Richard Ford Quotes

[On writing her first poem at age eight:] An ode to my dead mother and father, who were both alive and pretty pissed off.

Fathers and sons are much more considerate of one another than mothers and daughters.

One of the things about parents and children is that there is no way that you go through this without there being mutual anger.

My mother thought of my father as half barbarian and half blunt instrument, and she isolated him from his children.

My relationship with my father had been on the proverbial fritz since the time I was fifteen and called the police to report him for child molesting. He had never molested me, but I wanted to have a party that weekend and needed him out of the house.

I hated my father all my life but in his final days I forgave him for all the suffering he caused us. As you grow older, marry, and have children of you own, you learn and forget. I do not forget easily, but I do forgive.

I firmly believe, however, that if your children have never hated you, you have failed as a parent.

Children can be harsh judges when it comes to their parents, disinclined to grant clemency.

Anyone who has ever been a mother or father and is at all honest knows from experience how difficult it can be for parents to accept certain aspects of their children. It is especially painful to have to admit this if we really love our child and want to respect his or her individuality yet are unable to do so.

Our children give us the opportunity to become the parents we always wished we'd had.

All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped.

Good parents have children who do terrible things and vice-versa.

Insults from an adolescent daughter are more painful, because they are seen as coming not from a child who lashes out impulsively,who has moments of intense anger and of negative feelings which are not integrated into that large body of responses, impressions and emotions we call 'our feelings for someone,' but instead they are coming from someone who is seen to know what she does.

Love is the very essence of family life. Why is it that the children we love become so frequently the targets of our harsh words? Why is it that these children who love their fathers and mothers sometimes speak as if with daggers that cut to the quick? "There is beauty all around," only when there's love at home.

I like my parents but they are just not good parents. They are nice enough people. I'm not interested in hurting their feelings.

I have 'Parents' magazine in my home.

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

Sometimes, she said, mostly to herself, I feel I do not know my children... It was a fleeting statement, one I didn't think she'd hold on to; after all, she had birthed us alone, diapered and fed us, helped us with homework, kissed and hugged us, poured her love into us. That she might not actually know us seemed the humblest thing a mother could admit.

We could improve worldwide mental health if we acknowledged that parents can make you crazy.

There are two facts that all children need to disprove sooner or later; mother and father. If you go on believing in the fiction of your own parents, it is difficult to construct any narrative of your own.

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

I'm Catholic. My mother and I were unpacking and she found my diaphragm. I had to tell her it was a bathing cap for my cat.

If I raised my hand to wipe the hair out of my children's eyes, they'd flinch and call their attorney.

You know the troubles I've had with my two older children. I can't understand why it turned out so badly. I tried to give them everything. I loved them and tried to keep them near me, even when they didn't return my love. Well, I couldn't make them love me, but they could have shown some respect. I couldn't insist on love, but I could insist on respect.

From biscuit to brides, if there is anything their children really want, parents have a problem.