Read These Heartfelt Family Quotes to Remind You of What's Really Important
It's true that no family looks the same, but as Leo Tolstoy would say: “All happy families are alike.” Families can be some of your best friends and biggest fans, and that alone brings on a feeling so unique, it can hardly be explained! Yet, this list of family quotes somehow manages to pull it off.
If you need an example of a standup family, look no further than the Drummonds. They're a supportive bunch that will travel miles on end to watch one of Bryce's and Todd's football games and also never miss a birthday shoutout... no matter how many of them there are! Such a special relationship can be embodied by this Richard Bach quote: "The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life."
There are more happy quotes and plenty of loving sayings just like that on this list. Other words are taken from beloved feel-good movies, like Lilo and Stitch. Some are laugh-out-loud funny, like this quote from George Burns: "Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city." But mostly, the quotes selected are short, simple, and as sincere as the love you feel for your own family—biological, chosen, or otherwise. After all, as Trenton Lee Stewart reminds us, "Family members can be your best friends, you know. And best friends, whether or not they are related to you, can be your family."
Leigh Anne Tuohy
“Families don’t have to match. You don’t have to look like someone else to love them.”
Barbara Bush
“To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there.”
Walt Disney
“A man should never neglect his family for business.”
Desmond Tutu
“You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.”
Kendall Hailey
“The greatest gift of family life is to be intimately acquainted with people you might never even introduce yourself to, had life not done it for you.”
Robin Hobb
“Home is people. Not a place.”
Pierce Brown
“Home isn't where you're from, it's where you find light when all grows dark.”
Khalil Gibran
“You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.”
Joyce Brothers
“When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses.”
Bob Hope
“I grew up with six brothers. That’s how I learned to dance — waiting for the bathroom.”
George A. Moore
“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs, and returns home to find it.”
Kristin Hannah
“A daughter without her mother is a woman broken.”
Martin Mull
“Having a family is like having a bowling alley installed in your brain.”
Evan Esar
“Family: A social unit where the father is concerned with parking space, the children with outer space, and the mother with closet space.”
Robert Brault
“A family is a bunch of people who keep confusing you with someone you were as a kid.”
Leo Tolstoy
“All happy families are alike.”
Courtland Milloy
“Nothing purchased can come close to the renewed sense of gratitude for having family and friends.”
Lilly Singh
“You need a rock-solid foundation of friends and family to keep you where you need to be.”
Charles Kuralt
“The love of family and the admiration of friends are much more important than wealth and privilege.”
Menacheim Begin
“It is the smile of a child, the love of a mother, the joy of a father, the togetherness of a family.”
Mitch Albom
“Sticking with your family is what makes it a family.”
Pope John XXIII
“The family is the first essential cell of human society.”
Dodie Smith
“The family– that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape, nor, in our inmost hearts, ever quite wish to.”
Jonathan Safran Foer
“One day you will do things for me that you hate. That is what it means to be family.”
Donna Hedges
“Having a place to go is a home. Having someone to love is a family. Having both is a blessing.”
John Wooden
“The most important thing in the world is family and love.”
George Santayana
“The family is one of nature’s masterpieces.”
Irina Shayk
“Nothing is better than going home to family and eating good food and relaxing.”
John C. Maxwell
“Family and friendships are two of the greatest facilitators of happiness.”
Anthony Brandt
“Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family.”
Niki Taylor
“Stick to the basics, hold on to your family and friends – they will never go out of fashion.”
Harry Morgan
“Being part of a family means smiling for photos.”
George Bernard Shaw
“A happy family is but an earlier heaven.”
Linda Linney
“Family is family.”
Guy Lafleur
“When trouble comes, it’s your family that supports you.”
Michael Imperioli
"My family is my life, and everything else comes second as far as what's important to me."
Wanda Hope Carter
"Family and friends are hidden treasures, seek them out and enjoy their riches."
Candace Cameron Bure
"The memories we make with our family is everything."
Anthony Liccione
"Everyone needs a house to live in, but a supportive family is what builds a home."
Lisa Weed
"Being a family means you are a part of something very wonderful. It means you will love and be loved for the rest of your life."
Friedrich Nietzsche
"In family life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together, and the music that brings harmony."
José Carreras
"I have a wonderful shelter, which is my family."
Marge Kennedy
"The informality of family life is a blessed condition that allows us all to become our best while looking our worst."
Burmese Proverb
"In time of test, family is best."
Kate Middleton
"There is no rule book, no right or wrong; you just have to make it up and do the very best you can to care for your family."
Reba McEntire
"I don't think quantity time is as special as quality time with your family."
Peter Buffett
"It didn't matter how big our house was; it mattered that there was love in it."
Kelly Clarkson
"My friends and family are my support system... Without them I have no idea where I would be."
Mario Puzo
"The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, is in its loyalty to each other."
Leonard Cohen
"May you be surrounded by friends and family, and if this is not your lot, may the blessings find you in your solitude."
Maya Angelou
"I sustain myself with the love of family."
Eva Burrows
"In family life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together and the music that brings harmony."
Jodi Picoult
"My mother used to tell me that when push comes to shove, you always know who to turn to. That being a family isn’t a social construct but an instinct."
Albert Einstein
"Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life."
'Coco'
"We may have our differences, but nothing’s more important than family."
Trenton Lee Stewart
"Family members can be your best friends, you know. And best friends, whether or not they are related to you, can be your family."
Stitch, 'Lilo and Stitch'
"'Ohana' means family and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten."
Mary Karr
"A dysfunctional family is any family with more than one person in it."
Richard Bach
"The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life."
Michelle Obama
"With every word we utter, with every action we take, we know our kids are watching us. We as parents are their most important role models."
Elizabeth Berg
"You are born into your family and your family is born into you. No returns. No exchanges."
Winston Churchill
"There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human, are created, strengthened and maintained."
Louis Zamperini
"The world, we’d discovered, doesn’t love you like your family loves you."
Barbara Bush
"When all the dust is settled and all the crowds are gone, the things that matter are faith, family and friends."
Paul Pearsall
"Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family."
Princess Diana
"Family is the most important thing in the world."
J.K. Rowling
"Family is a life jacket in the stormy sea of life."
Lee Iacocca
"The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works, is the family."
James Baldwin
"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them."
Barack Obama
"Of all the rocks upon which we build our lives, we are reminded today that family is the most important."
Alex Haley
"In every conceivable manner, the family is a link to our past, bridge to our future."
Oprah Winfrey
"I know for sure: Family should be the place where you can be your most complete self."
Haniel Long
"So much of what is best in us is bound up in our love of family, that it remains the measure of our stability because it measures our sense of loyalty."
Michael J. Fox
"Family is not an important thing. It's everything."
George Burns
"Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city."
Marjorie Pay Hinckley
"Home is where you are loved the most and act the worst."
Brad Henry
"Families are the compass that guides us. They are the inspiration to reach great heights, and our comfort when we occasionally falter."
Siri Hustvedt
"My greatest pleasure is spending time with my family."
'Finding Nemo'
"Because when I look at you, I can feel it. And I look at you and I’m home."
Jane Howard
"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one."
Les Dawson
"Families are like fudge—mostly sweet, with a few nuts."
Walt Disney
"Life is beautiful. It’s about giving. It’s about family."
Mother Theresa
"What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family."
Sister Sledge
"We are family / I got all my sisters with me."
Oprah Winfrey
"I’ve tried to create that kind of seat at my table—a place of compassion, a space where differences are understood, similarities are celebrated, and laughter happens a whole lot. That’s my goal as I continue to build the family I wasn’t born to."
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