It is dismal¹ coming home, when there is nobody to welcome one!

Ann Radcliffe (1764 - 1823), The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

I can't think of anything to write about except families. They are a metaphor² for every other part of society.

Anna Quindlen (1953 - )

They say that blood is thicker than water. Maybe that's why we battle our own with more energy and gusto than we would ever expend³ on strangers.

David Assael, Northern Exposure, Family Feud⁴, 1993

Caregiver: that word should weigh more than others on a page, sag⁵ it down a bit and wrinkle it, because the simple-sounding job frazzles as it consumes and depletes⁶. Not that it's only gloomy. Caregiving offers many fringe benefits, including the sheer sensory⁷ delight of nourishing and grooming⁸, sharing, and playing. There's something uniquely fulfilling about being a lodestar, feeling so deeply needed, and it's fun finding creative ways to gladden a loved one's life. But caregiving does buttonhole you; you're stitched in one place.

Diane Ackerman, One Hundred Names for Love: A Stroke, A Marriage, and the Language of Healing, 2011

We al have family disfunction. It's why we're successful, to fill that hole.

Eli Attie, House M.D., Parents, 11-14-2011

Having a baby's sweet face so close to your own, for so long a time as it takes to nurse 'em, is a great tonic⁹ for a sad soul.

Erica Eisdorfer, The Wet Nurse's Tale, 2009

Losing a baby is not a thing that you could ever get used to.

Erica Eisdorfer, The Wet Nurse's Tale, 2009

If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.

George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.

George Burns (1896 - 1996)

Family connexions were always worth preserving, good company always worth seeking.

Jane Austen (1775 - 1817), Persuasion¹⁰, 1818

Call it a clan¹¹, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.

Jane Howard, "Families"

If you ever start feeling like you have the goofiest, craziest, most dysfunctional family in the world, all you have to do is go to a state fair. Because five minutes at the fair, you'll be going, 'you know, we're alright. We are dang near royalty¹².'

Jeff Foxworthy

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

Leo Tolstoy (1828 - 1910), Anna Karenina, Chapter 1, first line

A family is a unit composed not only of children but of men, women, an occasional animal, and the common cold.

Ogden Nash (1902 - 1971)

No matter where you live, brothers are brothers and sisters are sisters. The bonds that keep family close are the same no matter where you are.

Takayuki Ikkaku, Arisa Hosaka and Toshihiro Kawabata, Animal Crossing: Wild World, 2005

Family isn't about whose blood you have. It's about who you care about.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park, Ike's Wee Wee, 1998

I think people that have a brother or sister don't realize how lucky they are. Sure, they fight a lot, but to know that there's always somebody there, somebody that's family.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park, Cat Orgy, 1999