117 Inspirational Dad Quotes to Celebrate Fatherhood

"My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me."

- Jim Valvano

"There's something like a line of gold thread running through a man's words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years, it gets to be long enough for you to pick up in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself."

- John Gregory Brown

"Any fool can have a child. That doesn't make you a father. It's the courage to raise a child that makes you a father."

- Barack Obama

"My father gave me my dreams. Thanks to him, I could see a future."

- Liza Minnelli

"My father taught me to work hard, laugh often, and keep my word."

- Michelle Obama

"[My father] didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it."

- Clarence B. Kelland

"I think back to the day I drove Michelle and a newborn Malia home from the hospital nearly 13 years ago-crawling along, miles under the speed limit, feeling the weight of my daughter's future resting in my hands. I think about the pledge I made to her that day: that I would give her what I never had-that if I could be anything in life, I would be a good father. I knew that day that my own life wouldn't count for much unless she had every opportunity in hers."

- Barack Obama

"I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren't trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom."

- Umberto Eco

"Being a daddy's girl is like having permanent armor for the rest of your life."

- Marinela Reka

"It was my father who taught me to value myself. He told me that I was uncommonly beautiful and that I was the most precious thing in his life."

- Dawn French

"Every father should remember that one day his son will follow his example instead of his advice."

- Charles Kettering

"My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, 'You're tearing up the grass.' 'We're not raising grass,' Dad would reply. 'We're raising boys."

- Harmon Killebrew

"Life doesn't come with an instruction book; that's why we have fathers."

- H. Jackson Brown

"Any man can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad."

- Anne Geddes

"When my father didn't have my hand, he had my back."

- Linda Poindexter

"The guys who fear becoming fathers don't understand that fathering is not something perfect men do, but something that perfects the man. The end product of child-raising is not the child but the parent."

- Frank Pittman

"Real fatherhood means love and commitment and sacrifice and a willingness to share responsibility and not walking away from one's children."

- William Bennett

"I don't want to look back and say, 'Yeah, I was really successful, but I failed at fatherhood because I wasn't there."

- Zac Brown

"Being a father has been, without a doubt, my greatest source of achievement, pride and inspiration. Fatherhood has taught me about unconditional love, reinforced the importance of giving back and taught me how to be a better person."

- Naveen Jain

"Fathers, be good to your daughters. You are the god and the weight of her world."

- John Mayer

"Train up a child in the way he should go—but be sure you go that way yourself."

- Charles H. Spurgeon

"Life affords no greater responsibility, no greater privilege, than the raising of the next generation."

- C. Everett Koop

"Fathering is not something perfect men do, but something that perfects the man."

- Frank Pittman

"A father is the man who can change a world he will not be part of by building the tiny human that is part of him."

- Craig D. Lounsbrough

"Life doesn't come with an instruction book — that's why we have fathers."

- H. Jackson Browne Jr.

"The greatest mark of a father is how he treats his children when no one is looking."

- Dan Pearce

"My dad, like any coach, has always stressed the fundamentals. He taught me responsibility, accountability, and the importance of hard work."

- Steve Young

"A father's words are like a thermostat that sets the temperature in the house."

- Paul Lewis

"The heart of a father is the masterpiece of nature."

- Antoine Francois Prevost

"To be the father of a nation is a great honor, but to be the father of a family is a greater joy."

- Nelson Mandela

"Everyone can be a father, but it takes a lot to be a dad."

- Wade Boggs

"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection."

- Sigmund Freud

"[My father] has always provided me a safe place to land and a hard place from which to launch."

- Chelsea Clinton

"My father is my rock. It's where I learned everything about loyalty, dependability, being there day in, day out, no matter what."

- Hugh Jackman

"A man's worth is measured by how he parents his children. What he gives them, what he keeps away from them, the lessons he teaches, and the lessons he allows them to learn on their own."

- Lisa Rogers

"The imprint of a father remains forever on the life of the child."

- Roy Lessin

"A father is the one friend upon whom we can always rely. In the hour of need, when all else fails, we remember him upon whose knees we sat when children, and who soothed our sorrows; and even though he may be unable to assist us, his mere presence serves to comfort and strengthen us."

- éMile Gaboriau

"Nothing has brought me more peace and content in life than simply being a good husband and father."

- Frank Abagnale

"Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter. In love to our wives there is desire; to our sons, ambition; but to our daughters there is something which there are no words to express."

- Joseph Addison

"When a father gives to his son, both laugh; when a son gives to his father, both cry."

- William Shakespeare

"One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters."

- George Herbert

"Sometimes the poorest man leaves his children the richest inheritance."

- Ruth E. Renkel

"Great fathers don't find fault. Great fathers find solutions."

- Reed Markham

"The power of a dad in a child's life is unmatched."

- Justin Ricklefs

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."

- Frederick Douglass

"A father doesn't tell you that he loves you. He shows you."

- Dimitri the Stoneheart

"Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices call him father!"

- Lydia M. Child

"Fatherhood is an honor, and men should be strong enough to step up to the plate."

- Karamo Brown

"Anyone who tells you fatherhood is the greatest thing that can happen to you, they are understating it."

- Mike Myers

"What I love most about fatherhood is the opportunity to be a part of the development process of a new life."

- Sally

"When you teach your son, you teach your son's son."

- The Talmud

"It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons."

- Johann Schiller

"No man I ever met was my father's equal, and I never loved any other man as much."

- Hedy Lamarr

"Fathering is a marathon—a long and often trying journey—and we must be disciplined if we hope to finish successfully."

- Ken Canfield

"A child is not likely to find a father in God unless he finds something of God in his father."

- Glen Wheeler

"To be successful in the family the father must have the welfare of each family member at heart and his decisions and plans must be based upon what is best for them."

- Helen Andelin

"It takes time to be a good father. It takes effort –trying, failing, and trying again."

- Tim Hansel

"Children desperately need to know –and to hear in ways they understand and remember –that they're loved and valued by mom and dad."

- Gary Smalley and Paul Trent

"The more a child becomes aware of a father's willingness to listen, the more a father will begin to hear."

- Gordon MacDonald

"Authentic men aren't afraid to show affection, release their feelings, hug their children, cry when they're sad, admit it when they're wrong, and ask for help when they need it."

- Charles Swindoll

"My strong determination for justice comes from the very strong, dynamic personality of my father ... I have rarely ever met a person more fearless and courageous than my father."

- Martin Luther King III

"Do I want to be a hero to my son? No. I would like to be a very real human being. That's hard enough."

- Robert Downey Jr.

"I decided in my life that I would do nothing that did not reflect positively on my father's life."

- Sidney Poitier

"My father believed in toughness, honesty, politeness, and being on time. All very important lessons."

- Roger Moore

"One of the greatest titles in the world is parent, and one of the biggest blessings in the world is to be one."

- Jim Demint

"You don't raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they'll turn out to be heroes, even if it's just in your own eyes."

- Walter M. Schirra, Sr.

"We never know the love of a parent till we become parents ourselves."

- Henry Ward Beecher

"Becoming a dad means you have to be a role model for your son and be someone he can look up to."

- Wayne Rooney

"What a father says to his children is not heard by the world, but it will be heard by posterity."

- Jean Paul

"There's no shame in fear, my father told me, what matters is how we face it."

- George R.R. Martin

"A father carries pictures where his money used to be."

- Steve Martin

"It's only when you grow up and step back from him —or leave him for your own home —it's only then that you can measure his greatness and fully appreciate it."

- Margaret Truman

"Every son quotes his father, in words and in deeds."

- Terri Guillemets

"Never is a man more of a man than when he is the father of a newborn."

- Matthew McConaughey

"Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them."

- Psalm 127:3-5

"Fatherhood is the best thing that could happen to me, and I'm just glad I can share my voice."

- Dwyane Wade

"Fatherhood is a very natural thing; it's not something that shakes up my life but rather it enriches it."

- Andrea Bocelli

"I love every minute of fatherhood, staying up all night, changing nappies, kids crying, I find it really funny and inspiring. It connects you to the world in a new way."

- Elton John

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

- Proverbs 22:6

"Fathers do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."

- Ephesians 6:4

"Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value."

- Albert Einstein

"Fathering is a marathon, not a sprint."

- Paul L. Lewis

"My father was my teacher. But most importantly he was a great dad."

- Beau Bridges

"Each parent talks about the waking up during the night and the feeding during the night, but for me that was the most special time. It doesn't matter what time of the night it is or how tired you are, they make you smile, they make you happy."

- David Beckham

"It doesn't matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was."

- Anne Sexton

"Being a great father is like shaving. No matter how good you shaved today, you have to do it again tomorrow."

- Reed Markham

"I have never been a material girl. My father always told me never to love anything that cannot love you back."

- Imelda Marcos

"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."

- Mark Twain

"The older I get, the smarter my father seems to get."

- Tim Russert

"It is admirable for a man to take his son fishing, but there is a special place in heaven for the father who takes his daughter shopping."

- John Sinor

"It is a wise father that knows his own child."

- William Shakespeare

"One of the most powerful handclasps is that of a new grandbaby around the finger of a grandfather."

- Joy Hargrove

"Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you."

- Deuteronomy 5:16

"Fatherhood is the best thing that ever happened to me."

- Matt Barnes

"By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he's wrong."

- Charles Wadsworth

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward."

- Psalm 127:3

"Take more pleasure in giving what is best to another than in having it for yourself, and then all the world will love you."

- Thomas Jefferson

"As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him."

- Psalm 103:13

"You don't have to deserve your mother's love. You have to deserve your father's. He's more particular."

- Robert Frost

"I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it."

- Harry S. Truman

"A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother."

- Proverbs 10:1

"Dad taught me everything I know. Unfortunately, he didn't teach me everything he knows."

- Al Unser

"Fatherhood is great because you can ruin someone from scratch."

- Jon Stewart

"You can tell what was the best year of your father's life, because they seem to freeze that clothing style and ride it out."

- Jerry Seinfeld

"A father is a banker provided by nature."

- French Proverb

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

- Bill Cosby

"A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society."

"The quality of a father can be seen in the goals, dreams and aspirations he sets not only for himself, but for his family."