Henry Louis Gates Jr. Quotes

His father watched him across the gulf of years and pathos which always must divide a father from his son.

My relationship with my father is pretty non-existent.

I lived with my mother all my life until she died, and I don't really think I knew her, because I was always using her as my mother, if you know what I mean.

Within the family unit, you have people you grew up with who are supposed to be your brother, father, or your mother who are almost like strangers and acquaintances.

What's become a big theme in my music is my dad as a narrative character. I never had the opportunity to understand our relationship in a more adult capacity. The unknown is great material for any creative outlet.

You know, when you have a father who's pretty well known but you don't see him, the last thing you want to do is start talking about him all the time to people.

My uncle was a hero, Lewis Roundtree. He was not even related to me really, but he was always called my uncle. He was like a father to me. I was closer to him than I was my father.

I was very close to my mother as the youngest of three. She was my playmate.

My mother never took my hand.

The first half of our lives are ruined by our parents and the second half by our children.

I was extremely close with my parents. Breaking away from that is a double-edged sword: It's something you need to do, but it's hard to cut the apron strings.

My father was never around. It was almost as if he didn't exist. I would tell my friends he was in Cleveland, on business. Sometimes, every six months or so, he would come by for dinner.

The relationship between parents and children, but especially between mothers and daughters, is tremendously powerful, scarcely to be comprehended in any rational way.

A friend who is near and dear may in time become as useless as a relative.

I could share an hour of warm camaraderie with Dad, then once I'd walked out the door, get the uncanny feeling I'd disappeared into the wings of his mind's stage, like a character no longer necessary to the ongoing story line.

Until late in life, I was never quite good enough for my father, and I suppose that is part of what drives me even now, well after his death in 1992.

Estrangement shows itself precisely in the elimination of distance between people.

I don't have anything against my mom, but my family has no emotional connection to each other.

I never had a real conversation with my father.

My family - it wasn't an abusive family - they meant well, but they were in their own world.

My kids don't care about anything. I'm just Dad to them. They don't get excited about anything.

I want to be able to be a father to my kids, where I've never seen my father, but my kids can see me whenever they want, so that was broken.

Most of my childhood memories of my father are of being ignored. I was his namesake, but nothing I did ever pleased or even interested him. He enjoyed telling me I couldn't do anything right.

I don't have a twin, but I do have a brother and sisters, and I do know that there is a special bond there that is - I'm going to say - closer. It's different. It's closer than having a best friend. It's easier to forgive them. I think it's also easier to get mad at them. You feel a little piece of yourself in them.

I felt like I might as well have been living in another part of the solar system.