Actually, I didn’t start sweating until I had children.

I was raised by a mother who told me I was great every day of my life.

The joys of parents are secret, and so are their grieves and fears.

We had problems like all families but we had a lot of love. I was extremely loved. We always felt we had each other.

Americans want students to get the best education possible. We want schools to prepare children to become good citizens and members of a prosperous American economy.

I’ve been through natural disasters. I lived down in Miami and was down there for Hurricane Andrew which was a Category 5. There were members of my family that thought they were going to die. Everyone was in the bathtub.

A man should never neglect his family for business.

I was offered a job on Wall Street by my uncle. But I wanted to get out. Make-it-on-my-own kinda thing.

Most of us are raised to believe we are ordinary. The anchor of the universe is present in every child. A parent only needs to guide and step aside and let them fulfill their dharma. Help children remember that they can do or be anything.

I delayed my father’s funeral because of cricket.

It is a wise father that knows his own child.

Familiarity breeds contempt – and children.

Parents and teachers, learn to listen, then listen to learn from children.

All the awards in the world, you can get into all the nightclubs, they’ll send you the nicest clothes. Nothing better than walking into your dad’s restaurant and seeing a smile on his face and knowing that your mom and dad and your sister are real proud of you.

I guess you could say I devoted myself so strongly to my music that for awhile I forgot about my family. But I only get one set of parents, and I think I forgot about that for a little while.

Have you ever asked yourselves what you are going to do when you grow up? In all likelihood you will get married, and before you know where you are, you will be mothers and fathers; and you will then be tied to a job, or to the kitchen, in which you will gradually wither away. Is that all that your life is going to be?

I think a father is important for everyone. If you don’t have, then maybe not so much. In the world today, it’s possible that you grow up with only one parent in the family.

A lot of preachers‘ kids are some of the most rebellious kids in the world. I never was like that.

John D. Rockefeller apparently became more of a tightwad the richer he got. I don’t know if it is true, but one story I read was about one of his sons having to wear his older sister’s clothes in order to save money.

I think about the milestones from my childhood and what it will be like to watch our kids go through them. Taking Riley to her first day of school was a whirlwind. I can’t imagine what middle school is going to be like, and high school, and graduation.

I never thought I’d have children; I never thought I’d be in love, I never thought I’d meet the right person. Having come from a broken home – you kind of accept that certain things feel like a fairy tale, and you just don’t look for them.

Actors are one family over the entire world.

I think I have had so much blessing – I’ve had my brother, who was brilliant – I think my family came closest to making a genius when they made my brother – Bailey was just all of that. He loved me.

No one ever died from sleeping in an unmade bed. I have known mothers who remake the bed after their children do it because there is wrinkle in the spread or the blanket is on crooked. This is sick.

I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.

Crowded classrooms and half-day sessions are a tragic waste of our greatest national resource – the minds of our children.

I grew up in a musical family; the majority of my growing up was done in Hawaii. It’s what we do. You sing, you dance, you play ukulele and you drink.

My family was a poor farming family, and we lived under absolute segregation.

Remember that children, marriages, and flower gardens reflect the kind of care they get.

I give the children education.

It takes three to make a child.

I want to – more than anything – to create a moment that people will never forget. Not for me, but for themselves. That’s what I remember about great Super Bowl performances in the past, when you really get lost in the moment with your family.

Now that I’m a parent, I understand why my father was in a bad mood a lot.

I love to dance, but my children tell me I shouldn’t. Can’t see why.

To make your children capable of honesty is the beginning of education.

People change because of kids. They change how they eat. They change the way they think. They change the way they see one another.

I can testify to what UNICEF means to children because I was among those who received food and medical relief right after World War II.

The mother of a family should look upon her housekeeping and the planning of meals as a scientific occupation.

The place of the father in the modern suburban family is a very small one, particularly if he plays golf.

You know, my sister sings, my brother plays drums in my band. My whole family is a bunch of musicians.

I’d go to, like, six different schools in one year. We were on welfare, and my mom never ever worked.

But I was the most unashamed lone parent you were ever going to meet.

Whoever does not have a good father should procure one.

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

Everywhere I go, the kids call me ‚the book lady.‘ The older I get, the more appreciative I seem to be of the ‚book lady‘ title. It makes me feel more like a legitimate person, not just a singer or an entertainer. But it makes me feel like I’ve done something good with my life and with my success.

People have told me, ‚You shouldn’t bring your daughter onto the podium, ‚cause it’s the workplace,‘ and things like that. But I’m not gonna really listen to that. I’m gonna do what I think is fun for me and my family, and everything’ll be all right.

I’ve never been pregnant, so I just feel God didn’t mean for me to have kids so that everybody else’s children could be mine.

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.

My husband and I had to raise five of my younger brothers and sisters. They lived with us. We sent them to school.

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

The death of my father is probably the biggest thing that I ever faced. Daddy and I were best friends.

There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.

There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings.

I have a lot of other stuff to accomplish before I get to kids. Whenever the time is right, I’ll just know. If I had a girl, she’d probably be really rebellious. She would be like a bundle of karma. I would love to bring them up in Barbados.

The problem with me, as far as getting married and having a family, is that my comedy is so important to me. So I don’t know if I’ll ever be as good a dad as my dad.

Kids are watching us. I experience it every single day. They hang on my every word, what I wear, what I say.

You must be afraid, my son. That is how one becomes an honest citizen.

Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence.

I always thought money was something just to make me happy. But I’ve learned that I feel better being able to help my folks, ‚cause we never had nothing. So just to see them excited about my career is more of a blessing than me actually having it for myself.

But, you know, you can’t be a star at home.

All that the future holds in store for each sacred child of God will be shaped by his or her parents, family, friends, and teachers. Thus, our faith now becomes part of our posterity’s faith later.