He opened the jar of pickles when no one else could. He was the only one in the house who wasn’t afraid to into the basement by himself. He cut himself shaving, but no one kissed it or got excited about it. It was understood when it rained, he got the car and brought it around to the door. When anyone was sick, he went out to get the prescription filled. He took lots of pictures ... but he was never in them.

––Erma Bombeck

My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, “You’re tearing up the grass.” “We’re not raising grass,” my dad would reply, “we’re raising boys.”

––Harmon Killebrew

 

It doesn’t matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was.

––Anne Sexton

My father was frightened of his father, I was frightened of my father and I am damned well going to see to it that my children are frightened of me.

––King George V

The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.

––Rev Theodore Hesburgh

Today, while the titular head of the family may still be the father, everyone knows that he is little more than chairman, at most, of the entertainment committee.

––Ashley Montagu

The fundamental defect of fathers is that they want their children to be a credit to them.

––Bertrand Russell

I watched a small man with thick calluses on both hands work fifteen and sixteen hours a day. I saw him once literally bleed from the bottoms of his feet, a man who came here uneducated, alone, unable to speak the language, who taught me all I needed to know about faith and hard work by the simple eloquence of his example.

––Mario Cuomo

The thing to remember about fathers is, they’re men. A girl has to keep it in mind: They are dragon-seekers, bent on improbable rescues. Scratch any father, you find someone chock-full of qualms and romantic terrors, believing change is a threat –– like your first shoes with heels on, like your first bicycle it took such months to get.

––Phyllis McGinley

(Each week this column features quotations gleaned from the readings and experiences of our editors, reporters, readers, and friends. All are invited to submit quotations for inclusion here. They may be sent to Gleanings, c/o The Newtown Bee, 5 Church Hill Road, Newtown, CT 06470 or emailed to editor@thebee.com.)