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Alcohol will turn you into the same asshole your father was. George Carlin, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?
The more time we spend with God the more we see that he is not a distant king but a loving father. George W Bush
There is no good father, that’s the rule. Don’t lay the blame on men but on the bond of paternity, which is rotten. To beget children, nothing better; to have them, what iniquity! Jean-Paul Sartre, Les Mots, 1964
I have had the father feeling for a building, but I never had it for my children. Frank Lloyd Wright
I was a terrible father. Selfish. Ray Donovan s1e2: A Mouth is a Mouth starring Liev Schreiber & Paul Malcomson & Jon Voight & Eddie Marson & Dash Mihok & Steven Bauer et al, Mickey to Abby, Showtime 2013
He was a good guy, my father. The Sopranos s1e7: Down Neck starring James Gandolfini & Lorriane Bracco & Edie Falco & Michael Imperioli & Dominic Chianese & Steven van Zandt & Tony Sirico & Robert Iler et al, Tony to Dr Melfi, HBO 1999
He comes from a place and a time when he thinks he has your best interests at heart. The Sopranos s3e3: Fortunate Son, Carmela to Meadow, re Tony
That stereotypical goom-bah-fest. The Sopranos s3e4: Employee of the Month
Your father was like a mentor to me. The Sopranos s4e1: For All Debts Public & Private, Tony to Chris in car
They’re my boys; I’m their dad. Wild Bill 2011 starring Will Poulter & Iwan Rheon & Jason Flemyng & Liz White & Charlie Creed-Miles & Sammy Williams & Morgan Watkins & Leo Gregory et al, director Dexter Fletcher, in rozzers’ car
My dad was Bulla the Fourth. The great fighting midget. Big Fat Gypsy Gangster: Bulla The Movie 2011 starring Ricky Grover & Omid Djalili & Tulisa Contostavlos & Steven Berkoff & Peter Capaldi & Rufus Hound & Rochelle Wiseman & Laila Morse et al, director Ricky Grover, Bulla
The wounded self ... He described a very sadistic father. Dr Jerrold Post, psychological profiler
My father was frightened of his mother: I was frightened of my father, and I am damned well going to see to it that my children are frightened of me. George V, attributed
I’m just an ordinary human being. With a reasonable amount of intelligence. Capable of handling most situations. But I’m not a superman. And I can’t bring about miracles. Just because I’m your father doesn’t mean that I’m infallible. Father Knows Best
I dislike my father. But I was sexually attracted to him when I was young. Francis Bacon, cited The Art of Francis Bacon
Pardon, old fathers. William Butler Yeats
Too like the sire for ever being good.
First hang the child, that he may see it sprawl –
A sight to vex the father’s soul withal.
Get me a ladder. Despiteful and intolerable wrongs!
Shall I endure this monstrous villainy? William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus V i 50-53, Lucius to Aaron
It is a wise father that knows his own child. William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice II ii 72-73, Lancelot to Gobbo
Untented woundings of a father’s curse
Pierce every sense about thee! William Shakespeare, The History of King Lear I iv 294-295, Lear
Spoke with how manifold and strong a bond
The child was bound to the father. ibid. II i 46-47, Edmund
Close? I hated him. I detested his fat stupid guts, the pop-eyed balding git ... I had three brothers. When we were young he bought a traction machine so he could stretch us. By the time my brother Clive was eleven he was six foot five. Red Dwarf II: Better Than Life, Rimmer, BBC 1988
The fundamental defect of fathers is that they want their children to be a credit to them. Bertrand Russell, Sceptical Essays ch14: Freedom Versus Authority in Education, 1928
The place of the father in the modern suburban family is a very small one – particularly if he plays golf. Bertrand Russell, Introduction to The New Generation, 1930
His cares are eased with intervals of bliss;
His little children, climbing for a kiss,
Welcome their father’s late return at night;
His faithful bed is crown’d with chaste delight. Virgil, Georgics
He follows his father, but not with equal steps. Virgil, Aeneid
The authority of a father to guide and govern the education of his child is a very sacred thing, bestowed by the Almighty, and to be sustained to the uttermost by human law. It is not to be abrogated or abridged, without the most coercive reason. For the parent and the child alike, its maintenance is essential, that their reciprocal relations may be fruitful of happiness and virtue; and no disturbing intervention should be allowed between them whilst those relations are pure and wholesome and conducive to their mutual benefit. Lord O’Hagan, re Meades (1870) 5 Ir L R Eq 103
I have always been scared of you,
With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo.
And your neat moustache
And your Aryan eye, bring blue.
Panzer-man, panzer-man O You – Sylvia Plath, Daddy, 1963
My Father is Evil and Wants to Take Over the World. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me 1999 starring Mike Myers & Heather Graham & Michael York & Robert Wagner & Rob Lowe & Mindy Sterling & Seth Green & Verne Troyer & Elizabeth Hurley & Will Ferrell et al, director Jay Roach, Jerry Springer Show
Dad is the Head of a Worldwide Organisation that Wants to Dominate the World. ibid.
Because you’re not quite evil enough. Well it’s true. You’re quasi-evil. ibid. Dr Evil to Scott
I can manage. No sweat. I can cook. Course I can cook. Who says I can’t? Bleasdale, Boys from the Blackstuff: Yosser’s Story, Yosser, BBC 1982
She didn’t love me. She didn’t love the kids. I know you want to talk to me about the kids. I want to keep the kids. I want to keep the kids. ibid.
Send me away. Where they are. Let me be with them. ibid. Yosser to doctor
When a man loves his kids, he loves them more than anything in the whole friggin’ world. And that’s a fact. Alan Bleasdale, Boys from the Black Stuff: George’s Last Ride, George at son’s gravestone
What do you want of me, Father? I thought fiercely. What have you ever wanted? Lynne Reid Banks, The L-Shaped Room
My father – he hates me … I get so sore at him sometimes I want to kill him. Stranger on a Train 1951 starring Farley Granger & Ruth Roman & Robert Walker & Leo G Carroll & Patricia Hitchcock & Laura Elliott & Marion Larone & Jonathan Hale & Howard St John & John Brown & Norma Vare & Robert Gist et al, director Alfred Hitchcock, weirdo to hero
This’ll be the first good thing that’s happened to us. Apart from father dying. Rab C Nesbitt s7e3: Duel, Rab’s sister at breakfast table, BBC 1988
I might surprise you. Give me a chance. The Forger 2014 starring John Travolta & Christopher Plummer & Abigail Spencer & Jennifer Ehle & Tye Sheridan & Anson Mount & Victor Gojcaj et al, director Philip Martin, father to son
Sure I’m hungover, I’m burnt out, but that’s what being a good dad’s all about. Trailer Park Boys s6e4: Where in the Fuck is Oscar Goldman, Ricky