I would as soon leave my son a curse as the almighty dollar.

I’ve never had a divorce, but I’ve seen so many of my friends, my sister, my family go through that stuff, so I try to write for the people that can’t write about it. I take on their sorrow, so I’m able to kind of express it, or their joy.

The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

Historically, the family has played the primary role in educating children for life, with the school providing supplemental scaffolding to the family.

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

A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.

I’m not afraid of death, but I’m in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first.

Maria is the best reason to come home.

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.

You can be young without money but you can’t be old without it.

My mom and my dad were both very sociable, meeting lots of interesting people.

My dream is to be World Lightweight Champion in the UFC. Have more money than I know what to do with. And have a great life for my kids, grandkids, and everyone in my family.

Money can’t buy life.

It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others: or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own.

Heavenly Father loves every one of His children. After all, He is their Father.

It’s true; once you are a father, there’s no turning back. Your heart strings as well as your purse strings are never again the same.

Let us be sure that those who come after will say of us in our time, that in our time we did everything that could be done. We finished the race; we kept them free; we kept the faith.

Ethics is nothing else than reverence for life.

How many emperors and how many princes have lived and died and no record of them remains, and they only sought to gain dominions and riches in order that their fame might be ever-lasting.

I do not think I could myself be brought to support a man for office whom I knew to be an open enemy of, and scoffer at, religion.

The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.

Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful, that’s what matters to me.

When the human race neglects its weaker members, when the family neglects its weakest one – it’s the first blow in a suicidal movement. I see the neglect in cities around the country, in poor white children in West Virginia and Virginia and Kentucky – in the big cities, too, for that matter.

He who is overly attached to his family members experiences fear and sorrow, for the root of all grief is attachment. Thus one should discard attachment to be happy.

My upbringing was solid because of the people I had around me.

The influence of a mother upon the lives of her children cannot be measured. They know and absorb her example and attitudes when it comes to questions of honesty, temperance, kindness, and industry.

My grandfather was smart and had a whole lot of pride. He didn’t speak a terrible amount, but you could tell there was a ton on his mind – like a quiet acceptance of how life had turned out.

If I were a woman, I would love to have lots of kids. But for men, I don’t believe in it.

My dad was the town drunk. Most of the time that’s not so bad; but New York City?

My family was mostly unemployed working class.

For me, often, there’s such a cloud of melancholia about knowing I’m going to have to leave my daughter on her own. I don’t know what age that is going to be, thank God. It just doubles me up in grief.

He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.

This character feels so much like my brother. He has two children. He has a wife. He works with me. He chooses to stay in New Hampshire because he wants his kids to grow up in the school they started with. He doesn’t want them to lose friends. He is his family’s hero.

It is not materialism that is the chief curse of the world, as pastors teach, but idealism. Men get into trouble by taking their visions and hallucinations too seriously.

Nothing induces me to read a novel except when I have to make money by writing about it. I detest them.

You can be rich in spirit, kindness, love and all those things that you can’t put a dollar sign on.

We should never let material things get ahead of God or become so important in our lives that we can’t walk away from them if He tells us to. Anything you own that has a hold on you is a problem.

My next baby will be my new record.

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.

As a father, safety is always a top of mind issue for me.

Too many people measure how successful they are by how much money they make or the people that they associate with. In my opinion, true success should be measured by how happy you are.

A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.

There is only one class in the community that thinks more about money than the rich, and that is the poor. The poor can think of nothing else.

He didn’t come out of my belly, but my God, I’ve made his bones, because I’ve attended to every meal, and how he sleeps, and the fact that he swims like a fish because I took him to the ocean. I’m so proud of all those things. But he is my biggest pride.

Never take a wife till thou hast a house (and a fire) to put her in.

My father used to have an expression. He’d say, ‚Joey, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It’s about your dignity. It’s about respect. It’s about your place in your community.‘

If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.

I have thought a sufficient measure of civilization is the influence of good women.

SEALs are human beings. We may all have the same haircuts, but we aren’t robots. Some SEALs are great people. Some are not great people. Some have done unspeakably terrible things. You’re dealing with different people, different dreams, different desires.

I never had a mother. I suppose a mother is one to whom you hurry when you are troubled.

Nothing is so strongly fortified that it cannot be taken by money.

To love is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.

Life every man holds dear; but the dear man holds honor far more precious dear than life.

Like anything else that happens on its own, the act of writing is beyond currency. Money is great stuff to have, but when it comes to the act of creation, the best thing is not to think of money too much. It constipates the whole process.

In my heart, I’m just a kid from the council houses. I can remember the old cottage and my dad coming round with the tin bath. I’m not a rich man.

I feel only my friends and family need to know what is happening in my personal life.

Of all nature’s gifts to the human race, what is sweeter to a man than his children?

Upon the farm of the uncle with whom I lived, we did know of the mortgage as some dreadful damper on youthful hopes of things that could not be bought. I do have a vivid recollection that the major purpose of a farm was to produce a living right on the spot for the family.

My mother is from another time – the funniest person to her is Lucille Ball; that’s what she loves. A lot of times she tells me she doesn’t know what I’m talking about. I know if I wasn’t her son and she was flipping through the TV and saw me, she would just keep going.

Hold those things that tell your history and protect them. During slavery, who was able to read or write or keep anything? The ability to have somebody to tell your story to is so important. It says: ‚I was here. I may be sold tomorrow. But you know I was here.‘

Money, it turned out, was exactly like sex, you thought of nothing else if you didn’t have it and thought of other things if you did.