"Most of us, I believe, admire strength. It's something we tend to respect in others, desire for ourselves, and wish for our children. Sometimes, though, I wonder if we confuse strength with other words—like 'aggression' and even 'violence'. Real strength is neither male nor female; but it is, quite simply, one of the finest characteristics that a human being can possess."

"When we treat children's play as seriously as it deserves, we are helping them feel the joy that's to be found in the creative spirit. It's the things we play with and the people who help us play that make a great difference in our lives."

"When I was very young, most of my childhood heroes wore capes, flew through the air, or picked up buildings with one arm. They were spectacular and got a lot of attention. But as I grew, my heroes changed, so that now I can honestly say that anyone who does anything to help a child is a hero to me."

"When we choose to be parents, we accept another human being as part of ourselves, and a large part of our emotional selves will stay with that person as long as we live. From that time on, there will be another person on this earth whose orbit around us will affect us as surely as the moon affects the tides, and affect us in some ways more deeply than anyone else can. Our children are extensions of ourselves."

"Anyone who does anything to help a child in his life is a hero to me."

"My hunch is that if we allow ourselves to give who we really are to the children in our care, we will in some way inspire cartwheels in their hearts."

"The world is not always a kind place. That's something all children learn for themselves, whether we want them to or not, but it's something they really need our help to understand."

"We want to raise our children so that they can take a sense of pleasure in both their own heritage and the diversity of others."

"Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning...They have to play with what they know to be true in order to find out more, and then they can use what they learn in new forms of play."

"Kids can spot a phony a mile away."

"We really need to get control over Social Security numbers. My children's generation, they're past it. But their children should be able to have a number that is secure."

"Unlike most divorces, where the children were usually the first to know, my parents were very good about keeping that a secret."

"If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylums would be filled with mothers."

"Children almost always hang onto things tighter than their parents think they will."

"Blame is for God and small children."

"I feel cheated never being able to know what it's like to get pregnant, carry a child and breast feed."

"In my room as a kid... I'd play a fighter and get knocked to the floor and come back to win."

"How can anyone expect to be understood unless he presents his thoughts with complete honesty? This situation is unfair because it asks too much of the world. In effect, we say, ' I don't dare show you what I am because I don't trust you for a minute but please love me anyway because I so need you to. And, of course, if you don't love me anyway, you're a dirty dog, just as I suspected, so I was right in the first place.' Yet, every time God's children have thrown away fear in pursuit of honesty-trying to communicate themselves, understood or not, miracles have happened."

"Yet, every time God's children have thrown away fear in pursuit of honesty-trying to communicate themselves, understood or not, miracles have happened."

"The best way to keep children at home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant, and let the air out of the tires."

"An individual can march for peace or vote for peace and can have, perhaps, some small influence on global concerns. But the same individual is a giant in the eyes of a child at home. If peace is to be built, it must start with the individual. It is built brick by brick."

"True obedience is a matter of love, which makes it voluntary, not compelled by fear or force."

"To me, birth control and abortion are genocide.I say, make room for children, don't do away with them."

"To feed the hungry, clothe the naked and shelter the harborless without also trying to change the social order so that people can feed, clothe and shelter themselves is just to apply palliatives. It is to show a lack of faith in one’s fellows, their responsibilitie s as children of God, heirs of heaven."