Inspiring Parenting Quotes: Wisdom for Every Journey

"If you have never been hated by your child, you have never been a parent."

- Bette Davis

"It's not our job to toughen our children up to face a cruel and heartless world. It's our job to raise children who will make the world a little less cruel and heartless."

- L.R. Knost

"Perhaps it takes courage to raise children."

- John Steinbeck

"Children are people, and they should have to reach to learn about things, to understand things, just as adults have to reach if they want to grow in mental stature. Life is composed of lights and shadows, and we would be untruthful, insincere, and saccharine if we tried to pretend there were no shadows. Most things are good, and they are the strongest things; but there are evil things too, and you are not doing a child a favor by trying to shield him from reality. The important thing is to teach a child that good can always triumph over evil."

- Walt Disney

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

- JIM VALVANO

"No man should bring children into the world who is unwilling to persevere to the end in their nature and education."

- Plato

"...the love, respect, and confidence of my children was the sweetest reward I could receive for my efforts to be the woman I would have them copy."

- Louisa May Alcott

"When a child hits a child, we call it aggression. When a child hits an adult, we call it hostility. When an adult hits an adult, we call it assault. When an adult hits a child, we call it discipline."

- Haim G. Ginott

"We change our behavior when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing. Consequences give us the pain that motivates us to change."

- Henry Cloud

"Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think, and loved more than you know."

- Christopher Robin to Winnie the Pooh

"Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws."

- Barbara Kingsolver

"There is no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one."

- Jill Churchill

"The way that we talk to our children becomes their inner voice."

- Peggy O’Mara

"Parenting is about raising and celebrating the child you have, not the child you thought you’d have."

- Brene Brown

"Parenthood. It's about guiding the next generation and forgiving the last."

- Peter Krause

"When little people are overwhelmed by big emotions, it’s our job to share our calm, not join their chaos."

- L.R. Knost

"Try walking around with a child who’s going, ‘Wow, wow! Look at that dirty dog! Look at that burned-down house! Look at that red sky!’ And the child points, and you look, and you see, and you start going, ‘Wow! Look at that huge crazy hedge! Look at that teeny little baby! Look at the scary dark cloud!’ I think this is how we are supposed to be in the world — present and in awe."

- Anne Lamott

"My most important parenting job is to teach my children how to deal with being human. There is really only one way to deal gracefully with being human, and that is: forgive yourself."

- Glennon Doyle

"When you hold your baby in your arms the first time, and you think of all the things you can say and do to influence him, it's a tremendous responsibility. What you do with him can influence not only him, but everyone he meets and not for a day or a month or a year but for time and eternity."

- Rose Kennedy

"I feel very blessed to have two wonderful, healthy children who keep me completely grounded, sane and throw up on my shoes just before I go to an awards show just so I know to keep it real."

- Reese Witherspoon

"A mother who is really a mother is never free."

- Honore de Balzac

"Parentage is a very important profession, but no test of fitness for it is ever imposed in the interest of the children."

- George Bernard Shaw

"Your children need your presence more than your presents."

- Jesse Jackson

"A mother's love is patient and forgiving when all others are forsaking. It never fails or falters, even though the heart is breaking."

- Helen Rice

"There is no friendship, no love, like that of the parent for the child."

- Henry Ward Beecher

"Being a parent means loving your children more than you've ever loved yourself."

- Drew Barrymore

"A mother's love is endless; it goes beyond words, time, and distance."

- Preeti Shenoy

"Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work."

- C.S. Lewis

"Parenthood is a sacred privilege, a profound responsibility, and a boundless wellspring of unconditional love that knows no bounds."

- Michael Josephson

"Parents with their words, attitudes, and actions possess the ability to bless or curse the identities of their children."

- Craig Hill

"The best way to raise positive children in a negative world is to have positive parents who love them unconditionally and serve as excellent role models."

- Zig Ziglar

"Encourage and support your kids because children are apt to live up to what you believe of them."

- Lady Bird Johnson

"The most beautiful thing in the world is to see your children smiling, and knowing that you are the reason behind that smile."

- John Wooden

"Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you."

- Robert Fulghum

"A parent's love is whole no matter how many times divided."

- Robert Brault

"Parenting is a grand adventure, a journey of self-discovery, resilience, and the pure joy of witnessing a little soul blossom into its unique brilliance."

- Sarah Ban Breathnach

"The beauty of parenthood lies in the ability to witness your child's firsts and be a part of their every moment, creating a tapestry of memories that lasts a lifetime."

- Sharon Jaynes

"The best way to make children good is to make them happy."

- Oscar Wilde

"As your kids grow up, they may forget what you said, but they won’t forget how you made them feel."

- Kevin Heath

"Your children will become who you are, so be who you want them to be."

- David Bly

"It's not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves, that will make them successful human beings."

- Ann Landers

"The art of mothering is to teach the art of living to children."

- Elaine Heffner

"A baby is born with a need to be loved — and never outgrows it."

- Frank A. Clark

"Parents are the ultimate role models for children. Every word, movement, and action has an effect. No other person or outside force has a greater influence on a child than the parent."

- Bob Keeshan

"Parenting is the easiest thing in the world to have an opinion about, but the hardest thing in the world to do."

- Matt Walsh

"The best thing to spend on your children is time."

- Louise Hart

"The greatest gift a father can give his children is to love their mother."

- John Wooden

"Parenting is the art of guiding a child to discover the world while rediscovering it through their innocent eyes, and in doing so, finding the magic in everyday moments."

- Diane Loomans

"Parenting is not a perfect journey, but a perfect opportunity to love and guide your child."

- Peter Krause

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."

- Elizabeth Stone

"The best part about being a parent is the moment you realize you wouldn't want your life any other way."

- John Wooden

"Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother."

- Oprah Winfrey

"The only man who has stolen my heart is my son."

- Sandra Bullock

"Your children are not your children, they come through you, but they are life itself, wanting to express itself."

- Wayne Dyer

"The most precious jewels you'll ever have around your neck are the arms of your children."

- Cardinal Mermillod

"The way you help heal the world is you start with your own family."

- Mother Teresa

"The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice."

- Peggy O’Mara

"It's not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours."

- Joyce Maynard

"Parenting is a dance between making memories and letting go, a delicate balance of holding on and encouraging your child to soar to new heights."

- Karen Salmansohn

"Your children will become who you are; so be who you want them to be."

- David Bly

"Raising a child is like planting a seed and watching it grow into a beautiful flower."

- Lisa Wingate

"Children learn more from what you are than what you teach."

- W.E.B. Du Bois

"Children are the anchors that hold a mother to life."

- Sophocles

"Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you."

- Robert Fulghum

"Parenting is about guiding the next generation, and forgiving the last."

- Peter Krause

"A child's mind is not a container to be filled but rather a fire to be kindled."

- Dorothea Brande

"There’s no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one."

- Jill Churchill

"Children are great imitators, so give them something great to imitate."

- John Wooden

"Parenting is about guiding your children to discover their own paths, not paving the way for them."

- Lisa Wingate

"Children do not need us to shape them. They need us to respond to who they are."

- Naomi Aldort

"Your kids require you most of all to love them for who they are, not to spend your whole time trying to correct them."

- Bill Ayers

"You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance."

- Franklin P. Jones

"There is no such thing as a perfect parent. So just be a real one."

- Sue Atkins

"In raising my children, I have lost my mind but found my soul."

- Lisa T. Shepherd

"Parenthood…it’s about guiding the next generation and forgiving the last."

- Peter Krause

"I became the kind of parent my mother was to me."

- Maya Angelou

"The thing about parenting rules is there aren’t any. That’s what makes it so difficult."

- Ewan McGregor

"No matter how old a mother is, she watches her middle-aged children for signs of improvement."

- Florida Scott-Maxwell

"Having children just puts the whole world into perspective. Everything else just disappears."

- Kate Winslet

"Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands."

- Anne Frank

"I don’t think it matters how many parents you’ve got, as long as those who are around make their presence a good one."

- Elizabeth Wurtzel

"The truth is, parenting as well as we can is always hard – really, truly, the hardest thing any of us has ever done."

- Laura Markham

"Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression."

- Dr. Haim Ginott

"The best parenting advice I can give: Do less. Seriously. Just stop — right now — and don't do a thing."

- Heather Wittenberg

"I came to parenting the way most of us do — knowing nothing and trying to learn everything."

- Mayim Bialik

"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them."

- James Baldwin

"A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on."

- Carl Sandburg

"It is one thing to show your child the way, and a harder thing to then stand out of it."

- Robert Breault

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

- Frederick Douglass

"Children are not things to be molded, but are people to be unfolded."

- Jess Lair

"The best kind of parent you can be is to lead by example."

- Drew Barrymore

"The point of parenting isn’t to have all the answers before we start out but instead to figure it out on the go as our children grow, because as they do, so will we."

- Bridgett Miller

"The most important thing that parents can teach their children is how to get along without them."

- Frank A. Clark

"Parenting without a sense of humor is like being an accountant who sucks at math."

- Amber Dusick

"People who say they sleep like a baby usually don’t have one."

- Leo Burke

"Why don’t kids understand their nap is not for them, but for us?"

- Alyson Hannigan

"Always be nice to your children because they are the ones who will choose your rest home."

- Phyllis Diller

"When your children are teenagers, it’s important to have a dog so that someone in the house is happy to see you."

- Nora Ephron

"I thought I’d never be that annoying person, but as soon as Winnie was born, I was showing iPhone snaps to a cab driver."

- Jimmy Fallon

"The greatest legacy we can leave our children is happy memories."

- Og Mandino

"To be in your children's memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today."

"Don’t compare your child to others. There is no comparison between the sun and the moon. They shine when it’s their time."

"There is no such thing as a perfect parent, so just be a real one."

"My child asked me why the moon goes away each morning. I said it’s off to light up someone else’s night."

"Having kids is like living in a zoo – every day is an adventure, and you never know what you’re going to see next!"

"Parenting is like trying to juggle while baking a cake and solving a puzzle – all at the same time!"

"Being a parent is like being a superhero. Every day, you’re someone’s hero."

"Children are like little bundles of hope and joy, teaching us to love boundlessly and unconditionally."

"Being a parent is like trying to fly a kite in a windstorm – exciting, unpredictable, and always an adventure!"