It is dismal1 coming home, when there is nobody to welcome one!
Ann Radcliffe (1764 - 1823), The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764
I can't think of anything to write about except families. They are a metaphor2 for every other part of society.
Anna Quindlen (1953 - )
They say that blood is thicker than water. Maybe that's why we battle our own with more energy and gusto than we would ever expend3 on strangers.
David Assael, Northern Exposure, Family Feud4, 1993
Caregiver: that word should weigh more than others on a page, sag5 it down a bit and wrinkle it, because the simple-sounding job frazzles as it consumes and depletes6. Not that it's only gloomy. Caregiving offers many fringe benefits, including the sheer sensory7 delight of nourishing and grooming8, sharing, and playing. There's something uniquely fulfilling about being a lodestar, feeling so deeply needed, and it's fun finding creative ways to gladden a loved one's life. But caregiving does buttonhole you; you're stitched in one place.
Diane Ackerman, One Hundred Names for Love: A Stroke, A Marriage, and the Language of Healing, 2011
We al have family disfunction. It's why we're successful, to fill that hole.
Eli Attie, House M.D., Parents, 11-14-2011
Having a baby's sweet face so close to your own, for so long a time as it takes to nurse 'em, is a great tonic9 for a sad soul.
Erica Eisdorfer, The Wet Nurse's Tale, 2009
Losing a baby is not a thing that you could ever get used to.
Erica Eisdorfer, The Wet Nurse's Tale, 2009
If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.
George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)
Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.
George Burns (1896 - 1996)
Family connexions were always worth preserving, good company always worth seeking.
Jane Austen (1775 - 1817), Persuasion10, 1818
Call it a clan11, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.
Jane Howard, "Families"
If you ever start feeling like you have the goofiest, craziest, most dysfunctional family in the world, all you have to do is go to a state fair. Because five minutes at the fair, you'll be going, 'you know, we're alright. We are dang near royalty12.'
Jeff Foxworthy
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
Leo Tolstoy (1828 - 1910), Anna Karenina, Chapter 1, first line
A family is a unit composed not only of children but of men, women, an occasional animal, and the common cold.
Ogden Nash (1902 - 1971)
No matter where you live, brothers are brothers and sisters are sisters. The bonds that keep family close are the same no matter where you are.
Takayuki Ikkaku, Arisa Hosaka and Toshihiro Kawabata, Animal Crossing: Wild World, 2005
Family isn't about whose blood you have. It's about who you care about.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park, Ike's Wee Wee, 1998
I think people that have a brother or sister don't realize how lucky they are. Sure, they fight a lot, but to know that there's always somebody there, somebody that's family.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park, Cat Orgy, 1999
