James Fenimore Cooper on family

It is better for a man to die at peace with himself than to live haunted by an evil conscience!

History, like love, is so apt to surround her heroes with an atmosphere of imaginary brightness

Every trail has its end, and every calamity brings its lesson!

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