom shot a glance at West, who looked
blank and startled.
Slowly
Phoebe lowered to the ground until her face was level with her son’s. “Do you
mean Uncle West?” she asked gently. “Is that what you’re calling him now?”
Justin
nodded. “I don’t want him to be my uncle—I already have too many of those. And
if I don’t have a dad, I’ll never learn how to tie my shoes.”
Phoebe
began to smile. “Why not call him Papa?” she suggested.
“If
I did, you’d never know which one I was talking about,” Justin said reasonably,
“the one in heaven or the one down here.”
Phoebe
let out a breath of amusement. “You’re right, my clever boy.”
Justin
looked up at the tall man beside him with a flicker of uncertainty. “I can call
you Dad … can’t I? Do you like that name?”
A
change came over West’s face, his color deepening, small muscles contorting
with some powerful emotion. He snatched Justin up, one of his large hands
clasping the small head as he kissed his cheek. “I love that name,” West said
unsteadily. “I love it.” The boy’s arms went around his neck.
“Can
we go to Africa for our honeymoon, Dad?” he heard Justin ask.
“Yes,”
came West’s muffled voice.
“Can
I have a pet crocodile, Dad?”
“Yes.”
Phoebe
produced a handkerchief from seemingly out of nowhere and tucked it discreetly
into one of West’s hands.”
―
Lisa Kleypas, Chasing Cassandra
“Biology
does not make a man a father--nor a woman a mother. We are what we do.”
―
Andrew Vachss, Another Chance to Get It Right
“My
father died many years ago now - of natural causes. So it goes. He was a sweet
man. He was a gun nut, too. He left me his guns. They rust.”
―
Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Slaughterhouse-Five
“The
house's disappearance from the landscape was not different from my father's
absence. His was a sudden erasure for my mother and siblings, a prolonged and
present absence for me, an intriguing story with an ever-expanding middle that
never drew to a close. The house held my father inside of it, preserved; it
bore his traces. As long as the house stood, containing these remnants, my
father was not yet gone. And then suddenly, he was.”
―
Sarah M. Broom, The Yellow House
“Fathers
are the pillars of the home.
Without
them, the citadel of confidence crumbles.
Without
them, the tendrils of hope withers.
Without
them, sweet and great dreams turn to nightmares.”
―
Michael Bassey Johnson, The Book of Maxims, Poems and Anecdotes
“Fathers
- half of anyone's life seemed to be about who fathered them.”
―
Nancy Springer, Lionclaw
“And
I see my father once again, eternally once again. And as the moment fades, I
realize I have recreated this scene countless times. And each time I forget
that I had created it not long ago. “Longing is powerful,” I say out loud to no
one but myself.”
―
Ron Potter, Moose
“Father
didn't want to seem weak in front of us and that itself was a weakness.”
―
Maddy Kobar, From Out of Feldspar
“Hes
that kind of man. Every few years he sends news of where he is, and he even
turned up on the doorstep unannounced once or twice when we were still at
school. He's not a bad person, just a flighty one.”
―
Josie Silver, The Two Lives of Lydia Bird
“May
we as father’s pray that God would transform the men that we are in order to
heal the wounds that we have caused. And might we kneel before this God every
day so that the transformation never stops, but the wounding does.”
―
Craig D. Lounsbrough
“I
think any dad who slices a large pickle in two for their kids' sandwich is
always a good dad!”
―
Zidrou, The Adoption
“All
dead fathers seem to have been good men.”
―
K.M. Mayville, The Glass Cloister
“I
used to scream, “Daddy!” and hug him when he came home,
Until
one day I got scared hugging a father I didn’t know.
Who
is daddy except for that one man in my house at night
To
eat dinner, sleep, and go away again?”
―
Karl Kristian Flores, The Goodbye Song
“Some
simpleton with pimples in his voice wants to speak to Ernestine," he
grumbled to Mother when he answered the phone.”
―
Frank B. Gilbreth Jr., Cheaper by the Dozen
“I
still had fifteen cents that I hadn't given to Pa, and I was using it that
afternoon to buy candy for my sisters. Abby had her monthlies and was feeling
awfully blue. She'd had the cramp something wicked that morning and had to lie
down until it passed, and Pa asked me why she wasn't in the barn milking with
the rest of us like he always does because he forgets, and then I had to
explain and he got mad at me because it made him embarrassed.”
―
Jennifer Donnelly, A Northern Light
“He
had always worked for his father, in the family firm, but after his father's
reaction to the house Pavel had decided not to do that anymore.
'All
my life,' he said, 'he criticise. He criticise my work, my idea, he say he
don't like the way I talk – even he criticise my wife and my children. But when
he criticise my house –' Pavel pursed his lips in a smile – 'then I think,
okay, is enough.”
―
Rachel Cusk, Transit
“It
would be heretical, I suppose, to call Jesus fatherless, but might we admit
that, as dads go, God was a little remote? Jesus was lucky to have Joseph,
described and sanctified as a good man and a stand-up stepdad.”
―
Kate Braestrup, Anchor and Flares: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hope, and Service
“YAEL;
He slides the suitcase and pumps my cap over my eyes and back up again. The
crow's feet that bloom into a dozen crinkles around his eyes when he smiles
warm me. When my father smiles, nothing in the world can hurt us.”
―
Leslie K. Barry
