Barack Obama Quotes

The figure of my father looms large in my imagination.

It is the same for all men. None of us can escape this shadow of the father, even if that shadow fills us with fear, even if it has no name or face. To be worthy of that man, to prove something to that man, to exorcise the memory of that man from every corner of our life--however it affects us, the shadow of that man cannot be denied.

For me it was a normality having a father who was a world champion. I grew up with that, so it was never extra pressure. And I've never felt the need to emerge from his shadow.

Young men are obsessed with their dads, and they remain obsessed if the dad is not around. Remember that there was a lot of discussion about how George W. Bush might have invaded Iraq to atone for the failures of his dad.

It was difficult showing up in Grade 1 as Pierre Elliott Trudeau's son, it was difficult to become a high school teacher as Pierre Elliott Trudeau's son. That's something that I've lived with all my life. What people don't necessarily remember is that my father was an incredibly present dad as a prime minister.

I remember my oldest son, Steve, saying to me once, 'I don't ever remember seeing you with an apron on.' And I thought, that's right, honey, you did not. That was his concept of what a mother should be.

I missed my father so much when he died that writing about his life and mine was a way of bringing him back to life and getting me to sort of understand more about him and what made him the father, the husband and the man that he was, and how that made me the man, husband and father that I am.

My father wants me to be like my brother, but I can't be.

I don't care what you do - baseball or politics - George W. Bush is always going to be compared to his father. I just want it to be an easy answer in 50 years - Who was the better player, me, or my kids? I want it to be my kids.

People ask me from time to time what it was like growing up with Henry Fonda as my father. I say, Ever see Fort Apache? He was like Colonel Thursday.

I had a beautiful mother and a famous father, and I didn't know where I fit in.

My father made with me one serious mistake which I see parents about me making. He got himself somehow into the awkward position of an authority; I thought he knew and was right on everything - for a while.

I really hate it when people ask me who my icons are. When your parents are Bianca and Mick, you don't really need any more icons in your life.

I'm glad to say my father never felt ashamed of me, but my mother probably did.

People who knew Dad used to say at times I was brought up as the son Dad never had.

Everything a parent chooses to do in their life will forever haunt their kids.

It doesn't bother me whether I am or I'm not compared to my dad. I do not feel any pressure at all from being his son.

I love my dad and respect him and miss him, but I never hung around my father that much because my dad was a lawyer and engineer, and he really didn't understand what I was about. I was supposed to go to law school at UCLA - I was admitted - and instead of going to law school, I went on the road with a band.

I'm the product of my parents' dreams and aspirations.

I don't know that I've gotten to the point where people know me more than my dad or that I ever will or even want to get to that point.

Is my job as a child, even as an adult, is my job to heal the wounds of my parents' childhoods?

Following in my father's footsteps is not a big deal to me.

Especially in front of my dad, I don't like being weak. I don't like crying in front of my dad because I don't want to make him cry.

What you have to understand, is your father was your model for God.

It was a given in our family that my father was a grocer so that I wouldn't have to be.