| A baby is God's opinion that life should go on. Carl Sandburg
A better tomorrow begins with the training of a better generation. Gordon B. Hinckley, (Ensign, Nov 1975, p 38)
A child needs a mother more than all the things money can buy. Spending time with your children is the greatest gift of all. Ezra Taft Benson (To the Mothers in Zion, p 8)
A comment to my daughter from an eight-year-old classmate stopped me in my tracks and made me wonder what is the world coming to. The little boy asked my daughter, "So who do you live with -- your Mom or your Dad?" That says it all, doesn't it? Carol Brethour Stephens, Oct 2003
Adam and Eve had an ideal marriage. He didn't have to hear about all the men she could have married...and she didn't have to hear about how well his Mother cooked. Author Unknown
A divorce is like an amputation: you survive it, but there's less of you. Margaret Atwood
Adorable children are considered to be the general property of the human race. Rude children belong to their mothers. Judith Martin
A father may have to discipline his child, but he should never do it in anger. He must show forth an increase of love thereafter, lest that one so reproved were to esteem him to be an enemy (see D&C 121:43). The Lord forbid the feeling of a child that his father or mother is an enemy. Harold B. Lee (Teachings of Harold B. Lee, 1996, p 279)
A friend recently told us about a twenty-fifth-anniversary party where the husband gave a toast and said, "The key to our success is very simple. Within minutes after every fight, one of us says, 'I'm sorry, Sally'." Cokie & Steve Roberts
A fundamental issue that accounts for a high percentage of marital problems is selfishness. Selfishness is at the root of adultery, the breaking of solemn and sacred covenants to satisfy lust. Selfishness is the antithesis of love. It is a cankering expression of greed. It destroys self-discipline. It obliterates loyalty. It tears up sacred covenants. Gordon B. Hinckley (Standing for Something, p 155)
A good attitude is a good foundation to give our children, and it's one best taught by example. Barbara Evans, (Ensign, Sep 1974, 85)
A good marriage at age 50 predicted positive aging at 80. But, surprisingly, low cholesterol levels did not. George Valliant, MD, Harvard Medical School
A good marriage is a contest of generosity. Diane Sawyer
A good marriage is the union of two good forgivers. Ruth Bell Graham
A happy family is but an earlier heaven. George Bernard Shaw
A happy marriage is the world's best bargain. D.A. Battista
A home is much more than a house built of lumber, brick, or stone. A home is made of love, sacrifice, and respect. We are responsible for the homes we build. We must build wisely, for eternity is not a short voyage. Thomas S. Monson (Ensign, Jun 2006, p 98-103)
All children have the right to live in a two-parent, married family. Talk about a Head Start program - those are the kids that get the real head start. Diane Sollee, 2001 ACF Head Start Conference
All of us need the strength that comes from daily reading of the scriptures. Parents must have a knowledge of the standard works to teach them to their children. A child who has been taught from the scriptures has a priceless legacy. Children are fortified when they become acquainted with the heroic figures and stories of the scriptures such as Daniel in the lions' den, David and Goliath, Nephi, Helaman and the stripling warriors, and all the others....Having prayer, scripture study, and meals together gives incredibly important time to talk and listen as parents and children, brothers and sisters. James E. Faust (Ensign, May 1983, p 41)
All those "and they lived happily ever after" fairy tale endings need to be changed to "and they began the very hard work of making their marriages happy." Linda Miles, The New Marriage
All women should know how to take care of children. Most of them will have a husband some day. Franklin P. Jones
A man can have no greater incentive, no greater hope, no greater strength than to know his mother, his sweetheart, or his wife has confidence in him and loves him. And men should strive every day to live worthy of that love and confidence. N. Eldon Tanner (Ensign, Jan 1974, p 7)
A marriage may not always be even or incidentless, but it can be one of Great peace. A couple may have poverty, illness, disappointment, failures, And even death in the family, but even these will not rob them of their Peace. The marriage can be successful so long as selfishness does not enter In. Troubles and problems will draw parents together into unbreakable unions If there is total unselfishness there. Spencer W. Kimball (Marriage and Divorce, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1976)
Among the most important things parents can do for their children is to provide them with worthy examples and with opportunities for personal religious experiences. Dallin H. Oaks (Ensign, Dec 1998, p 7)
Among the pictures from New Orleans were lots of heart-rending shots of displaced mothers and children, but few of fathers and husbands. Liberal critics say Hurricane Katrina ripped aside the veil on America's extreme poverty. What it really ripped aside was the veil over the collapse of family, particularly among inner-city blacks, that lies at the heart of poverty. Thomas Bray, Sep 2005
A mother has far greater influence on her children than anyone else, and she must realize that every word she speaks, every act, every response, her attitude, even her appearance and manner of dress affect the lives of her children and the whole family. N. Eldon Tanner (Ensign, Jan 1974, p 7)
An ideal marriage is a true partnership between two imperfect people, each striving to complement the other, to keep the commandments, and to do the will of the Lord. Elder Russell M. Nelson (Ensign, May 1999, p 39)
Any fool can have a trophy wife. It takes a real man to have a trophy marriage. Diane Sollee
A sense of humor is very important. When you have a problem and you're really upset and your spouse can crack a joke and you can laugh, you've got the problem licked. My husband is very stubborn, and that I would change if I could but everything can't be perfect. He plays the organ too loud but he always remembers to put the toilet seat down!...A good marriage means you have been forgiven a lot and you have forgiven a lot. Winnifred, married to Raymond for 65 years
As mothers in Israel, we are the Lord's secret weapon. Our influence comes from a divine endowment that has been in place from the beginning. In the premortal world, when our Father described our role, I wonder if we didn't stand in wide-eyed wonder that He would bless us with a sacred trust so central to His plan and that He would endow us with gifts so vital to the loving and leading of His children. I wonder if we shouted for joy at least in part because of the ennobling stature He gave us in His kingdom. The world won't tell you that, but the Spirit will. Sheri L. Dew (Ensign, Nov 2001, p 96)
As parents read the newspapers and magazines and see what the world is trying to teach their children, they should become all the more determined that their children not be damaged by such sin and error. Parents should then provide the home life, the discipline, and the training that will offset and neutralize the evil that is being done in the world. As children learn of the ugly things in the world, they must also learn of the good things in the world and the proper responses and proper attitudes. If parents understand that many children are denied family prayers and spiritual attitudes and proper teaching in their lives, then those parents should redouble their energies and their efforts to see that their own children receive good, wholesome training. Spencer W. Kimball (Ensign, Apr 1978, p 4)
As the family goes, so go the children. Daniel Patrick Moynihan
As the forces of evil attack the individual by tearing away at his family roots, it becomes critical for Latter-day Saint parents to maintain and strengthen the family. There may possibly be a few very strong individuals who can survive without the support of a family, but more of us need the love, teaching, and acceptance that come from those who care very deeply. Joseph Fielding Smith (Ensign, Jan 1971)
A successful marriage is not a gift; it is an achievement. Ann Landers
A successful marriage isn't finding the right person -- it's being the right person. Author Unknown
A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. Mignon McLaughlin
A suddenly quiet house is worse than a riot. Author Unknown
As we take a long, hard look at the world today, it is becoming increasingly evident that Satan is working overtime to enslave the souls of men. His main target is the fundamental unit of society -- the family. During the past few decades, Satan has waged a vigorous campaign to belittle and demean this basic and most important of all organizations. L. Tom Perry (Ensign, May 2004, p 69)
[A] very important message is the need to strengthen and safeguard our families. Far too many families are breaking up. This heartbreaking trend has an endless train of consequences. Happiness in marriage begins with husband and wife living together in love, kindness, and mutual respect, walking righteously and humbly before the Lord. It is contingent on being faithful to all vows and covenants. James E. Faust (Ensign, May 2004, p 67-68)
Bachelors know more about women than married men; if they didn't they'd be married too. H. L. Mencken
Because mothers are essential to God's great plan of happiness, their sacred work is opposed by Satan, who would destroy the family and demean the worth of women. Russell M. Nelson (Ensign, May 1999, p 38)
Before I met my husband, I'd never fallen in love. I'd stepped in it a few times. Rita Rudner
Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes. Jim Carrey
Behind every successful man stands a surprised mother-in-law. Voltaire (1694-1778) French Philosopher and Author
Being married is like having somebody permanently in your corner, it feels limitless, not limited. Gloria Steinem, 2000, upon marrying for the first time at age 66
Be nice to your kids; they will choose your nursing home one day. Author Unknown
Be tolerant of the human race. Your whole family belongs to it -- and some of your spouse's family does too. Author Unknown
Both men and women live longer, happier, healthier and wealthier lives when they are married. Unmarried co-habitation doesn't cut it. Cohabitation does not bring the benefits - in physical health, wealth, and emotional wellbeing - that marriage does. And, married people have both more and better sex than do their unmarried counterparts. Linda Waite, The Case for Marriage
Boys are beyond the range of anybody's sure understanding, at least when they are between the ages of 18 months and 90 years. James Thurber
By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher...and that is a good thing for any man. Socrates
Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads, which sew people together through the years. Simone Signoret
Children are likely to live up to what you believe of them. Lady Bird Johnson
Children have more need of models than critics. Joseph Joubert
Children need encouragement. So if a kid gets an answer right, tell him it was a lucky guess. That way, he develops a good, lucky feeling. Jack Handey
Children need to know that their parents love them enough to teach them the gospel. LeGrand R. Curtis (Ensign, Nov 1990, p 12)
Considering everything else that we do, the way we [men] treat our wives could well have the greatest impact on the character of our sons....There is an urgent need in our society for fathers who respect their wives and treat them with sweet, tender love. F. Melvin Hammond, Ensign, Nov 2002, p 98)
Courtship is a wonderful period. It should be a sacred one. That is the time in which you choose your mate. Young men, your success in life depends upon that choice. Choose prayerfully the one who inspires you to your best and always remember that no man injures the thing he loves. . The seeds of a happy marriage are sown in youth. Happiness does not begin at the altar; it begins during the period of youth and courtship. David O. McKay (Ensign, Jan 1974, p 36)
Daddies do matter: Last night (1/20/99) 60 Minutes featured a show about elephants. Several decades ago there was a problem with overpopulation on an African game preserve - too many elephants. Limited by the technology available at the time, the solution arrived at was to move the babies to new preserves. Everyone watched, gravely concerned, but the babies thrived. However, unintended consequences emerged. At the new locations, a decade or so after the transfer, someone was killing off rhinoceros which are an endangered species. It turned out the killers were young male elephants. At first the game wardens couldn't believe it, this was uncharacteristic behavior never before seen in elephants. They deduced that the young males had grown up without fathers - without male role models. New technology had made it possible to transport into these locations some large mature bull elephants. There was concern that it would be too late, that the adolescent males had to have grown up with their elders, that bringing "daddies" in now would do no good. But they tried it anyway. It worked like a charm. The mature bulls arrived and set things straight. The young males immediately stopped their precocious, rampant sexuality, killing and violence. The conclusion drawn on 60 Minutes was that we had no idea that the social system of the elephants was so complex, interconnected, and so elegant. And so it goes. Daddies do matter, even in elephants. Diane Sollee
Divorce causes a decrease in wealth that is larger than just splitting a couples assets in half. By the same token, married people see an increase in wealth that is more than just adding the assets of two single people. On the other hand, divorce can devastate your wealth. Divorce drops a person's wealth by an average of 77%. Contrary to popular belief, the research shows that the wealth of divorced women wasn't significantly worse than that of divorced men, in terms of real money. If you really want to increase your wealth, get married and stay married. Jay Zagorsky, Ohio State, Journal of Sociology, Jan 2006
Divorce sends many harmful messages to children and future citizens: that we can break vows we make to God and others; that family members may be discarded at will. But among the most destructive are about the role of government: that government is their de facto parent that may exercise unlimited power (including remove and criminalize their real parent) merely by claiming to act for their greater good. While feminists push divorce-on-demand as a civil liberty, in practice divorce has become our societys most authoritarian institution. Stephen Baskerville, PhD
Do not marry a person that you know you can live with; only marry someone that you cannot live without. Author Unknown
Do not pray to marry the one that you love, but to love the one that you marry. Spencer Kimball
Don't give up on that [wayward] boy or girl; one day he may, like the Prodigal Son, return to the home from which he came, as a ship in a storm returns to a safe harbor. Harold B. Lee (Teachings of Presidents of the Church, p 129)
Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you. Robert Fulghum
During my professional career as a doctor of medicine, I was occasionally asked why I chose to do that difficult work. I responded with my opinion that the highest and noblest work in this life is that of a mother. Since that option was not available to me, I thought that caring for the sick might come close. I tried to care for my patients as compassionately and competently as Mother cared for me. Russell M. Nelson (Ensign, May 1999, p 38)
Each divorce is the death of a small civilization. Pat Conroy
Eleven years as governor has not made me an expert in marriage nor has 30 years of marriage made me an expert. But 11 years as governor has made me somewhat of an expert on what happens when families fail. If you are married you are generally healthier, you have fewer emotional difficulties, your children are more likely to graduate from school and less likely to be involved in deviant behavior. Michael Leavitt, Governor of Utah
Endeavor to make your homes a little heaven, and try to cherish the good Spirit of God. Then let us parents train up our children in the fear of God and teach them the laws of life. John Taylor
Everybody knows how to raise children, except the people who have them. PJ O'Rourke
Every divorce is the result of selfishness on the part of one or the other or both parties to a marriage contract. Someone is thinking of self-comforts, conveniences, freedoms, luxuries, or ease. Spencer W. Kimball (BYU Devotional Address, 7 Sep 1976)
Every study of the subject has shown that living together before marriage is not good. In each case, they found:
higher divorce rate - up to 46% higher
lower quality of life - rates of depression and abuse are at least three times higher for unmarried couples than married ones
cohabitation does not lead to marriage - only 21% were still together after only five years, even if they got married during that time
commitment sidetracked - men said they were less likely to get married when they can simply live with a woman and enjoy the same benefits, then walk away with no liabilities.
"The National Marriage Project" by Rutgers University
Families are civilization factories. They take children and install the necessary software, from what to expect from life to how to treat others. One hears a lot of platitudes about how children are taught to hate. This is nonsense. Hating comes naturally to humans, and children are perfectly capable of learning to hate on their own. Indeed, everyone hates. The differences between good people and bad resides in what they hate, and why. And although schools and society can teach that, parents imprint it on their kids. As a conservative, Im a big believer in the importance of tradition... But tradition can only be as strong as it is in the people who pass it on... Civilization, at any given moment, can be boiled down to what its living members know and believe. This makes civilization an amazingly fragile thing, and it makes parents the primary guardians of its posterity. Jonah Goldberg
Families must continue to be the foundation of our nation. Families -- not government programs -- are the best way to make sure our children are properly nurtured, our elderly are cared for, our cultural and spiritual heritages are perpetuated, our laws are observed and our values are preserved. Thus it is imperative that our government's programs, actions, officials and social welfare institutions never be allowed to jeopardize the family. We fear the government may be powerful enough to destroy our families; we know that it is not powerful enough to replace them. Ronald Reagan
Family life here is the schoolroom in which we prepare for family life [in the eternities]. Henry B. Eyring (Ensign, Feb 1998, p 15)
Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap-on-a-rope. Bill Cosby
Fathers, by divine decree, you are to preside over your family units. This is a sobering responsibility and the most important one you will ever assume, for it is an eternal responsibility. You place the family in its proper priority. It's the part of your life that will endure beyond the grave. L. Tom Perry (Ensign, May 2004, p72)
Fathers, not only do you have the right to know the worthiness of your children, you have the responsibility. It is your duty to know how your children are doing with regards to their spiritual well-being and progression....Ask specific questions regarding their worthiness, and refuse to settle for anything less than specific answers. M. Russell Ballard (Ensign, Nov 2002, p 48)
Fathers play a vital role in protecting children against such snares. It is sad to note that children in single-parent families are more likely to drop out of high school, to get pregnant as teenagers, to abuse drugs, to be physically or sexually abused as children, and to be in trouble with the law than are those from families with both biological parents present. M. Russell Ballard
Getting married for sex is like buying a 747 for the free peanuts. Jeff Foxworthy
God could not be everywhere, and so He gave us mothers. Author Unknown
Grandchildren are God's reward for not killing your own children. Author Unknown
Guys are simple... women are not simple and they always assume that men must be just as complicated as they are, only way more mysterious. The whole point is guys are not thinking much. They are just what they appear to be. Tragically. Dave Barry
Hanging on the kitchen wall was a framed expression which my aunt had embroidered many years ago. It carried a world of practical application: "Choose your love; love your choice." Very often this will take compromise, forgiveness, perhaps apology. We must ever be committed to the success of our marriage. Thomas S. Monson (Ensign, Oct 2001)
Happily marrieds are not "perfect marrieds," but they have learned some of what it takes to create happiness in marriage. Laura Brotherson
Harmony in the married state is the very first object to be aimed at. Thomas Jefferson (letter to Mary Jefferson Eppes, 7 Jan 1798)
Having children is like having a bowling alley installed in your brain. Martin Mull
He [Heavenly Father] would rather have you read stories in the afternoon to a little girl in a faded blue hand-me-down dress than have her entertained by a color TV because you are away working to make the payments. H. Burke Peterson (Ensign, May 1974, p 31)
He who finds a wife finds what is good. Proverbs 18:22
Home is really only the feeling between husband and wife -- how they feel about one another and God. Home isn't the house, for the house can still be there when the home is gone. Rex C. Reeve (Ensign, Nov 1982, p 27)
Home is the place where, when you go there, they have to take you in. Author Unknown
Home should be a happy place because all work to keep it that way. It is said that happiness is homemade, and we should endeavor to make our homes happy and pleasant places for us and our children. A happy home is one centered around the teachings of the gospel. This takes constant, careful effort by all concerned." LeGrand R. Curtis (Ensign, Nov 1990, p 12)
Honor your wives. Respect them. They are the mothers of your children. When all is said and done, when you have lived your lives and go on to eternity, you will not take five cents of wealth that you have accumulated, not five cents. There is only one thing that you can take with you, and that is your eternal soul and the love and companionship of your husband or your wife. Live worthy of it. Gordon B. Hinckley (Ensign, Mar 2006, p 4)
How to preserve a husband (wife): Be careful in your selection; do not choose too young, and take only such as have been reared in a good moral atmosphere. Some insist on keeping them in a pickle, while others keep them in hot water. This only makes them sour, hard and bitter. Even poor varieties may be made sweet, tender and good by garnishing them with patience and seasoning them well with smiles and kisses to taste. Then wrap them in a mantle of charity, and serve with peaches and cream. When thus prepared they will keep for many years. Author Unknown
Human beings are the only creatures on earth that allow their children to come back home. Bill Cosby
I am convinced that a happy home is the result of a happy marriage. Henry D. Taylor (Ensign, Jan 1974, p 36)
I am convinced that if we as a society work diligently in every other area of life and neglect the family, it would be analogous to straightening deck chairs on the Titanic. Stephen Covey
I believe all parents should remember this important truth-that if they fail to teach their children light and truth, the evil one will have power over those children. Dallin H. Oaks (Ensign, Dec 1998, p 7)
I believe our problems, almost every one, arise out of the homes of the people. If there is to be reformation, if there is to be a change, if there is to be a return to old and sacred values, it must begin in the home. It is here that truth is learned, that integrity is cultivated, that self-discipline is instilled, and that love is nurtured. Gordon B. Hinckley (Ensign, Nov 1998, p 99)
I believe the mission statement for mortality might be "to build an eternal family." Here on this earth we strive to become part of extended families with the ability to create and form our own part of those families. That is one of the reasons our Heavenly Father sent us here. Not everyone will find a companion and have a family in mortality, but everyone, regardless of individual circumstances, is a precious member of God's family. M. Russell Ballard (Ensign, Nov 2005, p 41)
I desire to call attention to the fact that the united, well ordered American home is one of the greatest contributing factors to the preservation of the Constitution of the United States. It has been aptly said that "Out of the homes of America will come the future citizens of America, and only as those homes are what they should be will this nation be what it should be." David O. McKay (CR - Apr 1935, p 110)
I don't care what you say, women make the best wives. Dagwood Bumstead
I feel that the greater destroyer of peace today is abortion. By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. Mother Teresa at the National Prayer Breakfast, 3 Feb 1994
If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular? Author Unknown
If mamma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. Author Unknown
If a man speaks in the forest, and there's no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong? Earle Hitchner
If a married couple with children has fifteen minutes of uninterrupted, nonlogistical, non-problem-solving talk every day, I would put them in the top 5% of all married couples. It's an extraordinary achievement. Bill Doherty, Take Back Your Marriage
If couples understood from the beginning of their romance that their marriage relationship could be blessed with promises and conditions extending into the eternities, divorce would not even be a considered alternative when difficulties arise. The current philosophy -- get a divorce if it doesn't work out -- handicaps a marriage from the beginning. David B. Haight (Ensign, May 1984)
If husbands and wives would only give greater emphasis to the virtues that are found in one another and less to the faults, there would be fewer broken hearts, fewer tears, fewer divorces, and more happiness in the homes of our people. Gordon B. Hinckley (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, p 322)
If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular? Author Unknown
If parents do not discipline their children and teach them to obey, society may have to discipline them in ways neither the parents nor the children will like. If adults do not discipline themselves, setting the proper example for others, the consequences can be devastating for themselves and society. Without discipline and obedience in the home and in our personal lives, unity within a family collapses. James E. Faust (Liahona, Jun 2003, p 4-5)
If people were meant to be perfect parents, the almighty would have endowed everyone with the patience of Job, the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Samson, and the will of G. Gordon Liddy. Michael K. Meyerhoff
If the grass [other people's marriages] looks greener on the other side of the fence, it's because they take better care of it. Cecil Selig
If we are serious about renewing fatherhood, we must be serious about renewing marriage.... Healthy marriages are not always possible. But we must remember, they are incredibly important for children. Our hearts know this and our nation must recognize this. None of us is perfect. And so no marriage and no family is perfect. After all, we all are human. Yet, we need fathers and families precisely because we are human. We all live, it is said, in the shelter of one another. And our urgent hope is one of the oldest hopes of humanity, to turn the hearts of children toward their parents, and the hearts of parents toward their young. George W Bush, 7 Jun 2001
If we could have but one generation of properly born, trained, educated and healthy children, a thousand other problems of government would vanish. We would assure ourselves of healthier minds, more vigorous bodies, to direct the energies of our nation to greater heights of achievement. Herbert Hoover (US president)
If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do well matters very much. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
If you made a list of reasons why any couple got married, and another list of the reasons for their divorce, you'd have a lot of overlapping. Mignon McLauglin
If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders. Abigail Van Buren
If you will keep your [children] close to your heart, within the clasp of your arms; if you will make them . . . feel that you love them...and keep them near to you, they will not go very far from you, and they will not commit any very great sin. But it is when you turn them out of the home, turn them out of your affection . . . that [is what] drives them from you.... Fathers, if you wish your children to be taught in the principles of the gospel, if you wish them to love the truth and understand it, if you wish them to be obedient to and united with you, love them! and prove...that you do love them by your every word and act to[ward] them. Joseph F. Smith (Gospel Doctrine, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1966, p 282, 316)
I have no way of knowing whether or not you married the wrong person, but I do know that many people have a lot of wrong ideas about marriage and what it takes to make that marriage happy and successful. I'll be the first to admit that it's possible that you did marry the wrong person. However, if you treat the wrong person like the right person, you could well end up having married the right person after all. On the other hand, if you marry the right person, and treat that person wrong, you certainly will have ended up marrying the wrong person. I also know that it is far more important to be the right kind of person than it is to marry the right person. In short, whether you married the right or wrong person is primarily up to you. Zig Ziglar
I know some good marriages - marriages where both people are just trying to get through their days by helping each other, being good to each other. Erica Jong
I married the first man I ever kissed. When I tell this to my children they just about throw up. Barbara Bush, Former First Lady
In addition to temples, surely another holy place on earth ought to be our homes. The feelings of holiness in my home prepared me for feelings of holiness in the temple. James E. Faust (Ensign, May 2005, p 67)
In a world of turmoil and uncertainty, it is more important than ever to make our families the center of our lives and the top of our priorities. Elder L. Tom Perry (Ensign, May 2003)
[I]n commemorating fatherhood, we're also expressing a basic truth about America. What does fatherhood mean today in America? I guess the same as it always has. Fatherhood can sometimes be walking the floor at midnight with a baby that can't sleep. More likely, fatherhood is repairing a bicycle wheel for the umpteenth time, knowing that it won't last the afternoon. Fatherhood is guiding a youth through the wilderness of adolescence toward adulthood. Fatherhood is holding tight when all seems to be falling apart; and it's letting go when it is time to part. Fatherhood is long hours at the blast furnace or in the fields, behind the wheel or in front of a computer screen, working a 12-hour shift or doing a 6-month tour of duty. It's giving one's all, from the break of day to its end, on the job, in the house, but most of all in the heart. Ronald Reagan
In every marriage more than a week old, there are grounds for divorce. The trick is to find, and continue to find, the grounds for marriage. Robert Anderson
In marriage, each partner is to be an encourager rather than a critic, a forgiver rather than a collector of hurts, an enabler rather than a reformer. Norman Wright and Gary Oliver
In my opinion, the teaching, rearing, and training of children requires more intelligence, intuitive understanding, humility, strength, wisdom, spirituality, perseverance, and hard work than any other challenge we might have in life. This is especially so when moral foundations of honor and decency are eroding around us. For us to have successful homes, values must be taught, and there must be rules, there must be standards, there must be absolutes. President James E. Faust (Ensign, Oct 2005, p 3)
I now think of marriage like I think about living in my home state of Minnesota. You move into marriage in the springtime of hope, but eventually arrive at the Minnesota winter, with its cold and darkness. Many of us are tempted to give up and move south at this point, not realizing that maybe weve hit a rough spot in a marriage thats actually above average. The problem with giving up, of course, is that our next marriage will enter its own winter at some point. So do we just keep moving on, or do we make our stand now -- with this person, in this season? Thats the moral, existential question we face when our marriage is in trouble. Bill Doherty
In terms of your happiness, in terms of the matters that make you proud or sad, nothing -- I repeat, nothing -- will have so profound an effect on you as the way your children turn out. Gordon B. Hinckley (Ensign, Nov 2000, p 50)
In the arithmetic of love, one plus one equals everything, and two minus one equals nothing. Mignon McLaughlin
In the best of times, our days are numbered anyway. And so it would be a crime against nature for any generation to take the world crisis so solemnly that we would put off doing those things for which we were intended. For in the first place, the opportunity to do good work, to fall in love, to enjoy friends, to hit a ball, and to bounce a baby. Alistair Cooke
In the end, there is nothing a man can do that a woman cant, except be a father. Frank Pittman
In the ideal home, each child would be given every possible opportunity to develop his own personality without too much domination. Discipline is organized love, and children develop properly in an atmosphere of love, with adequate guidelines to shape their lives and their habits. More children are punished for mimicking their parents than ever for disobeying them. We should be what we want to see." LeGrand R. Curtis (Ensign, Nov 1990, p 12)
I repeat that plea to all fathers. Yours is the basic and inescapable responsibility to stand as head of the family. That does not carry with it any implication of dictatorship or unrighteous dominion. It carries with it a mandate that fathers provide for the needs of their families. Those needs are more than food, clothing, and shelter. Those needs include righteous direction and the teaching, by example as well as precept, of basic principles of honesty, integrity, service, respect for the rights of others, and an understanding that we are accountable for that which we do in this life. Gordon B. Hinckley (Ensign, Nov 1993, p 60)
I talk and talk and talk, and I haven't taught people in 50 years what my father taught by example in one week. Mario Cuomo
It is a well-documented fact that guys will not ask for directions. This is a biological thing. This is why it takes several million sperm cells... to locate a female egg, despite the fact that the egg is, relative to them, the size of Wisconsin. Dave Barry
It is better to give children a rule to break than to give them no rules at all. Tipper Gore (Time Magazine)
It is dangerous for women to romanticize the typical alternatives to marriage. Most unmarried parents do not live together and most nonresident fathers pay little child support. Women are providing a much higher proportion of the financial support of children than previously. Thus, in the new low-marriage regime, compared to the old regime, women are still providing most of the labor inputs to children and are providing much more of the financial support for children. Paul England, Marriage, the Costs of Children and Gender Inequality
It is instructive that 87 percent of those incarcerated in American prisons either don't know who their father is or have not had any contact with their fathers in years. Herbert London, Hudson Institute
It is necessary but insufficient to stay married for the children's sake. It is also necessary to stay happily married for the children's sake. I'm so glad someone noticed that marriage doesn't have to make you miserable. It is just so easy to be happy I don't understand why it isn't more popular. Frank Pittman
It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
It is the duty of parents to maintain their children decently, and according to their circumstances; to protect them according to the dictates of prudence; and to educate them according to the suggestions of a judicious and zealous regard for their usefulness, their respectability and happiness. James Wilson
It is within our families that we learn unconditional love, which can come to us and draw us very close to God's love. It is within families that values are taught and character is built. Father and mother are callings from which we will never be released, and there is no more important stewardship than the responsibility we have for God's spirit children who come into our families. M. Russell Ballard (Ensign, Nov 2003, p 16)
It takes a particularly noble Democrat to promote marriage and family. The strengthening of these institutions is not in the Democrat Party's self-interest. The more people marry, and especially the more they have children after they marry, the more likely they are to hold conservative values and vote Republican. That is why it is inaccurate to speak of a 'gender gap' in Americans' voting. The gap is between married and unmarried women. Single women, especially single women with children, tend to vote Democrat, while married women, especially married women with children, tend to vote Republican. Dennis Prager, Jun 2006
Just because swans mate for life, I don't think it's that big of a deal. First of all, if you're a swan, you're probably not going to find a swan that looks that much better than the one you've got, so why not mate for life. Jack Handey
Let every mother understand that if she does anything to diminish her children's father or the father's image in the eyes of the children, it may injure and do irreparable damage to the self-worth and personal security of the children themselves. How infinitely more productive and satisfying it is for a woman to build up her husband rather than tear him down. You women are so superior to men in so many ways that you demean yourselves by belittling masculinity and manhood. James E. Faust (Ensign, Sep 2006, p 2-6)
Let your children be exposed to great minds, great ideas, everlasting truth, and those things which will build and motivate for good. Gordon B. Hinckley (Ensign, Jun 1985)
Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction. Antoine De Saint-Exupery
Literature is mostly about having sex and not much about having children. Life is the other way around. David Lodge
Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring and integrity, they think of you. H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Love doesn't commit suicide. We have to kill it. It often simply dies of our neglect. Diane Sollee
Love doesn't make the world go round, love is what makes the ride worthwhile. Elizabeth Browning
Love is a feeling, Marriage is a contract, and a Relationship is work. Lori Gordon
Love. . . (is) a lack of personal selfishness. Theodore M. Burton (Ensign, May 1979)
Love is blind, but marriage is a real eye opener. Author Unknown
Love is like a flower, and, like the body, it needs constant feeding...[it] cannot be expected to last forever unless it is continually fed with portions of love, the manifestation of esteem and admiration, the expressions of gratitude, and the consideration of unselfishness. Spencer W. Kimball (Ensign, Oct 2002, p 40)
Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties. Jules Renard
Love is never hopeless. Love is full of hope. It's hate that is hopeless. Lynn Johnston in "For Better or For Worse"
Love is no assignment for cowards. Ovid
Love is perhaps the only glimpse we are permitted of eternity. Helen Hayes
Love is the only force that can erase the differences between people or bridge the chasm of bitterness. Gordon B Hinckley (Standing for Something, p 3)
Love me when I least deserve it, because that's when I really need it. Swedish proverb
Love needs constant nourishment, but hatred can feed on itself. Ashleigh Brilliant
Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Bible, I Corinthians 13:7
Love, not time, heals all wounds. Author Unknown
Love the family! Defend and promote it as the basic cell of human society; nurture it as the prime sanctuary of life. Give great care to the preparation of engaged couples and be close to young married couples, so that they will be for their children and the whole community an eloquent testimony of God's love. Pope John Paul II, 2001
Love without service, like faith without works, is dead. Mary Ellen Edmunds (LDS Speaker's Sourcebook, Aspen Books 1991, p 434)
Life is being trivialized and subjected to the vacillating whims of convenience and political correctness. Children are considered a choice rather than a blessing....Almost every trend indicates that we are on a slippery slope downward from God's plan for his children. M. Russell Ballard
Man is not complete until he is married -- then he is finished. Author Unknown
Many marriages would be better if the husband and the wife clearly understood that they are on the same side. Zig Ziglar
Many women callers to my radio show have told me that the man in their life sees no reason to marry. 'It's only a piece of paper,' these men (and now some women) argue. There are two answers to this argument. One is that if in fact 'it is only a piece of paper,' what exactly is he so afraid of? Why does he fear a mere piece of paper? Either he is lying to himself and to his woman or lying only to her because he knows this piece of paper is far more than 'only a piece of paper.' The other response is all that is written above. Getting married means I am now your wife, not your live-in; I am now your husband, not your significant other. It means that we get to have a wedding where, before virtually every person alive who means anything to us, we commit ourselves to each other. It means that we have decided to bring all these people we love into our lives. It means we have legal obligations to one another. It means my family becomes yours and yours becomes mine... When you realize all that is attainable by marrying and unattainable by living together without marrying, you have to wonder why anyone would voluntarily choose not to marry the person he or she wishes to live with forever. Dennis Prager
Marriage and the family are rooted in the inmost nucleus of the truth about man and his destiny. The communion of life and love which is marriage thus emerges as an authentic good for society. It is only the rock of total, irrevocable love between a man and a woman that can serve as the foundation on which to build a society that will become a home for all mankind. Pope Benedict XVI, 11 May 2006
Marriage is a great institution, but I'm not ready for an institution. Mae West
Marriage is a public good, not just a private relationship. We have a public stake in healthy marriages and two-parent families. Our society suffers with the collapse of the relationship of the couple who brings a child into the world. Bill Doherty
Marriage is a relationship in which one person is always right, and the other is a husband. Author Unknown
Marriage is a three ring circus: engagement ring, wedding ring, suffering. Author Unknown
Marriage is not an easy venture. It is largely a one-time-through, do-it-yourself project for the husband and wife. I repeatedly encounter the illusion today, especially among younger people, that perfect marriages happen simply if the right two people come together. This is untrue. Marriages dont succeed automatically. Those who build happy, secure, successful marriages pay the price to do so. They work at it constantly. Dean L. Larsen (Ensign, Mar 1985, p 20)
Marriage is not a word; it is a sentence. Author Unknown
Marriage is not just spiritual communion, it is also remembering to take out the trash. Joyce Brothers
Marriage isn't supposed to make you happy - and satisfied. It's your job to make your marriage happy - and satisfying. Same goes for sex. It isn't supposed to make you passionate and "hot". It's up to you to make it passionate and "hot" - and intimate. Diane Sollee
Marriage isn't supposed to make you happy - it's supposed to make you married. Frank Pittman
Marriage is one long conversation, checkered with disputes. Robert Louis Stevenson
Marriage is ordained of God. It is not merely a social custom. Spencer W. Kimball (Ensign, Oct 2002, p 40)
Marriage is our last, best chance to grow up. Joseph Barth
Marriage is our society's most pro-child institution. If you want kids to do well, then you want marriage to do well. David Blankenhorn
Marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. Second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience. Author Unknown
[M]arriage is threatened not by divorce, but by people not marrying in the first place -- as is increasingly the case in the two European societies that have redefined marriage to include couples of the same sex. Our present high divorce rate is not stopping the vast majority of Americans from wanting to marry. Nor should it. Nothing provides the antidote to narcissism, or the environment for the healthy raising of children, or the way for people to take care of one another, as does the marriage of a man and a woman. And while most divorces are terribly sad, divorce itself no more undermines the institution of marriage than car crashes undermine the institution of driving. In fact, the vast majority of people who do divorce deeply wish to marry again; painful divorce has not undermined marriage even among those who have divorced. There may be honest reasons to support the redefinition of marriage to include same-sex couples. The argument that heterosexuals divorce a lot is not one of them. It is, in fact, demagoguery. Dennis Prager
Marriage is when a man and a woman become as one; the trouble starts when they try to decide which one. Author Unknown
Marriage orients men and women toward the future, asking them not just to commit to each other but to plan, to earn, to save, and to devote themselves to advancing their children's prospects. Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Marriages are made in heaven. But so again, are thunder and lightning. Author Unknown
Marriage, ultimately, is the practice of becoming passionate friends. Harville Hendrix
Married life teaches one invaluable lesson: to think of things far enough ahead not to say them. Jefferson Machamer
Married people should be best friends; no relationship on earth needs friendship as much as marriage. Marion D. Hanks (Ensign, Nov 1984, p 36)
Marty wakes up with a killer hangover. He forces himself to open his eyes, and the first things he sees are a couple of aspirin and a glass of water on the side table. He sits up and sees his clothes in front of him, clean and pressed. He takes the aspirin and notices a note on the table: "Honey, breakfast is on the stove. I left early to go shopping. Love you." He goes to the kitchen and sure enough, there is a hot breakfast and the morning newspaper. His son is also at the table, eating. Marty asks, "Son, what happened last night?" His son says, "Well, you came home at 3 A.M., drunk and delirious. Broke some furniture, puked in the hallway, and gave yourself a black eye when you stumbled into the door." Confused, Marty asks, "So, why is everything in order and so clean, and breakfast is on the table waiting for me?" His son replies, "Oh that! Mom dragged you to the bedroom, and when she tried to take your pants off, you said, "Lady, leave me alone, I'm married'!" Author Unknown
Men turn from evil and yield to their better natures when mother is remembered. Thomas S. Monson (Ensign, Apr 1998, p 2)
Mere religious affiliation may not reduce divorce, but religious practice clearly does. One longitudinal analysis of the National Survey of Family Growth found that couples who attended church as often as once a month had divorce rates less than half that of couples who attended church once a year or less. Similarly, a recent study of the National Survey of Families and Households found that marriage in which both couples attend church regularly have the lowest divorce risk. Maggie Gallagher
Motherhood is the one profession that a dedicated and educated adult can practice for a decade and still not be considered an expert. Jaroldeen Edwards
Mothers of teens now know why some animals eat their young. Author Unknown
My brethren, you will never have in all of your lives a greater asset than the woman into whose eyes you looked as you joined hands over the altar in the house of the Lord. She will be your most precious possession in time or eternity. Respect her as your companion. Respect her and live with honor together, and there will be happiness in your lives. Gordon B. Hinckley (Liahona, Oct 1997, 14)
My wife says I never listen to her. At least I think that's what she said. Author Unknown
My wife tells me that if I ever decide to leave, she is coming with me. Jon BonJovi on his secret to staying married
My wife uses fabric softener. I never knew what that stuff was for. Then I noticed women coming up to me, sniffing, then saying under their breath, "Married!" and walking away. Fabric Softeners are how our wives mark their territory. We can take off the ring, but it's hard to get that April fresh scent out of your clothes. Andy Rooney
Never criticize your spouse's faults; if it weren't for them, your mate might have found someone better than you. One to One
Never get involved with a man who's neater than you are. Fiona
Never have children, only grandchildren. Gore Vidal
Nobody is lost until somebody has given up. Gordon B. Hinckley (Ensign, Oct 2003, p 22)
No greater responsibility can rest upon a man, than to be a teacher of God's children. David O. McKay
No ideology in human history has been potentially so invasive of the private sphere of life as Feminism. Communists had little respect for privacy. Feminists have made it their main target. Like other radical movements, only more so, Feminism's danger comes not so much from the assault on freedom (which traditional tyrannies also threaten) but specifically from the attack on private life, especially family life (which traditional dictatorships usually leave alone).... The Left's brilliant move has been to clothe its attack on the family as a defense of 'women and children.' Marian Wright Edelman openly acknowledges she founded the Children's Defense Fund to push a Leftist agenda: 'I got the idea that children might be a very effective way to broaden the base for change.' This climaxed in the Clinton Administration, in which radical policy innovations were invariably justified as 'for the children.' Using children to leverage an expansion of state power by eliminating family privacy is succinctly conveyed in Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's aphorism, 'There is no such thing as other people's children.' Stephen Baskerville, Why Sex is Better than Gender
No man goeth about a more godly purpose than he who is mindful of the right upbringing not only of his own, but of other men's children. Robert Baden-Powell
No man is too rich or too poor to play with his children. Bryant S. Hinckley
No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been married a quarter of a century. Mark Twain
No woman who understands the gospel would ever think that any other work is more important or would ever say, 'I am just a mother,' for mothers heal the souls of men. Sheri L. Dew (Ensign, Nov 2001, p 96)
No nobler work in this world can be performed by any mother than to rear and love the children with whom God has blessed her. David O. McKay (General Conference Report, Apr 1951, p 81)
No one expends more energy than a devoted mother and wife. Howard W. Hunter, Ensign, Nov 1975, p 122
No other success can compensate for failure in the home. The poorest shack in which love prevails over a united family is of greater value to God and future humanity than any other riches. In such a home God can work miracles and will work miracles. President David O. McKay (Quoting J. E. McCulloch, Home: The Savior of Civilization (1924), 42; in Conference Report, Apr 1964, p 5)
No pressure, no diamonds. Thomas Carlyle
No teaching is equal, more spiritually rewarding, or more exalting than that of a mother teaching her children. Boyd K. Packer (Ensign, Feb. 2000)
One advantage of marriage, it seems to me, is that when you fall out of love with each other, it keeps you together until maybe you fall in again. Judith Viorst
One of my favorite stories about couples who want vows "as long as love shall last," is about then Education Secretary William Bennett who heard such a wedding vow from a junior colleague & spouse. He sent paper plates as his wedding gift! Mike McManus
One of the duties of manhood is to safeguard womanhood. James E. Faust (Ensign, May 1988, p 37)
Parentage is a very important profession, but no test of fitness for it is ever imposed in the interest of the children. George Bernard Shaw
Parents are the last people on earth who ought to have children. Samuel Butler
Parents can make a real difference in their children's lives, and a president committed to an abstinence agenda can help to sway national opinion on this issue. There will always be cynics. For too long, this nation has held itself in thrall of the dead-end belief that 'just do it' was a message worth emulating. Now, even liberals are starting to recognize the terrible price we have paid for devaluing marriage and sending the message that premarital sex is inevitable. It's time we as a nation come to our senses once more about the value of the human person, sex and marriage. Paul M. Weyrich
Parents cannot give to their children that which they do not possess. Delbert L. Stapley, 6 Apr 1971
Parents should be partners to cherish and protect one another, knowing that the aim of the adversary is to destroy the integrity of the family. Russell M. Nelson (Ensign, May 1989, p 68)
Parents should work to create loving, eternal connections with their children. Reproof or correction will sometimes be required. But it must be done sensitively, persuasively, with an increase of love thereafter lest the child esteem the parent to be an enemy (see D&C 121:43). M. Russell Ballard (Ensign, Mar 2006, p 31)
Particularly in the home should integrity be taught and practiced as a basis for its extension into community life and all other phases of living. N. Eldon Tanner (Ensign, May 1977)
Part of the devolution of marriage to minority status is the fault of the media. Look at who they feature on magazine covers, tabloid TV and awards shows: the cohabiting without benefit of clergy, same-sex 'couples,' fornicating couples who flaunt their 'lifestyles' and dare anyone to tell them to stop. The STDs that come from these 'lifestyles' are not the fault of those who engage in the sort of behavior that puts them at risk. Rather, Republicans are to blame for spending too little on 'cures' so the promiscuous can continue practicing their 'lifestyles' without fear of disease. TV commercials for drugs that treat genital herpes now run close to erectile dysfunction ads without irony. Cal Thomas
People get divorced for one reason and one reason only: One or both of them get selfish. People won't say they got selfish -- they'll say, 'Oh, we were too young' or 'We rushed into it,' but it's all [nonsense]. They're getting divorced for one reason: One of them is being selfish. Mark Gungor
People think they have to find their soulmate to have a good marriage. You're not going to "find" your soulmate. Anyone you meet already has soulmates. Their mother. Their father. Their lifelong friends. You get married, and after 20 years of loving, bearing and raising children, meeting challenges - then you'll have "created" your soulmate. Diane Sollee
Perhaps most significant of all classrooms is the classroom of the home. It is in the home that we form our attitudes, our deeply held beliefs. It is in the home that hope is fostered or destroyed. Our homes are the laboratories of our lives. What we do there determines the course of our lives when we leave home. Dr. Stuart E. Rosenberg wrote in his book The Road to Confidence, 'Despite all new inventions and modern designs, fads and fetishes, no one has yet invented, or will ever invent, a satisfying substitute for one's own family.' Thomas S. Monson (Ensign, Nov 1991, p 68)
President George W. Bush has proposed, as part of welfare reform reauthorization, the creation of a pilot program to promote healthy and stable marriage. Participation in the program would be strictly voluntary, and funding would be small-scale: $300 million per year. This sum represents one penny to promote healthy marriage for every five dollars the government spends subsidizing single parenthood....The collapse of marriage is the principal cause of child poverty in the United States...Overall, some 80% of long-term child poverty in the United States is found among children from broken or never-formed families. Robert Rector, 2003
Primary (the LDS Church's Sunday school for children) is where you go to do with somebody else's mother the things you would do with your own mother if she weren't so busy teaching Primary. Mary Ann Evans (Ensign, Dec 1971, p 152)
Raising children teaches you many things, most of which come too late to do you any good. Doug Larson
Real giving is when we give to our spouses what's important to them, whether we understand it, like it, agree with it, or not. Michele Weiner-Davis, Divorce Busting
Rearing children effectively is a most valuable and challenging task that requires common sense and courage. G. Hugh Allred (Ensign, Apr 1971)
Religion in a Family is at once its brightest Ornament & its best Security. Samuel Adams (letter to Thomas Wells, 22 Nov 1780)
Remember also that no home is a failure as long as that home doesn't give up. Harold B. Lee, (Ensign, Feb. 1972 p 48)
Remember, the family is one of God's greatest fortresses against the evils of our day. Help keep your family strong and close and worthy of our Father in Heaven's blessings. As you do, you will receive faith and strength which will bless your lives forever. President Ezra Taft Benson (Ensign, May 1986, p 43)
Remember, you married her, you didn't hire her. Dr. Phil McGraw, Psychologist, to a critical, controlling husband on his TV show
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland asked a simple question of 10,000 married men with no history of chest pains (angina): "Does your wife show you her love?" Those men answering yes were found to experience significantly less angina in the next five years than husbands responding no - despite such negative indicators as elevated cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes or electrocardiogram abnormalities. Bob Condor, Knight Ridder
Research has shown a child who sees his mother mistreated is more damaged than if the child himself is abused. Steven Stosny
Ruth and I are happily incompatible. Billy Graham when asked his secret of love, being married fifty-four years to the same person
Satan, in his carefully devised plan to destroy the family, seeks to diminish the role of fathers. Increased youth violence, youth crime, greater poverty and economic insecurity, and the failure of increasing numbers of children in our schools offer clear evidence of lack of a positive influence of fathers in the homes. (See David Blankenhorn, Fatherless America: Confronting Our Most Urgent Social Problem [1995], introduction, 25-48; David Popenoe, Life without Father [1996], 52-78.) A family needs a father to anchor it. Surely we have learned by now, from the experience over centuries, that the basic family provides the most stable and secure foundation for society and is fundamental to the preparation of young people for their future responsibilities. We should have learned by now that alternate styles of family formations have not worked and never will work. L. Tom Perry (Ensign, May 2004, p 70)
Saying divorce is normal is like saying polio is normal, and let's focus all our resources on building a better iron lung and not spend money to develop a vaccine. Diane Sollee - USA Today, 29 Jul 2002
Sexiness wears thin after a while, and beauty fades. But to be married to a man who makes you laugh every day, ah, now that's a real treat. Joanne Woodward
Society should try to help more children grow up with their two biological, married parents in a reasonably healthy, stable relationship - not to pay homage to a Victorian notion of propriety, but because the overwhelming consensus of research shows that's the very best way to raise children. Theodora Ooms, Center for Law and Social Policy
Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you've had a baby...somebody doesn't know that once you're a mother, normal is history. Somebody said you learn how to be a mother by instinct...somebody never took a three-year-old shopping. Somebody said being a mother is boring...somebody never rode in a car driven by a teenager with a driver's permit. Somebody said if you're a "good" mother, your child will "turn out good"...somebody thinks a child comes with directions and a guarantee. Somebody said "good" mothers never raise their voices...somebody never came out the back door just in time to see her child hit a golf ball through the neighbor's kitchen window. Somebody said you don't need an education to be a mother...somebody never helped a fourth grader with his math. Somebody said you can't love the fifth child as much as you love the first...somebody doesn't have five children. Somebody said a mother can find all the answers to her child-rearing questions in the books...somebody never had a child stuff beans up his nose or in his ears. Somebody said the hardest part of being a mother is labor and delivery...somebody never watched her "baby" get on the bus for the first day of kindergarten...or on a plane headed for military "boot camp." Somebody said a mother can do her job with her eyes closed and one hand tied behind her back...somebody never organized seven giggling Brownies to sell cookies. Somebody said a mother can stop worrying after her child gets married...somebody doesn't know that marriage adds a new son or daughter-in-law to a mother's heartstrings. Somebody said a mother's job is done when her last child leaves home...somebody never had grandchildren. Somebody said your mother knows you love her, so you don't need to tell her...somebody isn't a mother. Author Unknown
Some marriages are made in heaven, but they all have to be maintained on earth. Author Unknown
Some men spend more time maintaining their lawns than they do their relationships. Michael Levine
Sometimes I wonder if it would've been better having one big marriage instead of a lot of little ones. A woman after her third divorce
Sometimes we're so concerned about giving our children what we never had growing up, we neglect to give them what we did have growing up. James Dobson
Spoil your spouse -- not your children. Author Unknown
Spouses should do all within their power to preserve their marriages....To avoid so-called 'incompatibility,' they should be best friends, kind and considerate, sensitive to each other's needs, always seeking to make each other happy. They should be partners in family finances, working together to regulate their desires for temporal things. Dallin H. Oaks (Ensign, May 2007, p 72)
Statistics have proven time and again that the institution of marriage is invalid. After all, 50% of all marriages are confirmed failures...while the other 50% end in divorce. John Ziegler
Successful treatment of domestic violence must restore the sense of father as protector for the well being of women, children, and society-at-large. Children do not need fathers to fight and die for them; they need fathers to live for them, to value them, and to value what they most value - their mothers. A father who truly protects his children cannot possibly hurt their mother. Steven Stosny
Success in an occupation -- even a lofty one -- is only temporary, whereas success as a parent is universal and eternal greatness. Joseph F. Smith (Gospel Doctrine, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1939, p 285)
Take care of your little ones. Welcome them into your homes, and nurture and love them with all of your hearts. They may do, in the years that come, some things you would not want them to do, but be patient, be patient. You have not failed as long as you have tried. Never forget that. Gordon B. Hinckley (Ensign, Jul 1997, p 7273)
Taking care of small, dependent and demanding children is never-ending and often nerve-wracking. Mothers must not fall into the trap of believing that 'quality' time can replace 'quantity' time. Quality is a direct function of quantity and mothers, to nurture their children properly, must provide both. M. Russell Ballard
The basis of a good marriage is mutual respect-respect for one another, a concern for the comfort and well-being of one another. That is the key. If a husband would think less of himself and more of his wife, we'd have happier homes throughout the Church and throughout the world. Gordon B. Hinckley (Ensign, Oct 2003, p 22)
The best insurance against an unhappy or failed marriage is to make a commitment not only to the marriage, but, more important, to growth in the marriage. David K. Whitmer (Ensign, Jan 1991, p 61)
The best proof of love is trust. Dr. Joyce Brothers
The development of a really good marriage is not a natural process. It is an achievement. David and Vera Mace
The divorce rate would be lower if instead of marrying for better or worse people would marry for good. Ruby Dee
The family and the Church have a mutually reinforcing relationship. The family is dependent upon the Church for doctrine, ordinances, and priesthood keys. The Church provides the teachings, authority, and ordinances necessary to perpetuate family relationships to the eternities. Dallin H. Oaks (Ensign, Nov 2005, p 25)
The family is not just the basic unit of society; it is the basic unit of eternity. M. Russell Ballard (Ensign, Mar 2006, p 26-33)
The government of the family is patriarchal, whereas the government of the Church is hierarchical. The concept of partnership functions differently in the family than in the Church. The family proclamation gives this beautiful explanation of the relationship between a husband and a wife: While they have separate responsibilities, 'in these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners' The Family: A Proclamation to the World (Ensign, Nov 1995, p 102)
The only time a woman really succeeds in changing a man is when he is a baby. Natalie Wood
They do not love who do not show their love. William Shakespeare
The family circle is the ideal place to demonstrate and learn kindness, forgiveness, faith in God, and every other practicing virtue of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Dallin H. Oaks (Ensign, Jun 1985)
The family is a creation of God. It is the basic creation. The way to strengthen the nation is to strengthen the homes of the people. Gordon B. Hinckley (Ensign, May 1998, p 51)
The family is a creation of the Almighty. It represents the most sacred of all relationships. It represents the most serious of all undertakings. It is the fundamental organization of society. Gordon B. Hinckley (Ensign, May 2005, p 82)
The family is one of God's greatest fortresses against the evils of our day. Ezra Taft Benson (Ensign, May 1986, p 43)
The family is the most effective place to instill lasting values in its members. Where family life is strong and based on principles and practices of the gospel of Jesus Christ, these problems do not as readily appear....My message is to return to the God-ordained fundamentals that will ensure love, stability, and happiness in our homes. Ezra Taft Benson (Ensign, Jul 1992, p 2)
The father is the protector of the home. He guards it against the intrusion of evil from without. It is not an easy thing to protect one's family against intrusions of evil into the minds and spirits of family members. These influences can and do flow freely into the home. Satan can subtly beguile the children of men in ways we have already mentioned in this conference. He need not break down the door. Fathers, you will have to live close to the Lord. Develop a sensitivity to the impressions of the Spirit. A. Theodore Tuttle (Ensign, Jan 1974, p 66)
The First Bond of Society is Marriage. Cicero
The first duty of love is to listen. Paul Tillich
The foundation of national morality must be laid in private families.... How is it possible that children can have any just sense of the sacred obligations of morality or religion if, from their earliest infancy, they learn their mothers live in habitual infidelity to their fathers, and their fathers in as constant Infidelity to their mothers? John Adams (Diary, 2 June 1778)
The government of the family is patriarchal, whereas the government of the Church is hierarchical. The concept of partnership functions differently in the family than in the Church. The family proclamation gives this beautiful explanation of the relationship between a husband and a wife: While they have separate responsibilities, 'in these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners' ("The Family: A Proclamation to the World," Ensign, Nov. 1995, 102). Dallin H. Oaks (Ensign, Nov 2005, p 26)
The greatest principle to be learned in the family setting is love. Loren C. Dunn (Ensign, Nov 1974, p 9)
The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is 'What does a woman want?' Sigmund Freud (Austrian neurologist and father of psychoanalysis)
The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have past at home in the bosom of my family. Thomas Jefferson (letter to Francis Willis Jr., 18 Apr 1790)
The happy State of Matrimony is, undoubtedly, the surest and most lasting Foundation of Comfort and Love; the Source of all that endearing Tenderness and Affection which arises from Relation and Affinity; the grand Point of Property; the Cause of all good Order in the World, and what alone preserves it from the utmost Confusion; and, to sum up all, the Appointment of infinite Wisdom for these great and good Purposes. Benjamin Franklin (Rules and Maxims for Promoting Matrimonial Happiness, 8 Oct 1730)
The health of any society, the happiness of its people, their prosperity and peace, all find their roots in the strength and stability of the family. Gordon B. Hinckley (Standing for Something, p 125)
The home is the laboratory of our lives, and what we learn there largely determines what we do when we leave there. Thomas S. Monson (Ensign, Nov 1988)
The home is where we learn what is right, what is good, and what is kind. It is the first school and the first church. O. Leslie Stone (Ensign, Nov 1976, p 60)
The lack of effective, functioning fathers is the root cause of America's social, economic and spiritual crises. Dr. Edwin Cole
The main purpose of holding children's parties is to remind yourself that there are children more awful than your own. Author Unknown
The moment you blame anyone for anything, your relationship and your personal power deteriorate. Brian Koslow
The more you invest in a marriage, the more valuable it becomes. Amy Grant
The most dangerous food is wedding cake. James Thurber
The most important consequence of marriage is, that the husband and the wife become in law only one person.... Upon this principle of union, almost all the other legal consequences of marriage depend. This principle, sublime and refined, deserves to be viewed and examined on every side. James Wilson
The most important marriage skill is listening to your partner in a way that they can't possibly doubt that you love them. Diane Sollee
The most important single thing that any Latter-day Saint ever does in this world is to marry the right person, in the right place, by the right authority. Elder Bruce R. McConkie (New Era, Jan 1975, p 38)
The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother. Theodore Hesburgh
The most important work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own home. David O. McKay
The opposite of love is not hate, it's selfishness. Blaine Nay
The person who has earned love the least needs it the most. F. Enzio Busche (Ensign, May 1982, p 70)
The position which men occupy in the family, and especially those who hold the Melchizedek Priesthood, is one of first importance and should be clearly recognized and maintained in the order and with the authority which God conferred upon man in placing him at the head of his household....There is no higher authority in matters relating to the family organization, and especially when that organization is presided over by one holding the higher priesthood, than that of the father....The patriarchal order is of divine origin and will continue throughout time and eternity. There is then a particular reason why men, women, and children should understand this order and this authority in the households of the people of God, and seek to make it what God intended it to be, a qualification and preparation for the highest exaltation of His children. In the home the presiding authority is always vested in the father, and in all home affairs and family matters there is no other authority paramount. Joseph F. Smith (Juvenile Instructor, 1 Mar 1902, p146)
The principal objective of American government at every level should be to see that children are born into intact families and that they remain so. Daniel Patrick Moynihan
The question is asked, Is there anything more beautiful in life than a young couple clasping hands and pure hearts in the path of marriage? Can there be anything more beautiful than young love? And the answer is given. Yes, there is a more beautiful thing. It is the spectacle of an old man and an old woman finishing their journey together on that path. Their hands are gnarled, but still clasped; their faces are seamed, but still radiant; their hearts are physically bowed and tired, but still strong with love and devotion for one another. Yes, there is a more beautiful thing than young love. Old love. Author unknown
There are only two lasting bequests we can give our children... one is roots, the other wings. Stephen Covey
There can be no genuine happiness separate and apart from the home, and every effort made to sanctify and preserve its influence is uplifting to those who toil and sacrifice for its establishment. Men and women often seek to substitute some other life for that of the home; they would make themselves believe that the home means restraint; that the highest liberty is the fullest opportunity to move about at will. There is no happiness without service, and there is no service greater than that which converts the home into a divine institution, and which promotes and preserves family life. Joseph F. Smith (Teachings of Presidents of the Church, 1998, p 382)
There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human society, are created, strengthened and maintained. Winston Churchill
There is no greater happiness for a man than approaching a door at the end of a day knowing someone on the other side of that door is waiting for the sound of his footsteps. Ronald Reagan
There is no substitute for kindness in the home. Joseph B. Wirthlin (Ensign, May 2005, p 27)
There is no substitute for love, not even sex. Thomas Sowell
There is nothing more admirable than two people who see eye-to-eye keeping house as man and wife, confounding their enemies, and delighting their friends. Homer, 9th century BC
There's plenty of evidence that both human sexuality and intimacy and love and marriage are very, very good for our health, If a new drug had the same impact, virtually every doctor in the country would be recommending it. Dr. Stephen Bogdewic, vice chair of family medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine
The righteous molding of an immortal soul is the highest work we can do, and the home is the place to do it. Joseph B. Wirthlin (Ensign, May 1993, p 69)
The root of the kingdom is in the state. The root of the state is in the family. The root of the family is in the person of its head. Mencius, 295 BC
The safest place and the best protection against the moral and spiritual diseases is a stable home and family. This has always been true; it will be true forever. Boyd K. Packer (Ensign, May 2004, p 79)
The secret to having a good marriage is to understand that marriage must be total, it must be permanent and it must be equal. Frank Pittman
The teachings of the Catholic Church place the highest value on the love between a man and a woman in marriage....Pope Benedict underscored this in his first encyclical letter (Deus Caritas Est) when he described the marital union as 'the very epitome of love... where body and soul are inseparably joined together and human beings glimpse an apparently irresistible promise of happiness.' While religious convictions such as these motivate me, I am also motivated by the awareness that the gift of marriage between one man and one woman is a natural right, one written in the hearts of human beings. It is an essential building block of society. Though it is regulated by civil laws and church laws, marriage does not originate from either the church or the state, but from God. Therefore, we -- church or state -- are not free to alter the basic meaning and structure of marriage. Catholic Bishop Joseph Kurtz of Knoxville, Tennessee
The theology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints centers on the family. Our relationship to God and the purpose of earth life are explained in terms of the family. We are the spirit children of heavenly parents. The gospel plan is implemented through earthly families, and our highest aspiration is to perpetuate those family relationships throughout eternity. The ultimate mission of our Savior's Church is to help us achieve exaltation in the celestial kingdom, and that can only be accomplished in a family relationship. Dallin H. Oaks (Ensign, Nov 2005, p 27)
The traditional woman's greatest dream is to raise a family; the feminist woman's greatest dream is to create a village that can raise a family. Selwyn Duke
The trouble with many married people is that they are trying to get more out of marriage than there is in it. Elbert Hubbard
The trouble with some women is they get all excited about nothing and then marry him. Cher
The truth about black poverty today, as Kay Hymowitz of the Manhattan Institute has aptly put it, is that it is 'intricately intertwined with the collapse of the nuclear family in the inner city.'... Black children don't need politicians of any color who claim to hold the keys to their future. They need parents who know their names. Two of them. Star Parker, Sep 2005
The union between husband and wife is sacred to the Lord, something not to be trifled with. L. Tom Perry (Ensign, Nov. 1975, p 85)
The voice of conscience always sounds like your mother's. Bert Williams
The wisdom of a woman builds a household Bible, Proverbs 14:1
The wit makes fun of other persons; the satirist makes fun of the world; the humorist makes fun of himself. James Thurber
They say it takes a village to raise a child. That may be the case, but the truth is that it takes a lot of solid, stable marriages to create a village. Diane Sollee
This ability and willingness properly to rear children, the gift to love, and eagerness, yes, longing to express it in soul development, make motherhood the noblest office or calling in the world. David O. McKay (Improvement Era, 1953, p 453-54)
Three things that all children must know: who's the boss, what the rules are, and who's going to enforce them Michael Levine
To an adolescent, there is nothing in the world more embarrassing than a parent. Dave Barry
To get divorced because love has died, is like selling your car because it's run out of gas. Diane Sollee
To instill order in our homes, parents should be in charge and exercise parental authority in r | 
