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

Occasionally I’ve seen children become heavy-handed and insensitive when dealing with their aging parents, and it only caused resentment and hard feelings.

I feel like I’m the kind of guy that would have kids before getting married. The first thing would be kids.

If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.

The hardest thing to understand in the world is the income tax.

When one has not had a good father, one must create one.

Each has his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by his heart, and his friends can only read the title.

I always wanted to do what my brothers were doing. I always wanted to play the games they played and play rough and wear pants and go outside.

To understand Europe, you have to be a genius – or French.

Talk to a man about himself and he will listen for hours.

Life cannot be without relationship, but we have made it so agonizing and hideous by basing it on personal and possessive love. Can one love and yet not possess? You will find the true answer not in escape, ideals, beliefs but through the understanding of the causes of dependence and possessiveness.

North Americans don’t understand… that our country is not just Cuba; our country is also humanity.

It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.

To know the laws is not to memorize their letter but to grasp their full force and meaning.

The first step, my son, which one makes in the world, is the one on which depends the rest of our days.

If you’ve ever hauled a 28-pound two-year-old around New York, you’ll find that men fold at the knees a lot quicker than women.

Real magic in relationships means an absence of judgment of others.

I don’t hate women – they just sometimes make me mad.

We do not want the men of another color for our brothers-in-law, but we do want them for our brothers.

I don’t think culture is something you can describe.

The kids never listen to you, especially the youngest ones.

A man never tells you anything until you contradict him.

Understanding does not cure evil, but it is a definite help, inasmuch as one can cope with a comprehensible darkness.

For the woman, the man is a means: the end is always the child.

I read Plato’s ‚Republic.‘ I read it through about five times until I could actually understand it.

Do not do unto others as you expect they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same.

The only time my records are going to be broken is by my own spawn. I’m going be training that child out the womb.

A leader who confines his role to his people’s experience dooms himself to stagnation; a leader who outstrips his people’s experience runs the risk of not being understood.

I admire people who dare to take the language, English, and understand it and understand the melody.

Don’t judge other people. For example, if you want God’s anointing to be on you for parenting, you need to be careful not to criticize other parents.

I don’t even know how to speak up for myself, because I don’t really have a father who would give me the confidence or advice. And if you’re always the new kid, you never get a chance to adapt, so your confidence is just zilch.

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

Those that know, do. Those that understand, teach.

My experiences in life are getting bigger and better. The more stuff I do, the more stuff I talk about – having kids, traveling, going through relationship problems, dealing with things in my own family. All that stuff builds character.

You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing and dance, and write poems and suffer and understand, for all that is life.

To use the same words is not a sufficient guarantee of understanding; one must use the same words for the same genus of inward experience; ultimately one must have one’s experiences in common.

I have spent so much time and so much energy making other people’s children stars.

The higher a man stands, the more the word vulgar becomes unintelligible to him.

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.

The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free.

My father wasn’t around when I was a kid, and I used to always say, ‚Why me? Why don’t I have a father? Why isn’t he around? Why did he leave my mother?‘ But as I got older I looked deeper and thought, ‚I don’t know what my father was going through, but if he was around all the time, would I be who I am today?‘

Children are our most valuable natural resource.

He that will believe only what he can fully comprehend must have a long head or a very short creed.

Where sense is wanting, everything is wanting.

When you have kids, you see life through different eyes. You feel love more deeply and are maybe a little more compassionate. It’s inevitable that that would make its way into your songwriting.

The father is always a Republican toward his son, and his mother’s always a Democrat.

A two-year-old is kind of like having a blender, but you don’t have a top for it.

You bring children into the world. You love them with heart and soul.

I was an only child, and Mother was always right with me all my life. I used to get very angry at her when I was growing up-it’s a natural thing.

I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.

I used to tell my husband that, if he could make me ‚understand‘ something, it would be clear to all the other people in the country.

Respect the burden.

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.

An enemy generally says and believes what he wishes.

Jesus is a divine guest inside of you all the time – one who loves, understands, sees and hears you. He wants to live in oneness with you… to be the centerpiece of everything you do.

A person hears only what they understand.

I maintain that, if everyone knew what others said about him, there would not be four friends in the world.

We should understand the source of our authority and something of the keys that control its power.

As a father and now a grandfather to three wonderful grandchildren, I know how magical the first year of a child’s life is but also how much hard work it takes. Being able to spend as much time as possible with your loved ones is absolutely vital, especially early on.

My daughter has impressions that she does of me.