Dads Quotes

Two dads have sent me letters that said my books changed their daughters' lives. I send them packages with T-shirts and posters because, come on ... that's the coolest. ~ Simone Elkeles

Dad's voice falters as he says goodbye. He is choking down his own grief to protect Mum, I know. He loves her deeply. I accept that he is incapable of expressing all this, and I am incapable of even saying the right thing, should he ever do so. And lurking deeper, is the knowledge that he has been here, himself. When I was aged about 5, his father - my grandfather - had cancer and took his own life by walking into the sea. My dad found his body under a jetty. What would it have been like to experience that tragedy? And then, to try and live, to go on raising a family, with those images haunting you? ~ Linda Collins

Or
to quote another paradoxical gem of my dad's: sometimes you have to lose to win. ~ Donna Tartt

When they found me, Dad did what every parent I knew would have done - he reached for his belt. I remember watching him in a kind of daze, awed at the distance between punishment and offense. Later, I would hear it in Dad's voice - "Either I can beat him, or the police." Maybe that saved me. Maybe it didn't. ~ Ta-Nehisi Coates

I needed to temper (my dad's) enthusiasm a bit (about attending Princeton), and so I announced that I would be majoring in patricide ... My mom was actually jealous. ~ David Sedaris

My father had inklings of my cultural aspirations. He would take me to the library, things like that. But he wasn't one of those dads who had read George Orwell and was a member of the Communist party. We had no books at home. ~ Gary Kemp

Working moms, and increasingly working dads, don't want a government handout, but they do need a hand up. ~ Madeleine M. Kunin

In a study of more than twelve thousand teenagers after divorce, children living with single dads fared better than children living with single moms. ~ Warren Farrell

Dads. Do you not realize that a child is what you tell them they are? That people almost always become what they are labeled? Was whatever your child just did really the "dumbest thing you've ever seen somebody do"? Was it really the "most ridiculous thing they ever could have done"? Do you really believe that your child is an idiot? Because she now does. Think about that. Because you said it, she now believes it. Bravo. ~ Dan Pearce

The wind kind of pushed the penis toward my mouth first." "OH MY GOSH, FAYE!" "I know! I know! This is why people shouldn't go out on windy days. The penises are on rampage on the windy days." "I cannot believe you right now. He's like twice your age." "What can I say? I have daddy issues." "What are you talking about? Your dad's amazing," I said. ~ Brittainy C. Cherry

I could not tell you the date of my mother's death. I could not tell you the date of my dad's death. These are not dates that I find significant. ~ O.J. Simpson

The people on my mum's side of the family are atheist intellectuals who are ueber-proper. My dad's side of the family are missionaries who are more comfortable sitting around in sweatpants than they are in a five-star restaurant. But those two influences converged in my life. ~ Evangeline Lilly

As I enlarged my vision to see the bigger picture of my dad's full life, I was better able to let go of being stuck in memories of its end. ~ Lisa J. Shultz

Last night, after their mad dash to rescue his dad's passport and an impromptu late lunch with some wedding guests, Maddox had been in the mood to talk. Ben had been in the mood to fuck. He'd won the mock-argument handily, and the memory made him shiver - God, how did things keep getting better and better between them? "You ~ Annabeth Albert

Nice is good, but it's not enough. I want you back for real. I want to talk to you at lunch, instead of staring at you while you eat. I want to see the smile on your face and know I put it there. I want to hear your dad's voice get all low and pissed off, like it only does when I've stayed over too late. ~ Rachel Vincent

I sighed. "Actually, Mom, we argue pretty regularly."
"What?" She gaped at me. "Well, stop it!"
"Oh, and I kneed him in the groin once."
There was a split second of silence before May barked a laugh. She covered her mouth and tried to stop it, but it kept coming out in awkward, squeaky sounds. Dad's lips were pressed together, but I could tell he was on the verge of losing it himself.
Mom was paler then snow.
"America, tell me you're joking. Tell me you didn't assault the prince."
I don't know why, but the word assault pushed us all on the edge; and May, Dad, and I bent over laughing as Mom stared at us.
"Sorry, Mom," I managed.
"Oh, good lord." She suddenly seemed very excited in meeting Marlee's parents, and I didn't stop her from going. ~ Kiera Cass

Humans are born, weak and helpless. We're cursed with natural predators called parents. That's why the grandma was created. To protect us. Oh sure, she's old and frail. But she can kick your dad's ass. ~ Christopher Titus

When I was a kid, I wanted to walk with my dad's limp - my dad was my hero - but that infuriated him, and he would make me walk back and forth in the living room until I walked without it. ~ David Alan Grier

One day, while taking a look at some vistas in Dad's stereopticon, it hit me that I was just this little girl, born in Texas, whose father was a sign painter and who had only just so many years to live. ~ Terrence Malick

A Dad gives hope
When life is low
A Dad's a place
Where you can go
A Dad is honest
A Dad is true
A Dad is precious
My DAD is You
Happy Birthday to YOU
Happy Birthday to YOU
Happy Birthday , Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday to YOU ~ John Walter Bratton

One of my dad's colleagues said, "She wants to paint with her shit. Maybe we should give her paints." And it worked.' Mary Barnes eventually became a celebrated and much-exhibited artist. Her paintings were greatly admired throughout the 1960s and 1970s for illustrating the mad, colourful, painful, exuberant, complicated inner life of a schizophrenic. ~ Jon Ronson

Bad luck," he commiserated. "Afraid I can't do that, either, Freddie, Dad's sending me to recon. That's food reconnaissance," he added to Lulu and Sophie. "There's a chef in a restaurant in Stoke Newington he wants me to check out before anyone else gets to him." He looked at Lulu. "Come with me," he said. From the corner of her eye, Lulu saw Sophie's hand snake to grab Charlie's wrist-- she avoided looking at Sophie's expression. "Don't you want to take your sites?" she asked coldly. ~ Gabrielle Donnelly

What I want to be best at is being a dad. There's no room for sucky dads, and that's another thing I'm proud of my bandmates for - they're all really good parents. ~ Adrian Young

Tom Hanks is fantastic - he is one of my dad's good friends, and he's very warm and funny. ~ Bryce Dallas Howard

Most moms and dads, they want to be good moms and dads. But it's an incredibly hard job when you are stressed out, when you are poor, when your life is in chaos. And giving them some of the tools to be better parents, to whittle away at that parenting gap, gives those kids a much better starting point in life. ~ Nicholas Kristof

We were once born, growing up used to mum and Dad's care forgetting that everyone in this world is working one's living. ~ Joshua Seguya

I swore I would never get involved in my dad's life. But then he started blowing it. So I had to get involved, you know, but he's my dad, I can't send him to his room or ground him or go to his first grade play and scream, Look at the fairy! I was a wood nymph. ~ Christopher Titus

Blessed with Mom and Dad's remarkable genes, raised on big words and big, iconoclastic attitudes, Larry and I, before entering kindergarten, knew who we were, what we wanted, and how we would get there. ~ Dan Hill

What I've learned only recently is that all of this opportunity came at a tremendous cost. You see, Xers and millennials are the product of the largest divorce generation in history (yeah, I'm talking about you, Boomers). It's obvious how clueless I was even with my stable background, and here my peers were growing up in broken homes. Many of them grew up without dads. ~ Lisa Anderson

My brothers are idiots.
Anyone can see that under the scars and the attitude, Isabeau is more fragile than she looks. And as a reclusive Hound princess, her first introduction to the royal family shouldn't be a dose of Hypnos and four idiots gawking at her.
If I'd managed not to gawk, they sure as hell could have. She was beautiful, fierce, and utterly unlike anyone I'd ever known.
It was really hard not to gawk.
Much better to pace outside her door with one of our Bouviers sitting at the top of the stairs watching me curiously.
"This sucks, Boudicca," I told her. "I don't think we inherited Dad's diplomacy."
She laid her chin on her paws. I could have sworn she rolled her eyes. ~ Alyxandra Harvey

Two days after my dad's funeral, my mom went on a mission. I never understood it until then
that sometimes a spy doesn't need a cover so much as she needs a shield. ~ Ally Carter

. I'd known from that first time we'd talked on the steps at my dad's beach house that she was a good girl, and I'd liked that about her – so much. ~ Monica Alexander

My dad's not a very intimidating father figure. ~ Georgia Jagger

My dad sung and played piano. But he was also a man of God. He was a minister. So when Sam Cooke would come in town, you know, with The Soul Stirrers at that time, he was singing gospel, they would end up at my dad's church, and it would always be a guest singer for Sunday morning. ~ Merry Clayton

That's good. Life is full of riddles that only the dead can answer," was Dad's reply. ~ Ben Okri

Arrgh, my dad's here to pick me up. How can he be so insensitive to intrigue? ~ John Allison

It was an accident?" Nick attempts. "An accident?" Chris huffs out. "An accident? You accidentally gave someone a blowjob?" If Nick never hears the word "blowjob" come out of his dad's mouth again, he'll die a happy man. ~ Lisa Henry

It's time we stand up and demand more of the fathers of this world. It's time we stop buying into their rationalizations and their sorry explanations. It's time we give our kids a fighting chance. ~ Dan Pearce

I wonder what Mom would say if she were here," I said.
Dad pulled back, his eyes wet with happy tears. "She'd say you did good, son." He looked at Abby. "She'd say thank you for giving her boy back something that left him when she did."
"I don't know about that," Abby said, wiping her eyes. She was clearly overwhelmed by Dad's sentiment.
He hugged us again, laughing and squeezing at the same time. "You wanna bet? ~ Jamie McGuire

It's important for moms, but also dads, to recognize that they're role models when it comes to their kids' physical health, when it comes to working out, and when it comes to nutrition. ~ Dominique Dawes

Frog-faced?" Caine asked when he met Grant in the hall.
"Beauty's in the eye of the beholder," Grant said easily.
With an appreciative grin, Caine leaned against one of the many archways. "You had Dad going. We all got one of his phone calls,telling us the Campbell was in a bad way and it was our duty-he being by way of family-to help him." The grin became wolfish. "You seem to be getting along all right on your own."
Grant acknowledged this with a nod. "The last time I was here, he was trying to match me up with some Judson girl. I didn't want to take any chances."
"Dad's a firm believer in marriage and procreation. ~ Nora Roberts

his back to her. "Vic, how long's it been?" "How'd you end up down here, Sid?" I asked. "I thought you knew better than to put yourself in the crosshairs." "Nobody asks me to go out on the street anymore and I got me a weekend place down near Schererville." He winked, meaning, I suppose, that he was actually living down in Indiana - a no-no for someone on Chicago's payroll. Sid had been one of my dad's last partners, after Tony had been redeemed from cop hell: my dad had been sent to West Englewood ~ Sara Paretsky

I do want children. I study dads more. I watch what they go through. I admire my father more than I ever did and my brother and my sister. ~ Adam Sandler

My dad's a sound designer, and he used to take me to work with him. ~ Emilia Clarke

Thousands of solar panels lift and tilt at the same time, in the same way. I clutch at Dad's arm: "Why are they doing that?" "They're collecting moonlight," Dad says, and I remember: it's weaker, but we use it. ~ Jennifer Egan

It's a difficult path that we tread, us Indie self-publishers, but we're not alone. How many bands practicing in their dad's garage have heard of a group from the neighbourhood who got signed by a recording company? Or how many artists who love to paint, but are not really getting anywhere with it hear of someone they went to art school with being offered an exhibition in a gallery? How many chefs who love to get creative around food hear of someone else who's just landed a job with Marco Pierre White?
There's no difference between us and them. There is, however, a huge difference in how everyone else perceives the writer. And there's a huge difference between all of us – the writers, the musicians, the composers, the chefs, the dance choreographers and to a certain extent the tradesmen - and the rest of society in that no one understands us. It's a wretched dream to hope that our creativity gets recognised while our family thinks we're wasting our time when the lawn needs mowing, the deck needs painting and the bedroom needs decorating.
It's acceptable to go into the garage to tinker about with a motorbike, but it's a waste of a good Sunday afternoon if you go into the garage and practice your guitar, or sit in your study attempting to capture words that have been floating around your brain forever. ~ Karl Wiggins

Hey, think fast!'
I just looked at Fave as he chucked the basketball at me with possibly the worst overhand throw I'd ever seen. It landed to my far right, then bounced past me, banging against my dad's truck.
'Do you have a vision problem of something?' I asked him.
'Just keeping you on your toes,' he replied ~ Sarah Dessen

I'm scared," he said. "Dad's face - " "Listen to me," Kale said. "That wasn't Dad." Trig stared at him. "That was something else. We know what Dad was like. ~ Joe Schreiber

Dad's death didn't hollow me out the way Helen's had. After all, everyone had assumed Dad was a goner back when he got kicked in the head as a child. Instead, he had cheated death and, despite his gimp and speech impediment, lived a long life doing pretty much what he wanted. He hadn't drawn the best of cards, but he'd played his hand darned well, so what was there to grieve over? ~ Jeannette Walls

My dad's Israeli. He was born in Baghdad to Iraqi Jews. Then, at age two, his parents wanted to move to their homeland and he grew up in Israel. I've been there twice, once as a baby and once when I was 15. ~ Elliott Yamin

Dean's eyes were studying me. "You have a way with words. What kind of writing do you want to do?"
"Articles for Dad's paper, to start."
"What do you want to write about?"
I paused, suddenly uncertain about how much to share. Dean's eyes were reassuring.
"When I know more, I'd like to write about deeper things. ~ Catherine Marshall

My dad's a jeweller, and my mom works for a bank. ~ Robbie Amell

Last night I had the dream again. Except it's not a dream I know because when it comes for me, I'm still awake.
There's my desk. The map on the wall. The Stuffed animals I don't play with anymore but don't want to hurt Dad's feelings by sticking in the closet I might be in bed. I might be just standing there, looking foe a missing sock. Then i'm gone.
it doesn't just show me somthing this time, it takes me from here to THERE> standing on the bank of a river of fire. A thousand wasps in my head. Fighting and dying inside my skull, their bodies piling up against the backs of me eyes. Stinging and stinging.
Dad's voice. Somewhere across the river. Calling my name. I've never heard him sound like that before. He's so frightened he can't hide it, even though he tries (he ALWAYS tries).
The dead boy floats by.
Facedown. So I wait for his head to pop up, show the holes where his eye used to be, say somthing with his blue lips. One of the terrible things it might make him do. But he just passes like a chunk of wood. I've never been here before, but I know it's real. The river is the line between this place and the Other Place. And I'm on the wrong side. There's a dark forest behind me but that's not what it is. I try to get to where Dad is. My toes touch the river and it sings with pain. Then there's arms pulling me back. Dragging me into the trees. They feel like a man's arms but it's not a man that sticks its fingers into my mouth. Nails that scratch the ~ Andrew Pyper

My favorite was going as a boxer when I was 9 years old and wearing my dad's boxing gear. ~ John Molina, Jr.

But if there's one thing Dad's bad times have taught me, it's this: I never, ever want to have anything I can't survive without. ~ Rebecca Podos

My mum's a bouncy, energetic, driven, crazy woman, and my dad's very relaxed, doesn't say much. I have the best of both worlds in my personality. ~ Ella Eyre

At this moment in history, millions of 'working dads' are desiring to do what they do not feel they have the right to do: be more devoted as a dad, less devoted as a worker. This feeling is far more ubiquitous among men executives than women executives in many areas of the world because, for instance, Asia-Pacific women executives today are more than six times as likely to not have children than men executives are. The Asia-Pacific executive man is about six times as likely to be a working dad as an executive woman is to be a working mom. ~ Warren Farrell

The deeper purpose of a more positive attitude toward men is a better life for the children who are parented by the men who are their dads and stepdads; less shame for our sons who will become men; and, for our daughters, a deeper understanding of men's desire to please that leaves them feeling their willingness to please is not unrequited but returned
allowing our daughters to feel less lonely and more loved. If we earn more and love less, we pay for a home in which we do not live. ~ Warren Farrell

To you, Mom and Dad, and to all the moms and dads and
families and faithful people everywhere, I thank you for sacrificing for your
children, and for other people's children, for wanting so much to give them
advantages you never had, for wanting so much to give them the happiest life
you could provide ~ Jeffrey R. Holland

I am the first one to go to university in my family. I am the first writer as well. My dad is a retired policeman, and my mom works for a glass-processing company. She is health-and-safety manager, and my stepfather is a plumber. I have four half siblings, one from my mom's marriage and three from my dad's marriage, so we are kind of scattered. ~ Samantha Shannon

It wasn't a question he was prepared for. "I . . . Yes. Yes, I'm your friend." "Then you are capable of something beyond the physical." "That's different." Carly shook her head. "No, it's not. My mom and dad always said the most important thing in any relationship was friendship. Infatuation may fade and passion may mellow, but friendship lasts forever. My mom was my dad's very best friend, and he was hers. That's what got them through the hard times. ~ Lissa Bryan

Computers tend to separate us from each other - Mum's on the laptop, Dad's on the iPad, teenagers are on Facebook, toddlers are on the DS, and so on. ~ Tom Hodgkinson

I even presume to sit at his desk while I write this book, hoping some magical transference will take place and I'll be gifted, if only for this moment, with his way with words. I feel like a boy trying to fit into his dad's running shoes. ~ Erin Lee Carr

If I were to save one possession in a fire, it would have to be my dad's camera, an old, broken Nikon. I always keep it with me - his personal things mean a lot. ~ Gia Coppola

My kids don't go back and forth; none of this 50/50 time with the mums and dads. My children live with me; that is it. ~ Kate Winslet

Curtis peeked over to the side. God had his arm over Day's shoulder holding him close to him, both their heads lowered with their eyes closed. He could just see God's thumb lightly moving back and forth on Day's shoulder. They were such an awesome couple, two more of the greatest men he'd ever - . Curtis' thoughts skidded to a halt in his mind. His eyes widened and his body tensed in response to the sight. Both his dads must've felt it, because each one kept their eyes closed but moved in closer to him. Oh ~ A.E. Via

The chief attraction of the opposite sex for all of us, old and young, men and women: we need someone to save us from the sympathetic smiles in the Sunday-night cinema queue, someone who can stop us from falling down into the pit where the permanently single live with their mums and dads. ~ Nick Hornby

My dad's an ex-policeman, and my mum is a sales representative, and they haven't got the acting bug. Bless them. ~ Olivia Cooke

our objective as moms and dads is to transform our sons from "immature and flighty youngsters into honest, caring men who will be respectful of women, loyal and faithful in marriage, keepers of commitments, strong and decisive leaders, good workers, and men who are secure in their masculinity. ~ James C. Dobson

This is embarrassing." Hannah sniffed. "I'm too old to be crying on your shoulder." "You're never too old to cry on your dad's shoulder, although I have to admit I hate to see you cry. ~ Sarah Morgan

My roots are Scottish. My dad's parents are from Scotland, and my mum's dad is Scots. ~ Katharine Isabelle

My dad takes most of the pictures in our family, and he makes scrapbooks. This means he gets to figure out what's important for us to remember...
I guess my mom could make a scrapbook, but she doesn't. And I could do it and so could my brothers, but then we would need extra pictures. Plus we're just kids and we don't have time for that.
I know the scrapbooks we'd make would be different from Dad's.
But the person who does the work gets to write the history. ~ Holly Goldberg Sloan

Not that there's anything wrong with geeky," Link says before Dad has a chance to. Geeky is one of Dad's favorite words, and I listen with glee to my brother's imitation of our father: "Geeky people often have that which is most valuable in this life." Link pauses here for effect, so that James and I can join in, shouting Dad's favorite phrase, "A mind with its own heartbeat. ~ Garret Freymann-Weyr

My dad's main client was the World Bank, and he spent most of his time traveling to Third World countries. His particular interest lay in the eradication of poverty through development and business. ~ Hugh Jackman

I think a generation ago, dads went to work, they came home, and they had their dinner, had a drink, and then went to bed. I don't know what it was like in your house, but that is how it was in mine. I think it is cool to have the dads in the trenches and doing the real parenting work. ~ Zach Cregger

What's a colder word for freezing?" Jackson asks, bundled from head to toe in my dad's coat, hat gloves, and the scarf I forced on him.
"Fucking freezing?"
Jackson nods. "It's fucking freezing. I'm not sure I really want a snowman best friend anymore. ~ Adam Silvera

One day, I found my dad's dressing-gown in an old suitcase, and it transported me back to when I was five and thought he was a god or a superhero who could do anything. After that, I wrote my first positive book about fathers, about my dad. ~ Anthony Browne

Let's go out to the parking lot so you can get some air," he says, putting an arm around me and hustling me out the door and through the restaurant.
We step outside, and I sway on my feet a little. Peter's trying not to smile. "You're drunk."
"I guess I'm a weightlight!"
"Lightweight." He pinches my cheeks.
"Right. Weightlight. I mean, lightweight." Why is that so funny? I can't stop laughing. But then I see the way he is looking at me, with such tenderness, and I stop. I don't feel like laughing anymore. I feel like crying. Look at the way he made my dad's bachelor party so special. Look at all the ways he loves me so well. I have to love him back just as much. ~ Jenny Han

My favorite place in the world is my dad's house in Montauk. ~ Dylan Lauren

Every one of Dad's colleagues would eventually commit suicide, most by gunshot to the head, and every woman in their circle except for my mother would become a dysfunctional alcoholic. But in the fifties, they were all riding high. ~ Tim Gunn

Dad's especially need to remember that what they say to their daughters is written in Sharpie. It can't be erased. ~ Sue Enquist

I'm a very promiscuous reader. My dad's a big science fiction fan, so I'd read 'Dune,' and 'Watership Down' and 'The Lord Of The Rings.' ~ Margo Lanagan

Jenna - "Dad's going to go mental though."
Ryan - Suppose I'll be skewered with the garden fork when he finds out."
"Probably. Might deflate your ego so it could be a good thing."
"You're supposed to say, 'No, I'll protect you' and stuff like that. ~ Laura Jarratt

One of my mentors early on was Eli Harari, the founder of SanDisk, who happened to be a friend of my dad's. ~ Nick Woodman

We actually have some gay people that work with us, and we have a lot of friends that are gay, too, and I know that this song has inspired them ... I know that coming out was tough on their parents and on them and the whole entire family. For a long time, some of them didn't get to hear 'I love you' from their dads or be accepted in that way ... It's helped a lot of our friends ... We don't judge anybody's lives. ~ Martha Stewart

Mom's Israeli. Dad's Brazilian. What can I say? I am Embassy Row personified. You really lucked out in the best friend department ~ Ally Carter

My dad's era believed that there was something noble in being a good guy - the kind of guy that lived straight and narrow, told the truth, and stood up for what he believed was right. ~ Dean Norris

Dad," I admonished lightly. "You can't threaten the King. You'll be pooping in buckets by nightfall."
"I don't care," he retorted. "I'd poop in buckets for the rest of my life if it means your heart was safe. ~ T.J. Klune

My kids are starting to notice I'm a little different from the other dads. "Why don't you have a straight job like everyone else?" they asked me the other day.
I told them this story:
In the forest, there was a crooked tree and a straight tree. Every day, the straight tree would say to the crooked tree, "Look at me ... I'm tall, and I'm straight, and I'm handsome. Look at you ... you're all crooked and bent over. No one wants to look at you." And they grew up in that forest together. And then one day the loggers came, and they saw the crooked tree and the straight tree, and they said, "Just cut the straight trees and leave the rest." So the loggers turned all the straight trees into lumber and toothpicks and paper. And the crooked tree is still there, growing stronger and stranger every day. ~ Tom Waits

Don't count on me to take you in because I'm angry. I'm angry at you for leading us on such a song and dance all these years, not just these few years but all the years, skipping all those holidays and staying away from beach trips and missing Mom and Dad's thirtieth anniversary and their thirty-fifth and Jeannie's baby and not attending my wedding that time or even sending a card or calling to wish me well. But most of all Denny, most of all: I will never forgive you for consuming every last little drop of our parents' attention and leaving nothing for the rest of us. ~ Anne Tyler

But there's no substitute for a full-time dad. Dads who are fully engaged with their kids overwhelmingly tend to produce children who believe in themselves and live full lives. ~ Tony Dungy

My dad's cool. He is socially liberal. ~ Casey Wilson

Good fathers, and by that I mean real fathers who are there, have the ability to change almost every social problem we now find ourselves facing. I'd be assumptive enough to say that there isn't a single type of crime or a single problem so big that it couldn't be fixed or wiped out if fathers would just step up. ~ Dan Pearce

When moms and dads put their kids in acting class, good luck. Because you're just filling them with stuff they don't need yet. ~ Anna Chlumsky

We love the Stooges, and young kids today don't watch them. They think it's their dad's comedy. So we thought we could reintroduce them to a new audience. ~ Bobby Farrelly

Kids seem to get me when I play colleges - they like it because I go after them. They'll come up after and say I am like their dads, only funny. ~ Lewis Black

My dad's not a big talker. ~ Zara Phillips

The only way to tell my Dad something is to write it on a note, and tie it to a brick, and throw it through a window. Of course, now Dad's armed with a brick. ~ Christopher Titus

After the plates are removed by the silent and swift waiting staff, General Çiller leans forward and says across the table to Güney, 'What's this I'm reading in Hürriyet about Strasbourg breaking up the nation?'
'It's not breaking up the nation. It's a French motion to implement European Regional Directive 8182 which calls for a Kurdish Regional Parliament.'
'And that's not breaking up the nation?' General Çiller throws up his hands in exasperation. He's a big, square man, the model of the military, but he moves freely and lightly 'The French prancing all over the legacy of Atatürk? What do you think, Mr Sarioğlu?'
The trap could not be any more obvious but Ayşe sees Adnan straighten his tie, the code for, Trust me, I know what I'm doing,
'What I think about the legacy of Atatürk, General? Let it go. I don't care. The age of Atatürk is over.'
Guests stiffen around the table, breath subtly indrawn; social gasps. This is heresy. People have been shot down in the streets of Istanbul for less. Adnan commands every eye.
'Atatürk was father of the nation, unquestionably. No Atatürk, no Turkey. But, at some point every child has to leave his father. You have to stand on your own two feet and find out if you're a man. We're like kids that go on about how great their dads are; my dad's the strongest, the best wrestler, the fastest driver, the biggest moustache. And when someone squares up to us, or calls us a name or even looks at us squinty, we run back ~ Ian McDonald

As we pulled up at the big school gates, I saw tears rolling down my dad's face. I felt confused as to what part of nature or love thought this was a good idea. My instinct certainly didn't; but what did I know? I was only eight.
So I embarked on this mission called boarding school. And how do you prepare for that one?
In truth, I found it really hard; there were some great moments like building dens in the snow in winter, or getting chosen for the tennis team, or earning a naval button, but on the whole it was a survival exercise in learning to cope.
Coping with fear was the big one. The fear of being left and the fear of being bullied--both of which were very real.
What I learned was that I couldn't manage either of those things very well on my own.
It wasn't anything to do with the school itself, in fact the headmaster and teachers were almost invariably kind, well-meaning and good people, but that sadly didn't make surviving it much easier.
I was learning very young that if I were to survive this place then I had to find some coping mechanisms.
My way was to behave badly, and learn to scrap, as a way to avoid bullies wanting to target me. It was also a way to avoid thinking about home. But not thinking about home is hard when all you want is to be at home.
I missed my mum and dad terribly, and on the occasional night where I felt this worst, I remember trying to muffle my tears in my pillow while the rest of the dormitory slept.
Bear Grylls