James Merrill Quotes

Children wish fathers looked but with their eyes; fathers that children with their judgment looked; and either may be wrong.

I just wish I could understand my father.

There are many tough conversations, but one of the most difficult is between a parent and an adolescent daughter, partly because as a parent we are almost always attempting to relate to someone who is no longer there.

As kids, we grow up thinking our parents are perfect and flawless - well, some of us - but they're trying to do the best they can.

It gets to you as a father when your kids don't react to you in the way you imagine.

If a parent keeps on saying that, 'my kid is not understanding me at all,' he or she needs to look inside and ask, what wrong am I doing that my child is unable to understand me?

Parents like the idea of kids, they just don't like their kids.

Parents have to understand: if your kid isn't you, don't blame the kid.

Parents, you know, can be terrible.

A lot of things in 'Parents' I find very truthful.

Parents are the worst teachers, if they are good at it and you're not. My father thought I was the densest offspring he could have produced.

I've only recently realized that I have a radically different relationship with my parents than a lot of people.

Children now expect their parents to audition for approval.

Some children act as if they thought their parents had nothing to do, but to see them established in the world and then quit it.

I think the deepest problem is between my parents and me. I just don't know if it will ever be the same.

If you've never been hated by your child, you've never been a parent.

When I wrote 'Runaways,' I was a naive kid who thought that all parents were evil. Now that I'm a wise old man with children of my own, I am certain that all parents are evil.

We all work hard to understand the dynamic relationship we have with a parent.

The frustration for a parent is that you might be available all the time, but the kid may approach you only about 10% of the time.

There's nothing unique about me as a parent. I am a parent. My kids are kids. We do the best we can do.

I have two kids, and anyone who has a kid in order to feel loved is going to be in trouble because kids are first and foremost all about themselves. They'll say they love you, but 10 seconds later they'll turn on you.

That undeniable love for your child... that's something I totally get. And the bumps in the road, too. Like, any parent that thinks they have a perfect relationship with their child is a liar, or they're just not present.

I'm way more influenced by my children than I was by my parents.

What I continue to learn as a parent is to be mindful of the fact that I am responsible for being the parent that my children need me to be and not necessarily the parent I want to be.

My kids still think that, you know, other kids' parents are cooler than I am.