Family Quotes

"Human beings look separate because you see them walking about separately. But then we are so made that we can see only the present moment. If we could see the past, then of course it would look different. For there was a time when every man was part of his mother, and (earlier still) part of his father as well, and when they were part of his grandparents. If you could see humanity spread out in time, as God sees it, it would look like one single growing thing — rather like a very complicated tree. Every individual would appear connected with every other."

- C.S. Lewis

"My grandparents suffered through the Depression, World War II, then came home to build the greatest middle class in human history. Lord knows they weren't perfect, but they sure came closest to the American dream."

- Max Brooks

"It seems to me that sometimes the worst parents make the best grandparents. I'm not sure why. Maybe because there is enough of a generational separation that they don't see their grandchildren as an extension of themselves, so their relationship isn't tainted by any self-loathing. And of course, just growing older seems to soften and relax people."

- Sarah Silverman

"I’m world famous. Throughout the globe—north, south, east, and west — there are literally four people who know my name. It’s great to have all four grandparents still living, and widely dispersed around the world."

- Jarod Kintz

"Grandchildren are God’s way of compensating us for growing old."

- Mary H. Waldrip

"Just about the time a woman thinks her work is done, she becomes a grandmother."

- Edward H. Dreschnack

"My grandmother is over eighty and still doesn’t need glasses. Drinks right out of the bottle!"

- Henry Youngman

"Grandchildren don’t stay young forever, which is good because Pop-pops have only so many horsey rides in them."

- Gene Perret

"There are fathers who do not love their children; there is no grandfather who does not adore his grandson."

- Victor Hugo

"A grandma is warm hugs and sweet memories. She remembers all of your accomplishments and forgets all of your mistakes."

- Barbara Cage

"We should all have one person who knows how to bless us despite the evidence, Grandmother was that person to me."

- Phyllis Theroux

"Don’t ever, ever underestimate the will of a Grandfather. We’re madmen, we don’t give a damn; we got here before you and they will be here after you. We’ll make enemies, we’ll break laws, we’ll break bones, but you will not mess with the grandchildren!"

- President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen), The West Wing

"In order to influence a child, one must be careful not to be that child’s parent or grandparent."

- Don Marquis

"Going to see my grandparents was the highlight of my childhood summers. I was doted upon, admired, entertained and overfed. I was never more content and happy."

- Carolyn Anthony

"Our grandchildren accept us for ourselves, without rebuke or effort to change us, as no one in our entire lives has ever done, not our parents, siblings, spouses, friends — and hardly ever our own grown children."

- Ruth Goode

"My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She’s ninety-seven now, and we don’t know where the heck she is."

- Ellen DeGeneres

"Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping; they called it 'opportunity.'"

- Charles J. Sykes

"A child needs a grandparent, anybody's grandparent, to grow a little more securely into an unfamiliar world."

- Charles and Ann Morse

"As you are now so once were we."

- James Joyce

"A grandmother pretends she doesn't know who you are on Halloween."

- Emma Bombeck

"Grandmothers are voices of the past and role models of the present. Grandmothers open the doors to the future."

- Helen Ketchum

"Kisses, cuddles, cookies, and treats, days spent with our grandparents are always so sweet."

"It’s funny what happens when you become a grandparent. You start to act all goofy and do things you never thought you’d do. It’s terrific."

"When the child you love has a child you love with all that is within you, only then will you know just how grand being a grandparent truly is."

"There is nothing like grandchildren in your arms to put a smile on your face, a lump in your throat, and a warm feel in your heart."

"Grandparents make the world a little softer, a little kinder, and a little warmer."

"A grandma is someone who’s dear in every way. Her smile is like the sunshine that brightens each new day."

"Perfect love sometimes does not come until the first grandchild."

"A grandmother is a babysitter who watches the kids instead of the television."

"A grandparent is old on the outside, but young on the inside."