Anna Quindlen Quotes

You stayed around your children as long as you could, inhaling the ambient gold shavings of their childhood, and at the last minute you tried to see them off into life and hoped that the little piece of time you’d given them was enough to prevent them from one day feeling lonely and afraid and hopeless. You wouldn’t know the outcome for a long time.

The greatest legacy we can leave our children is happy memories.

It was the policy of the good old gentleman to make his children feel that home was the happiest place in the world; and I value this delicious home-feeling as one of the choicest gifts a parent can bestow.

I would have given anything to keep her little. They outgrow us so much faster than we outgrow them. Brian Fitzgerald, talking about his children.

Being a parent has become incredibly important to me. I never knew how much I would be altered by my children. I would like to be remembered by them in much the way I remember my mom: as loving and kind.

A day with my kids is the best day.

Parents are often so busy with the physical rearing of children that they miss the glory of parenthood, just as the grandeur of the trees is lost when raking leaves.

One thing that's great about seeing your kids is you see things that you admired in your parents.

There is no job more important than parenting. This I believe.

My children are the most important thing in my life.

As a parent, your perspective of childhood is through the eyes of this person that you care so much about and you just want the world to be great for them. You want their life to be easy and happy.

I definitely do want a family. The idea of being a father and providing the type of love, guidance and support that my parents have given me is definitely down the road.

My daughter's still so tiny at the moment; she's just a sweet little meaty thing. But of course, you always think about what you want for them, don't you, and like any parent I want my children to be happy more than anything.

I spent a lot of time in boarding school. This is something I will never do to my kids. I think if you're having kids, then you have to take care of them; otherwise, what's the point? There are many things that parents say are good for the kids, but the truth is they say that because it is good for the parents.

I personally don't resent having my children.

My children are most important to me.

It means everything to be a father. I had a father growing up, so I wanted my kids to have a father as well.

I love my time with my kids.

We didn't have everything we wanted when we were younger, but there was never a moment we didn't feel our parents weren't doing everything they could.

I take the six weeks of the school summer holidays off because I'm pretty sure I'm not going to look back on my life one day and say, 'Damn, I wish I hadn't spent so much time with my children.'

I always remember what's the most important thing - my kids.

We grew up in a nice house in a very middle-class area in Bolton and had a very happy childhood. My mum, Falak, who was also brought over from Pakistan by her parents as a kid, devoted herself to bringing up me and my younger brother and sister, Haroon and Tabinda, and my elder sister Mariyah.

That is the one missing link in my life. I wish I had spent more time with my children.

In considering the ledger equal, understand the greatest gift you have given your parents is the opportunity to raise you. The things a child gets from parents can't compare to the things a parent gets from raising a child. Only by experiencing this can you understand the degree to which children give meaning to parents' lives.

Parenthood...It's about guiding the next generation, and forgiving the last.