Alexander Downer Quotes

I wasn't a bad kid. My dad left when I was young, so I didn't have much discipline, not that I'm making excuses. I was always out and about and had a good time as a kid, so I've done alright.

My mum left my dad when I was six months old, so I don't know him at all. I had no male figures in my life, really. I had my godfather, but he's more like a grandfather, so I was quite sheltered. I've never tried to find my father.

When I was growing up, I never really knew my father. I didn't get to know my father until I was about 14 years old.

I find families intriguing, perhaps because I did not grow up in one. I was raised by a feminist, independent, single mother, a divorcee.

My father was out of my life when I was pretty young - when I was 7 years old, he was gone. I didn't see him for the rest of my childhood.

I grew up mainly with my mother, and I would see my father from time to time. But I didn't have a constant male figure.

The interesting thing about an absent father is, for a child, you don't know he's absent. You just think he's... tardy.

When I was growing up, my father was naturally a very busy man and was not around for long periods of time. Despite that he was always emotionally with me.

A lot of people don't even know that about me, I grew up without a father.

As a kid, watching your dad leave, that's pretty powerful.

I have no worthwhile memories of my father, therefore no idea of what a father's role should be.

My father was gone when I was three years old.

My mom had me when she was 16, and I was an only child, which is probably why I received a lot of love and didn't miss that my father wasn't around.

A lot of people think I grew up with just my brother and me, but mom was there even when she wasn't. We had a good household.

My eldest son, Jack, grew up with me as a 'part-time' dad.

My father was never around. It was almost as if he didn't exist. I would tell my friends he was in Cleveland, on business. Sometimes, every six months or so, he would come by for dinner.

I never suffered from the absence of a father. On the contrary, as a child I was more inclined to see men as a disturbing factor. It made things difficult for me when I started working as a director.

Oscar Hammerstein was a surrogate father during all those many days, and weeks and months when I didn't see my own father.

I didn't have a father when I was growing up, and I vowed to be there with my kids.

Of course there's some things that I would have liked to have... none of my friends growing up had their father in the house. None of 'em. We had uncles and stuff like that, but nobody had a father in the house, none of my friends.

I have no ties to my dad. I had no communications with him; it didn't shape who I am or anything like that. I'm actually a product of my mom.

I was the oldest of seven kids, so I had no older brother who would say, 'Schmuck, don't do that.'

I didn't have a father figure in the house.

If I could change anything, I would definitely have had a father around. My father. I would definitely say it affected me deeply as a young man, coming up. Who doesn't want a father? Those are the beginnings, and those are what can dictate the roads you choose in life, and choosing them well.

I want to be able to be a father to my kids, where I've never seen my father, but my kids can see me whenever they want, so that was broken.