Some believe all that parents, tutors, and kindred believe. They take their principles by inheritance, and defend them as they would their estates, because they are born heirs to them.

I did not set out to convert anyone to Christianity.

My son is becoming me – just a silly, silly prankster guy.

We have to rediscover the eternal values and then live them out.

My mother raised me with God. We were poor financially, but we were rich spiritually.

My other brother-in-law died. He was a karate expert, then joined the army. The first time he saluted, he killed himself.

Lies are sufficient to breed opinion, and opinion brings on substance.

After it is all over, the religion of man is his most important possession.

I want kids. I want a soccer team, and I want a husband.

When I was a youngster I lived with different families. I nearly always felt closer to the man of the house. Maybe because I always dreamed of having a father of my own.

Making your dad happy is – especially for an Italian Catholic girl, I’ll tell you – it feels really good.

I was always respectful of people who were deeply religious because I always felt that if they gave themselves to it, then it had to be important to them. But if you can go through life without it, that’s OK, too. It’s whatever suits you.

I once wanted to become an atheist, but I gave up – they have no holidays.

Maybe there is no actual place called hell. Maybe hell is just having to listen to our grandparents breathe through their noses when they’re eating sandwiches.

If you’re the parent, be a parent. You know what I mean? I’m a parent. I have daughters.

I’ve always wanted a baby.

No other country in the world does what we do. On every issue, the world turns to us, not simply because of the size of our economy or our military might – but because of the ideals we stand for, and the burdens we bear to advance them.

Men in general are quick to believe that which they wish to be true.

We will always be a family. Always.

My mom and I have always been there for each other. We had some tough times, but she was always there for me.

My grandfather once ventured upon publishing a volume of hymns. I never heard anyone speak in their favour or argue that they ought to have been sung in the congregation. In that volume, he promised a second if the first should prove acceptable. We forgive him the first collection because he did not inflict another.

I’m an idealist without illusions.

When you stand for something, you’ve got to stand for it all the way, not half way.

I’m happy that I have my family, and I’m happy that I had Virginia, where I grew up, to retreat to any time I felt overwhelmed. Whenever there were times when I felt like the rug was being pulled out from under me and I was floating in this crazy space, I would stop and go back to that neighborhood and realize nothing’s changed, really.

I’m a huge fan of R. Kelly’s. He’s a musical genius and probably the most prolific artist of the generation before mine.

I’m attracted to women who are smart and funny and ambitious and have lives of their own and great families. Isn’t that what attracts anyone?

What the Pope thinks of being gay does not matter to the world. It matters to the people who like the Pope and follow the Pope… It is not a reflection of all religious people.

I think that’s something that all mothers have to deal with, especially single mothers. We work, and we have to leave the kids behind. And I think that’s one of the reasons that we, not only as women but as families, we have to advocate for early childhood education for all of our children.

Part of the American dream is to live long and die young. Only those Americans who are willing to die for their country are fit to live.

We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.

We should not look down on our first ancestors.

A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges is not Christian. This is not in the Gospel.

We do not covet anything from any nation except their respect.

I love my daddy. My daddy’s everything. I hope I can find a man that will treat me as good as my dad.

All the songs I write are about human dynamics, whether it’s with girlfriends, boyfriends, or family.

Pfft, I hate Christmas Day. It’s for children and families. Not for people like me.

It is perfectly possible to live a very moral life without a belief in God, and I think it’s perfectly possible to live a life peppered with ill-doing and believe in God.

Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late.

There’s nothing better than having a baby. I’ve always loved children. I used to work summers at the YMCA and be in charge of, like, 30 preschool kids. I knew that when I had a child, I’d be overwhelmed, and it’s true… I can’t tell you how much my attitude has changed since we’ve got Frances. Holding my baby is the best drug in the world.

In our home there was always prayer – aloud, proud and unapologetic.

To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.

My work and my family are very important to me.

Intolerance betrays want of faith in one’s cause.

My mom’s one of 13 siblings, and they all got six kids, and till I was 13 everybody was in Compton.

A man should never neglect his family for business.

When I was a teenager, my biggest lessons came from Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, George Strait, Rascal Flatts and Brad Paisley. I learned so much from opening up for those artists, and it also taught me how to treat your opening acts and make them feel like they’re part of a family, not just a tour.

My father was a swim teacher. We used to swim before school, swim after school.

The colored folks been singing it and playing it just like I’m doin‘ now, man, for more years than I know. I got it from them.

I like to think my dad was easygoing and kind, and I think some of those things have been passed down. I am like him in a sense of being positive and hopeful. He was compassionate, and I’ve got a lot of that in me as well.

I have been a firm believer in the federal structure of our country as enshrined in the Constitution.

My grandpa was a preacher.

I did go to Wellesley, a women’s college. And I am of a kind of strange generation which is transitional in terms of women who wanted to go out and get jobs.

We have communion with Christ in His thoughts, views, and purposes; for His thoughts are our thoughts according to our capacity and sanctity. Believers take the same view of matters as Jesus does; that which pleases Him pleases them, and that which grieves His grieves them also.

I have a brother and sister; my mother does not care for thought, and father, too busy with his briefs to notice what we do. He buys me many books, but begs me not to read them, because he fears they joggle the mind.

Life guided me to being a bodyguard, protecting people, then in the movies, so I’m happy with everything because basically all I ever wanted to do was be a good son and take care of my mother.

Puerto Rico’s relationship with music is everything. It’s an island full of talent and if you grow up there, you grow up living and breathing music.

All men are children, and of one family. The same tale sends them all to bed, and wakes them in the morning.

In the past there were people who were not rich but contented with their living style, laughing and happy all day. But when the new rich people appear, people look at them and ask, ‚why don’t I have a life like that too, a beautiful house, car and garden,‘ and they abandon their values.

Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt.

All these walls that keep us from loving each other as one family or one race – racism, religion, where we grew up, whatever, class, socioeconomic – what makes us be so selfish and prideful, what keeps us from wanting to help the next man, what makes us be so focused on a personal legacy as opposed to the entire legacy of a race.

It’s hard knowing who to trust with your personal life. When you cry in your room at night, you don’t always know who to call. So I am very close to my family.