As that little boy grows older, his relationship with his father will often go back and forth between that of parent and friend. Undoubtedly, they will butt heads at times—but once cooler heads prevail, the son is reminded that at the end of the day, whether Dad’s advice was unsolicited or not, he meant well and had only the best of intentions. This list of famous quotes is sure to resonate with both fathers and sons and put to words the feelings that are sometimes difficult to express. Whether you are looking for special words to share with your dad on Father’s Day or any other occasion, we’re sure you will find a message among these famous quotes about fathers and sons that will call out to you.
65 Quotes About Fathers & Sons
- “With sons and fathers, there’s an inexplicable connection and imprint that your father leaves on you.” — Brad Pitt
- “Though our new son is barely a part of our present, we look at his squirming, warm bundle of future potential and say to ourselves, ‘Hello, little man.’ Little do we know the adventure we are beginning!” — Dr. Gregory L. Jantz
- “The first step, my son, which one makes in the world, is the one on which depends the rest of our days.” — Voltaire
- “Never fret for an only son, the idea of failure will never occur to him.” — George Bernard Shaw
- “If you are going to help [your son], you first need to show support and appreciation for the person he is, so you can build that person up.” — Clayton Lesser
- “There is no love on earth greater than that of a father for his son.” — Unknown
- “Every son’s first superhero is his father, and it was the same for me. For me, he was Superman and Batman combined.” — Tiger Shroff
- “If my son is happy, then I am happy.” — Chris Paul
- “Every father should remember that one day his son will follow his example rather than his advice.” — Charles F. Kettering
- “When your son grows up, become his brother.” — Arabic Proverb
- “A man’s desire for a son is usually nothing but the wish to duplicate himself in order that such a remarkable pattern may not be lost to the world.” — Helen Rowland
- “It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons.” — Johann Freidrich von Schiller
- “My son’s the most precious thing to me; he’s changed me from being selfish to selfless.” — Ricardo Antonio Chavira
- “A man knows when he is growing old because he begins to look like his father.” — Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- “But now, being a parent, I go home and see my son and I forget about any mistake I ever made or the reason I’m upset. I get home and my son is smiling or he comes running to me.” — LeBron James
- “Boys are fun. They make you laugh. They are full of life and can share that energy with you. They also touch your heart; they are deeply feeling.” — Steve Biddulph
- “If you want a son to grow up into a man you can be proud of, be a man he can be proud of.” — Unknown
- “Dads and sons are two sides of the same coin. They complement each other in ways only fate understands.” — Unknown
- “Every son quotes his father, in words and in deeds.” — Terri Guillemets
- “When you teach your son, you teach your son’s son.” — The Talmud
- “Father and son relationships can be complicated—mine certainly is. Love. Hate. Respect. Fear. Worship. Disdain. Pride. Disappointment. Happiness. Anger. Joy. Sadness. The list goes on.” — John H. Clark III
- “How can we expect our boys to become powerful, successful, and complete men if we ourselves don’t possess or act on the tools and the know-how to take them there?” — Eric Davis
- “Until you have a son of your own, you will never know what that means. You will never know the joy beyond joy, the love beyond feeling that resonates in the heart of a father as he looks upon his son.” — Kent Nerburn
- “There is no way any true man is going to let children live around him in his home and not discipline and teach, fight and mold them until they know all he knows. His goal is to make them better than he is. Being their friend is a distant second to this.” — Victor Devlin
- “A son does not pass judgment on his father, but he is his father’s conscience.” — Unknown
- “One of the greatest gifts you can give your teenage boy is the gift of letting him know you get it. You’ve been there.” — Sebastian R. Jones
- “If the relationship of father to son could really be reduced to biology, the whole earth would blaze with the glory of fathers and sons.” — James A. Baldwin
- “The guiding light of my father has proven to be the brightest star in the sky.” — Unknown
- “My wild, wild son, run free. Ooh, you’ll know it when you’re where you’re supposed to be.” — Armin van Buren, “Wild, Wild Son”
- “A son is not a judge of his father, but the conscience of the father is in his son.” — Simon Soloveychik
- “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.
- “An almost perfect relationship with his father was the earthly root of all his wisdom.” — C.S. Lewis, Phantastes
- “To my son, never forget that I love you. Life is filled with hard times and good times. Learn from everything you can. Be the man I know you can be.” — Unknown
- “Someday you will know that a father is much happier in his children’s happiness than in his own. I cannot explain it to you: it is a feeling in your body that spreads gladness through you.” — Honore de Balzac
- “A father is a man who expects his son to be as good a man as he meant to be.” — Frank Clark 36. “Not every father gets a chance to start his son off in his own footsteps.” — Alan Ladd
- “Any man can be a father. It takes someone special to be a dad.” — Unknown
- “A son needs his father at every situation he faces in present, and a father needs his son at every situation he faces for his son in past.” — Nishan Panwar
- “By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he’s wrong.” — Charles Wadsworth
- “When a father gives to his son, both laugh; when a son gives to his father, both cry.” — Yiddish Proverb
- “Dads share wisdom with their children in the hopes they spread it throughout the world.” — Unknown
- “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 eyes.” — Walter M. Schirra, Jr
- “As a father, you want the best for your son, quite obviously. You want to create the best memories for your son.” — Bill Goldberg
- “Being a father means a lot of things, but most importantly, it means to be a good role model for your son.” — Unknown
- “For thousands of years, father and son have stretched wistful hands across the canyon of time.” — Alan Valentine
- “No love is greater than that of a father for his son.” — Dan Brown, Angels & Demons
- “I’m struck by a few things today, most of which is the power of the invisible role model. Perhaps, it’s the newfound clarity I have as a father, knowing that my son will always be watching what I do, mimicking my behavior. One day, maybe even following in my footsteps.” — Prince Harry
- “Sons always identify fathers as their greatest heroes, while fathers always look at sons as their biggest accomplishment.” — Unknown
- “There’s a big commitment that your parents make, and my dad made every commitment to me. There was never a moment where he didn’t have time to support what I wanted to do.” — Tom Brady
- “The fact that my relationship with my son is so good makes me forgiving of my father and also appreciative.” — Anthony Kiedis
- “Becoming a father increases your capacity for love and your level of patience. It opens up another door in a person, a door which you may not even have known was there. That’s what I feel with my son. There’s suddenly another level of love that expands. My son is my greatest joy, out of everything in my life.” — Kyle MacLachlan
- “My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person: He believed in me.” — Jim Valvano
- “He promised us that everything would be okay. I was a child, but I knew that everything would not be okay. That did not make my father a liar. It made him my father.” ― Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
- “I hope I can be as good of a father to my son as my dad was to me.” — Calvin Johnson
- “The older a man gets, the more he values everything his dad gave him.” — Unknown
- “Becoming a dad means you have to be a role model for your son and be someone he can look up to.” — Wayne Rooney
- “The father who does not teach his son his duties is equally guilty with the son who neglects them.” — Confucius
- “Anyone can be a father. It takes someone special to be a dad, and that’s why I call you dad because you are so special to me. You taught me the game, and you taught me how to play it right.” — Wade Boggs
- “Like father like son. Every good tree maketh good fruits.” — William Langland
- “Sons aspire to either become their father or vie to be his exact opposite.” — Kilroy J. Oldster, Dead Toad Scrolls Next, check out these 25 things to write in a Father’s Day Card!
