Best Dad Quotes to Inspire, Uplift & Motivate You Every Day

“As a kid, my parents would always listen to a lot of Beatles, Queen, Elvis. My mom was born and raised in Italy, and my dad was born in Canada and moved back and forth between Canada and Italy, so they would also listen to all the big Italian stars like Eros Ramazzotti, Gigi D'Alessio, Tiziano Ferro, Laura Pausini.”

“I was actually born in New York City, but my family moved to Atlantic City when I was five, this being my dad's home town, so I think that qualifies me as a Jersey resident if not a bona fide native.”

“My family belongs to a tennis club in Valencia, California, so I always go there. I play a lot of tennis with my dad and swim. And I like to go to the gym there.”

“I grew up in a few houses because my dad was a builder, so we used to build and sell quite a lot.”

“My dad died from pancreatic cancer at 54... I'm making sure I'm eating my vegetables and staying away from the red meat.”

“It all started in Michigan. My dad got a job in Michigan, so we all moved up there from St. Louis. I kind of hung out in the summer and had nothing to do, so I sort of got into acting. And then I was going to Grand Blanc High, doing the acting thing and hoping it would pan out.”

“Every once in a while, we'd ask my dad if we could get a ride in one of these planes. And, he did take us to the flying club and get us a ride in the Pushpak and a glider that the flying club had.”

“The best part of watching kung fu movies with my dad was the conversations they sparked. We never watched them just for fun. 'Do you see how good his balance is?' My dad would always zero in on really specific stuff like that. Everything had a potential lesson.”

“My dad is Japanese; he was an art director there. My mom is half-English, half-Argentinian. They met in Japan in the '70s. Her parents were diplomats posted there.”

“My dad went to law school at night while working full-time. He has an unparalleled work ethic and has passed down to me his passion for playing and watching sports. I love him dearly.”

“It's so crazy: my mom and dad divorced when I was 11, and my fondest memories are in the Philippines and being raised by my mom. It's such a big part of my life.”

“My dad was born in 1930 in Lithuania, located in Eastern Europe. He was 9 years old when the war started, and his family was sent to the Kovno ghetto. They were soon separated and sent to the Dachau concentration camp in Germany.”

“I hate short hair on men - the 'real' man is something I don't know. My dad was always playing with hairbands, making rings, while the women were wearing jeans, white T-shirts and Converse. That was the uniform at home.”

“I can remember 1987 when I had my first amateur fight in Michigan, weighing 64lb. I was 10 years old. I was the youngest and smallest guy on my team. I can remember what I ate. There was this restaurant called Ponderosa, and my dad made me eat a steak. I was happy. It was a first round knockout. I slept with my trophy for two weeks.”

“My dad wouldn't buy me tight pants. I had to get my own money to buy them.”

“You realise that there's nothing more endearing than people who are desperately trying to be liked or trying to be the hero, you know? Who also probably just need a hug or want to impress their dad?”

“The only day I remember of my parents' marriage was the day my dad walked out. As I stood there at five years old, with my older sister and younger brother, I knew that he was gone.”

“I was obsessed with clowns. My dad had to get rid of them. I thought there were clowns under my bed for years.”

“I actually did my first tour at the age of 10 with my dad, and it was as a country singer. We toured through Alaska, and he took me to sing at places like county fairs, hoedowns, backyard barbecues, you name it. We were usually passing around the hat for gas money to get to the next gig.”

“Gene Krupa was my big hero, and I used to play on my mother's flour cans and sugar cans with the kitchen knives, listening to the big bands on my dad's records. Gene Krupa and Harry James.”

“Growing up sweeping the floor at my dad's hardware store and cleaning the bathroom at my mom's dance studio, I never could have imagined what my story would entail.”

“Dad, wherever you are, you are gone but you will never be forgotten.”

“There's a lot of influences that I have from Detroit that are subliminal. I mean, I spent the first 10 years of my life there. My mom and dad were born and raised there, so a lot of that rubbed off on me. When I get angry, sometimes a Detroit accent comes out.”

“My dad is a sculptor and a painter, and mum runs an art gallery, which sells beautiful jewelry and ceramics and paintings - local and international.”

“We're all comedy fans in my family. My parents mainly wouldn't let me watch stuff that was either annoying to them, or just garbage. My dad wouldn't let us watch 'The Flintstones' if he was home, because he said it was a rip-off of 'The Honeymooners'. But he would let us stay up really late in the summer and watch old 'Honeymooners'.”

“Certainly, in the case of my dad, who was the oldest son, heir apparent and namesake, there was harsh discipline and humiliation which Donald, seven and a half years younger, was able to witness and learn very specific lessons from: don't be like Freddy, don't be kind, don't be generous, don't have 'frivolous' interests.”

“It's harder to be a dad than an Olympic champion.”

“I can talk to my dad like he's my manager, and put 'Dad' on the back burner. We've been doing it since I was 13.”

“My first son Tony was born when I was only eighteen. I was a still a kid; I wasn't ready to be a dad, so he was put up for adoption and went off to live with a family that could care for him.”

“It was the late '70s when my parents met. My dad was a lighting director for a soap opera, and my mom was a temp at the studio. They moved into a house in The Valley in L.A., to a neighborhood that was leafy and affordable.”

“Both of my folks were into art. My dad was an art collector, my mom had a little kiln in our basement, and we would make pottery. I think from about age five on, they sent me to art classes, and I was a huge colorer.”

“I love Vegemite sandwiches, Milo, ham sandwiches, chicken breasts, and that's all I used to eat. I wouldn't eat anything else. So at home there was always two sets of dinner, one for Mum and Dad and one for me, because I was so fussy.”

“My daughter had carried within her a story that kept hurting her: Her dad abandoned her. She started telling herself a new story. Her dad had done the best he could. He wasn't capable of giving more. It had nothing to do with her. She could no longer take it personally.”

“I was essentially raised on blues music. My dad was a blues musician around Dublin when I was a baby, so the only music I would listen to growing up was John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters. It's music that feels like home to me.”

“My dad was a brilliant civil engineer. My parents later divorced, but we lived in Abu Dhabi, Greece, Kuwait.”

“The child is father of the man.”

“My dad lives in Sicily, so I'm half Italian and half Irish - it's a fiery combination.”

“My dad has always been really helpful. He taught me that talent is a bonus, but persistence is what wins out.”

“We share the USTA's vision to promote and expand the game of tennis. I have been playing the game since I was 6 years old with my dad and five brothers, so I know firsthand how it teaches life lessons: integrity, dedication, and competitiveness.”

“A father is a man who expects his son to be as good a man as he meant to be.”

“My mother and father raised their eyebrows at first when I said I wanted to be an actor because I was in this industrial city. My dad had done a bit of boxing on the side, but he was a welder first and foremost. I was 17, and I said, 'I want to be an actor.' They worried it was a waste of time.”

“When I first started snowboarding, my dad pretty much dragged me into it. I wasn't old enough to be like, 'Oh, I wanna snowboard!' you know?”

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

“I love all my fam. I have quite possibly the best dad, mom, and sister in the world.”

“I absorbed a lot from my dad. He's very disciplined, very productive, and uses his time well. Those are all things you want when you compete.”

“My father was grounded, a very meat-and-potatoes man. He was a baker.”

“My mum is incredibly leftwing, and my dad was quite rightwing - no surprise they didn't stay together - and so I had two very conflicting political opinions as a child, neither of which I was interested in taking any notice of, being a sort of little reprobate.”

“No one was more important than my mom and dad. I know they are watching from a place up in heaven here today to make sure all their kids are doing good.”

“My dad is an entomologist and research chemist. That's why he was in Fiji, studying the rhinoceros beetle invasive species.”

“Thirteen, 13 children, and I love - I love them all. And I think I've been a good father to all of them.”

“My first real acting gig was probably playing Mamillius in my mother's 'Winter's Tale.' My mom and dad are both in theater, so I grew up acting and being a little theater brat as well.”

“You know, I only claim to play three instruments. My dad is a banker, but a drummer at heart; and my mom used to teach piano lessons when she was younger. So I can play some piano, play a little drums, and fake the bass - but banjo, mandolin, and guitar are my thing.”

“When I received the news of the Nobel Peace Award, I could not believe it. I told my father, 'I think they have the wrong name, Dad. Please, can you talk to this man on the phone? I'm busy cooking!'”

“My father and I have a very good relationship. We always got along. But I always scold him.”

“I grew up in an environment where it was permittable to use violence to solve a problem. But it was not permittable ever to call the police under any circumstances. That was the kind of doctrine of my household. My dad was a career-long criminal, and you weren't calling the police for any reason.”

“Dad's very hard on me and is my biggest critic, so 10 is always going to be the target. He has said that my whole life. If you are averaging 10 goals as a midfielder, you are having a good season.”

“You know, my dad served in the President's Cabinet after his time as a governor. He told me he enjoyed being governor a lot more. Now, I understand why. If I do my job well, I can make a difference in people's lives and I can help our children realize their dreams.”

“Fathers are biological necessities, but social accidents.”

“I always remember my dad's blue overalls and the blue overcoat he wore in winter, and I remember my mum's big old Afro. Sometimes, though, in my memories, smudges have replaced their faces.”

“I actually study boxing - my dad was a Golden Gloves champion so I learned how to fight at a very young age. Growing up in Brooklyn you always had to watch your back, so I pretty much learned to protect myself.”

“My parents' marriage was already shaky when I came along. They split up when I was five, and I didn't see Dad all that often after that - four or five times a year.”

“It is easier for a father to have children than for children to have a real father.”

“Although my dad Harry is the manager of West Ham, we get on very well.”

“Maybe I didn't get new skates, but I got used skates. I made it to the national championships in used skates that were custom-made for another girl. I still have those skates. Underneath the arch, there was a name crossed out and my dad had 'Michelle Kwan' written in. Granted, they were a little big, but it worked.”

“It was my mom who pushed me. My mom actually pushed my dad to train me. My dad knows what it takes to play at this level and be a really good basketball player, and he just wanted me to make the choice for myself.”

“When a father, absent during the day, returns home at six, his children receive only his temperament, not his teaching.”

“My dad is really good. If magic was bigger than it is, where you get famous, he would be very famous.”

“My dad was the chaplain at Mankato State University, and my mom worked in the bookstore. We lived just off-campus. Then we moved to the suburbs of Minneapolis, to New Hope, which is where I went to high school.”

“My father was my teacher. But most importantly he was a great dad.”

“I remember running out of gas in the Suburban that my dad used to come pick me up in. We ran out of gas, and it's winter time - walking into a gas station to get warm and my dad arguing with the clerk, him saying, 'You guys can't stay in here.'”

“My dad actually had business cards made up with my sister's website and my website and all of our information. And he hands them out to people he meets.”

“A father's disappointment can be a very powerful tool.”

“My brother and I were born in an Irish county called Tipperary. We were both very math- and science-inclined in high school. My dad trained as an electrical engineer, and my mom is in microbiology.”

“Dad was a retired hedge fund manager who made enough millions to retire and focus on my game. Before that, he was on the 1984 U.S. Olympic swimming team. No medals. He was accustomed to winning at everything, but no medals in 1984.”

“I mean, being a stuntwoman never occurred to me until I gave up gymnastics and started doing martial arts and met people that were stunt people. I was like, 'What? Wait. You get to fight and flip and get paid?' I was like, 'Mum, dad, check this out - I could do this stuff and get paid instead of having you guys pay for me to do it.'”

“I have always thought of Walt Disney as my second father.”

“I didn't just graduate from Stanford with a really good idea and a good dad.”

“I miss my Dad. My Dad loved cheesy monster movies, so we'd have Godzilla movie marathons. Those are some of my favorite memories, laughing at how the monster outfits were so bad, like black garbage bags for heads.”

“My dad is Chinese, and my mom is a white American, and they married only ten years after the United States Supreme Court ruled that it was illegal to ban mixed marriages. Imagine that. Marriages between people of different races - now common and accepted - were illegal in many states up until the late Sixties.”

“A father is always making his baby into a little woman. And when she is a woman he turns her back again.”

“I always think about my dad. He's always in the back of my mind. That helps me make good decisions. It has an influence on my life in every decision and everything I do.”

“My dad even likes to give me career advice. I'll let him know about some offers about films and TV shows that I get, and he'll ask me questions like, 'What's the money like?' and 'Who got this for you - was it your agent or manager, and what are they getting out of this?'”

“My dad spent his whole life getting into fights for telling what he believed to be the truth. Basically it comes from my dad-and he's screaming right-wing, so there you are.”

“Feels good to try, but playing a father, I'm getting a little older. I see now that I'm taking it more serious and I do want that lifestyle.”

“I was bored one day, so my dad took me to this acting school. I liked it more than having fun - I liked it for an actual job.”

“My mom and dad gave their kids the greatest gift of all - the gift of unconditional love. They cared deeply about who we would be, and much less about what we would do.”

“At times Dad had been a monster.”

“My father taught me that the only way you can make good at anything is to practice, and then practice some more.”

“To me I'm just a regular person going to the mall with friends, and now I'm in Forever 21 and I see this random group of girls staring at me and taking pictures. But now I usually have my dad, who is a really tall and intimidating person with me, so he's kind of my bodyguard.”

“As a family, we were always active. Lots of walking, lots of running as well as riding bikes with dad.”

“It was my father who taught me to value myself. He told me that I was uncommonly beautiful and that I was the most precious thing in his life.”

“Undoubtedly, church fish fries and picnics help build social cohesion. It was at my dad's medium-size evangelical church - my first real exposure to a sustained religious community - that I first saw people of different races and classes worshiping together.”

“My dad was a copywriter on Madison Avenue at the same time as the TV show 'Mad Men' is set. My mom raised the kids and was a scholarship coordinator at a school. More importantly, dad was a writer and my mom an artist.”

“Literally when I was two years old I would go to the park and start playing football with my dad and brother.”

“The fundamental defect of fathers, in our competitive society, is that they want their children to be a credit to them.”

“I'm the one person who wears the words 'hustle, loyalty, respect' on my T-shirts and merchandise. My audience is children. It's very flattering to see a kid wear your T-shirt; it's even more flattering to have a dad come up to you and say, 'I watch you with my kid. Keep doing what you're doing. You're a role model for my son.'”

“I grew up in Chicago, so I've always been a Bears fan. Dad used to take me to Bears games and Cubs games. My brother used to ride me over to Lake Forest College on his Honda Supersport and we'd watch the Bears practice. I remember those guys out there as monsters - they were the biggest things I've ever seen!”

“I don't think my dad has ever said to me 'shall we watch a game on TV?' He absolutely isn't interested in that, I don't think he's ever watched one on TV.”

“I hope I am remembered by my children as a good father.”

“I've always had in my offices a picture of my father campaigning with John F. Kennedy in 1960. Kennedy is wearing a black tuxedo. My dad's wearing a white dinner jacket. He looks awkward compared to the handsome John F. Kennedy - the perfectly groomed guy.”