Kenneth Lonergan Quotes

I love my mom so much, and I always have, but I was definitely a monster to her a lot during my teen years.

My daughter is a bit annoyed with me that she didn't get to meet Baby Yoda.

Nobody can misunderstand a child as much as his own parents.

I hated hurting him. Most of the time, I could forget about it, but the inexorable truth is this: They might be glad to have me around, but I was the alpha and the omega of my parents' suffering.

When you're inside and you have no control and when you're the 14-year-old version of Frances Farmer, you know, you have reasons to be angry. You have reasons to be angry when your parents, who are very sheltered themselves, make decisions as to what you should experience in your life and what's normal and what's not.

I was a smart kid and I was not understood by my parents.

Family life is tough, I'll say that for it. But in my case, I've mined the family. In a sense, I've used it. I've used what happened - the different events, the births of children, birthdays. Connecting, not connecting. Regret, shame, guilt. I mean, they're all in the songs. And love, too, I hasten to add.

In terms of the frustration of my character, I suppose any teenager has probably gone through that, in terms of telling their parents, I want to do one thing, and their parent says no. I think parents sometimes forget that they were children.

I hated Chris, my brother. I would pull his hair and kick him, until one day my father gave him permission to fight back. I'll be apologizing to him for the rest of my life.

I admired my father very much... at the age of sixteen. But now I see that he was a brutal and cruel man, - but not without remorse, and that was what tortured us, his alternations.

My mom and I have always had issues.

That whole business of having two homes, and that divided loyalty bind that kids get into. I mean, my parents were divorced - though I was adult - but I still grappled with being responsible to both of them.

Do you remember when you were 10 or 11 years old and you really thought your folks were the best? They were completely omniscient and you took their word for everything. And then you got older and you went through this hideous age when suddenly they were the devil, they were bullies, and they didn't know anything.

One interviewer asked me: 'How do you feel that you've betrayed your father?' That wasn't really very cool.

Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.

My parents don't really understand my career. They don't really bring it up that much.

I think I said something mean when I was little, and my mother snapped on me. I was just like, 'I'm sorry!' I could relate. If I had cursed out my dad, I probably would be just waking up.

I put my mother through a lot when I was a teenager. I used to lie a lot. Now, we talk all the time.

'Abel' is about the father I don't want to be and the boy I used to be.

You discover two things when you're a teenager. One, that your parents are not the idols that you thought they were when you were growing up, if you had nice parents. And two, that you have power over them, and you can upset them and confront them and attack them.

I said something really stupid once. I told a friend that my mother was so beautiful, but my dad was ugly. My dad heard it and just laughed it off, but I felt guilty. It haunted me for years. I should never have said that.

A significant regret is that I was not as good a father as I would have ideally liked to be. I was not, I think, a bad father.

It seemed like my father and I were always fighting. I know a lot of kids go through that with their families, but it was hard for me.

There are times families don't see eye to eye.

I love my son, but I was never there for him, so I understand why he hates me.