45 Inspirational Dad Quotes About Parenting

By: Kristina Speciale

Updated June 10, 2021

Medically Reviewed By: Aaron Horn

Parenting is extremely hard, but it is also immensely rewarding. Dads are often the butt of the joke when it comes to parenting humor. In reality, many dads are inspiring, hard-working, and loving parents that deserve more than a joke at their expense. Whether you are looking for the perfect quote to add to your next Father's Day card, are seeking something to aim up how you feel about being a father, or find motivation in an inspirational quote, the following 45 quotes are sure to provide what you need.

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If you're the mom looking to inspire your parenting partner into being a more active dad, a quote might help in a small way. However, counseling can help you and your partner to find a balance in co-parenting that will not only help you as a parent but will help to improve your relationship as well. Inspirational quotes can be a good tool to motivate your partner to seek professional assistance.

Quotes About Fatherhood

1. "No man can know what life means, what the world means, until he has a child and loves it. And then the whole universe changes, and nothing will ever again seem exactly as it seemed before."
   - L. Hearn
2. "The quality of a father can be seen in the goals, dreams, and aspirations he sets not only for himself but for his family."
   - Reed Markham
3. "Being a father means you have to think fast on your feet. You must be judicious, wise, brave, tender, and willing to put on a frilly hat and sit down to a pretend tea party."
   - Matthew Buckley, Fatherhood: The Manliest Profession
4. "A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society."
   - Billy Graham
5. "Being a father is the most important role I will ever play, and if I don't do this well, no other thing I do really matters."
   - Michael Josephson
6. "I encourage all fathers to focus on the intangibles because those are the gifts that make the difference."
   - Asha Patrick, introduction to the book Fatherhood
7. "Part of being a successful father is taking extreme care of our children. The other part of that equation is that we must also take extreme care of their mother."
   - Nate Dallas, Hacking Fatherhood: Preparing for Success in the Biggest Role of Your Life
8. "You don't raise heroes; you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they'll turn out to be heroes, even if it's just in your own eyes."
   - Walter M. Schirra, Sr.
9. "Fatherly love is the act of giving your life for the sake of someone else's needs."
   - Nate Dallas, Hacking Fatherhood: Preparing for Success in the Biggest Role of Your Life
10. "It is much easier to become a father than to be one."
    - Kent Nerburn
11. "…the most precious things a father can provide are time, attention, and love."
    - Tim Russert, Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons
12. "The best way of training the young is to train yourself at the same time; not to admonish them, but to be never seen doing that of which you would admonish them."
    - Plato
13. "Being a father, being a friend, those are the things that make me feel successful."
    - William Hurt
14. "Before I got married, I had six theories about raising children; now, I have six children and no theories."
    - John Wilmot
15. "One of the greatest things a father can do for his children is to love their mother."
    - Howard W. Hunter
16. "A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty."
    - Unknown
17. "Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you." - Robert Fulghum
18. "Being a father truly is a blessing and a role not to be taken for granted."
    - Derek Polen, Next Level Dad: Bringing Faith and Fun to Fatherhood
19. "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."
    - Frederick Douglass
20. "Each day of our lives, we make deposits in the memory banks of our children."
    - Charles R. Swindoll
21. "That is the thankless position of the father in the family-the provider for all and the enemy of all."
    - J. August Strindberg
22. "The guys who fear becoming fathers don't understand that fathering is not something perfect men do, but something that perfects the man. The end product of child raising is not the child but the parent."
    - Frank Pittman

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23. "A boy needs a father to show him how to be in the world. He needs to be given swagger, taught how to read a map so that he can recognize the roads that lead to life and the paths that lead to death, how to know what love requires, and where to find steel in the heart when life makes demands on us that are greater than we think we can endure."
    - Ian Morgan Cron
24. "Father! To God Himself, we cannot give a holier name."
    - William Wordsworth
25. "Anyone who tells you fatherhood is the greatest thing that can happen to you; they are understating it."
    - Mike Myers
26. "A father should present the fundamental qualities of leadership, responsibility, and accountability, as well as the capabilities of planning, disciplining, and loving. Fathering is a full-time job."
    - Myles Munroe, The Fatherhood Principle: God's Design and Destiny for Every Man
27. "Children need models rather than critics."
    - Joseph Joubert
28. "Becoming a father increases your capacity for love and your level of patience. It opens up another door in a person - a door which you may not even have known was there. That's what I feel with my son. There's suddenly another level of love that expands. My son is my greatest joy out of everything in my life."
    - Kyle MacLachlan
29. "My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person. He believed in me."
    - Jim Valvano

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30. "When my son looks up at me and breaks into his wonderful toothless smile, my eyes fill up, and I know that having him is the best thing I will ever do."
    - Dan Greenberg
31. "Every father should remember one day his son will follow his example, not his advice." - Charles Kettering
32. "A father is always making his baby into a little woman. And when she is a woman, he turns her back again."
    - Enid Bagnold
33. "Your kids require you most of all to love them for who they are, not to spend your whole time trying to correct them."
    - Bill Ayers
34. "My father didn't tell me how to live. He lived and let me watch him do it."
    - Clarence Budington Kelland
35. "A father is a man who expects his son to be as good a man as he meant to be."
    - Frank A. Clark
36. "There is no job more important than parenting. This I believe."
    - Ben Carson
37. "Every dad, if he takes time out of his busy life to reflect upon his fatherhood, can learn ways to become an even better dad."
    - Jack Baker
38. "A successful father is not more successful than his children."
    - Raheel Farooq
39. "A daughter needs a dad to be the standard against which she will judge all men."
    - Gregory E. Lang
40. "By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he's wrong."
    - Charles Wadsworth
41. "A child looks up at the stars and wonders. Great fathers put a child on his shoulders and help them to grab a star."
    - Reed Markham
42. "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
43. "A dad is someone who wants to catch you before you fall but instead picks you up, brushes you off, and lets you try again."
    - Unknown
44. "As fathers, we look to the dads a few stages ahead of us as we equip ourselves to be the parents our children need on any given day."
    - Matt Schneider
45. "Being a father is about adaptation and about making the most of the opportunities that are given to you."
    - Colin Adams, Parenting for New Dads

How Quotes Can Inspire

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Why are quotes so inspirational or motivational? After reading the 45 quotes above, there is a good chance that you feel ready to up your dad game. Maybe you feel the need to be with your kids more or to be a better example. There is a science involved with quotes and the level at which they inspire.

The simplest explanation is that people were designed to have aspirations. Coupled with the power of words expressed in a way that makes a person feel, quotes power motivation. Take that motivation into your parenting style and help your own children grow into successful individuals.