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40 father-son quotes that celebrate the bond between boys and dads

There's no doubt about it — the relationship between fathers and sons is pretty special.
Father teaching son to ride a bicycle.
These relatable quotes about the relationship between fathers and sons will make you smile.MoMo Productions / Getty Images
/ Source: TODAY

The father-son bond is worth being celebrated.

After actor John Stamos became dad to his son, Billy, he said, “Everything is more colorful, more exciting. Music, you know, sounds better. He’s just a beautiful little boy.”

And dad of two Idris Elba told Cosmopolitan in 2015, “More than anything you have to make time to be with your children. It’s something I battle a lot because of my career, because as much as it’s nice to be busy and working, ultimately children don’t raise themselves. You’ve got to be there to help them and guide them through it. That’s one thing I try my very best to do. I love being a dad, it's an important part of my life.”

One thing is for sure: There is nothing quite like a father-son bond.

40 Father Son Quotes

For all they bring to those who love them, these 40 father-son quotes are perfect for dads:

  • “Every father should remember one day his son will follow his example, not his advice.” ― Charles F. Kettering
  • "My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person: He believed in me." ― Jim Valvano
  • “No love is greater than that of a father for his son.” ― Dan Brown, "Angels & Demons"
  • “Forget Batman: when I really thought about what I wanted to be when I grew up, I wanted to be my dad.”― Paul Asay, "God on the Streets of Gotham: What the Big Screen Batman Can Teach Us about God and Ourselves"
  • “How can we expect our boys to become powerful, successful, and complete men if we ourselves don’t possess or act on the tools and the know-how to take them there?” — Eric Davis
  • “It’s a father’s duty to give his sons a fine chance.”― George Eliot, "Middlemarch"
  • “I’m struck by a few things today, most of which is the power of the invisible role model ... Perhaps it’s the newfound clarity I have as a father knowing that my son will always be watching what I do, mimicking my behavior, one day maybe even following in my footsteps.” ― Prince Harry
  • “My strong determination for justice comes from the very strong, dynamic personality of my father ... I have rarely ever met a person more fearless and courageous than my father.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
  • “My father was my teacher. But most importantly he was a great dad.” ― Beau Bridges
  • “A father’s love is like your shadow, though he is dead or alive, he will live with your shadow”― P.S. Jagadeesh Kumar
  • “Listen, there is no way any true man is going to let children live around him in his home and not discipline and teach, fight and mold them until they know all he knows. His goal is to make them better than he is. Being their friend is a distant second to this.” ― Victor Devlin
  • “One of the greatest titles in the world is parent, and one of the biggest blessings in the world is to be one.” — Jim DeMint
  • “My father didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.” ― Clarence Budington Kelland
  • “The older I get, the smarter my father seems to get.” ― Tim Russert
  • “It takes great courage to love unconditionally.”― Isaac Mogilevsky, “A Letter to My Father: What Your Son Wants to Tell You But Doesn’t”
  • “Fathering is not something perfect men do, but something that perfects the man.” — Frank Pittman
  • “A father is the man who can change a world he will not be part of by building the tiny human that is part of him.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough
  • “Life doesn’t come with an instruction book — that’s why we have fathers.” — H. Jackson Browne
  • “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.
  • “What is the son but an extension of the father?”― Frank Herbert, "Dune"
  • “Each parent talks about the waking up during the night and the feeding during the night, but for me that was the most special time. It doesn’t matter what time of the night it is or how tired you are, they make you smile, they make you happy.” ― David Beckham
  • “Though our new son is barely a part of our present, we look at his squirming, warm bundle of future potential and say to ourselves, ‘Hello, little man.’ Little do we know the adventure we are beginning!” — Dr. Gregory L. Jantz
  • “The first step, my son, which one makes in the world, is the one on which depends the rest of our days.” — Voltaire
  • “It is not flesh and blood, but the heart which makes us fathers and sons.” — Johann Freidrich von Schiller
  • “The heart of a father is the masterpiece of nature.” ― Prevost Abbe, “Manon Lescaut”
  • “As fathers, we know that our children need our love and need our guidance and need our faith in them. We know that our children need from us what only we as fathers can provide them.” ― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr., CEO of Mayflower-Plymouth
  • “Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad, and that’s why I call you dad, because you are so special to me.” — Wade Boggs
  • “It’s the most profound gift and the most daunting challenge.” — Matt Bomer
  • “But now, being a parent, I go home and see my son and I forget about any mistake I ever made or the reason I’m upset. I get home and my son is smiling or he comes running to me.” — LeBron James
  • “One of the greatest lessons I learned from my dad was to make sure your children know that you love them.” ― Al Roker
  • “My dad taught me everything I know. Unfortunately, he didn’t teach me everything he knows.” — Al Unser
  • “We never know the love of a parent till we become parents ourselves.” ― Henry Ward Beecher
  • “Daddies don’t just love their children every now and then, it’s a love without end.” — George Strait, “Love Without End, Amen”
  • “My father taught me a good lesson: Don’t get too low when things go wrong. And don’t get too high when things are good.” — Robert Parish
  • “I am a family man, and my most important role is a father to my son.” — Ed Skrein
  • “I think that the best thing we can do for our children is to allow them to do things for themselves, allow them to be strong, allow them to experience life on their own terms, allow them to take the subway ... let them be better people, let them believe more in themselves.” — C. JoyBell C.
  • “Becoming a dad means you have to be a role model for your son and be someone he can look up to.” — Wayne Rooney
  • “Anyone who tells you fatherhood is the greatest thing that can happen to you, they are understating it.” — Mike Myers
  • “A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society.” — Billy Graham
  • “Being a great father is like shaving. No matter how good you shaved today, you have to do it again tomorrow.” — Reed Markham