Honoré de Balzac on family

I am a galley slave to pen and ink.

Persons without minds are like weeds that delight in good earth; they want to be amused by others, all the more because they are dull within.

What is Art, monsieur, but Nature concentrated?

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.

The family you come from isn’t as important as the family you’re going to have.

Ring Lardner1885–1933

Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap on-a-rope.

Bill Cosbyborn 1937