Tell Your Family Just How Much You Love Them With These Meaningful Quotes

You can't choose your family, and no two families are exactly alike, and yet somehow people — wise thinkers smarter than I am — have been able to put into words exactly how it feels to be so closely bonded to other humans.

Whether you're looking for quotes about sisters, something to write in a birthday message for your brother, a perfect Instagram caption for Mother's Day, something pithy to lead off a Father's Day toast, an inspirational saying for your Grandma or your Grandpa or a funny tidbit that reminds you of your kids, there have been writers, poets, actors and other thought leaders who have already found the right words to get you started on the right foot.

These are the best family quotes, from the likes of Michelle Obama, Walt Disney, Maya Angelou, Mother Teresa, Winston Churchill, Barbara Bush and George Bernard Shaw, among others. Whether you're trying to connect to blood relatives or chosen family, parents or children, near relations and distant ones, these are likely to remind you of someone important in your life. Send one to someone you're close with, and let them know how they made you into the person you are today.

Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life.

In time of test, family is best.

The family — that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape, nor, in our inmost hearts, ever quite wish to.

The greatest gift of family life is to be intimately acquainted with people you might never even introduce yourself to, had life not done it for you.

When your mother asks, 'Do you want a piece of advice?' it’s a mere formality. It doesn’t matter if you answer yes or no. You’re going to get it anyway.

Having a place to go is a home. Having someone to love is a family. Having both is a blessing.

Sister is probably the most competitive relationship within the family, but once the sisters are grown, it becomes the strongest relationship.

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.

The other night I ate at a real nice family restaurant. Every table had an argument going

Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.

The most important thing in the world is family and love.

There is no such thing as fun for the whole family.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

With every word we utter, with every action we take, we know our kids are watching us. We as parents are their most important role models.

May you be surrounded by friends and family, and if this is not your lot, may the blessings find you in your solitude.

I know for sure: Family should be the place where you can be your most complete self.

If the family were a boat, it would be a canoe that makes no progress unless everyone paddles.

The family is one of nature's masterpieces.

I want my children to have all the things I couldn’t afford. Then I want to move in with them.

The greatest thing in family life is to take a hint when a hint is intended—and not to take a hint when a hint isn't intended.

It didn't matter how big our house was; it mattered that there was love in it.

When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching—they are your family.

Friends are the family you choose.

I have learned that to be with those I like is enough.

I sustain myself with the love of family.

A family is a bunch of people who keep confusing you with someone you were as a kid.

Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future.

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

Being part of a family means smiling for photos.

Children need our unconditional love — whether they succeed or make mistakes; when life is easy and when life is tough.

Stick to the basics, hold on to your family and friends — they will never go out of fashion.

That’s what people do who love you. They put their arms around you and love you when you’re not so lovable.

The great advantage of living in a large family is that early lesson of life’s essential unfairness.

You go through life wondering what is it all about but at the end of the day it's all about family.

In the family sandwich, the older people and the younger ones can recognize one another as the bread. Those in the middle are, for a time, the meat.

I grew up with six brothers. That's how I learned to dance — waiting for the bathroom.

The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, is in its loyalty to each other.

You leave home to seek your fortune and, when you get it, you go home and share it with your family.

Nothing is better than going home to family and eating good food and relaxing.

I have a wonderful shelter, which is my family.

In family life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together and the music that brings harmony.

My mother used to tell me that when push comes to shove, you always know who to turn to. That being a family isn't a social construct but an instinct.

Family love is messy, clinging and of an annoying and repetitive pattern, like bad wallpaper.

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

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

Families are like fudge — mostly sweet, with a few nuts.

What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.

All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

Home is where you are loved the most and act the worst.

A dysfunctional family is any family with more than one person in it.

So much of what is best in us is bound up in our love of family, that it remains the measure of our stability because it measures our sense of loyalty.

You are born into your family and your family is born into you. No returns. No exchanges.

There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human, are created, strengthened and maintained.

In truth a family is what you make it. It is made strong, not by number of heads counted at the dinner table, but by the rituals you help family members create, by the memories you share, by the commitment of time, caring and love you show to one another, and by the hopes for the future you have as individuals and as a unit.

The world, we'd discovered, doesn't love you like your family loves you.

A family is one of nature's solubles; it dissolves in time like salt in rainwater.

Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family.

When all the dust is settled and all the crowds are gone, the things that matter are faith, family and friends.

In every conceivable manner, the family is a link to our past, bridge to our future.

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A family doesn't have to perfect; it just needs to be united.

Everyone needs a house to live in, but a supportive family is what builds a home.

Family is the most important thing in the world.

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Families are the compass that guides us. They are the inspiration to reach great heights, and our comfort when we occasionally falter.

My greatest pleasure is spending time with my family.

A man travels the world over in search of what he needs, and returns home to find it.

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Family is a life jacket in the stormy sea of life.

The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works, is the family.

There's only one thing more precious than our time and that's what we spend it on.

Home should be an anchor, a port in a storm, a refuge, a happy place in which to dwell, a place where we are loved and where we can love.

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Families are like branches on a tree. We grow in different directions yet our roots remain as one.

The greatest moments in life are not concerned with selfish achievements but rather with the things we do for the people we love and esteem.

Family and friends are hidden treasures, seek them and enjoy their riches.

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Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family.

There are places in the heart you don't even know exist until you love a child.

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.

A happy family is but an earlier heaven.

Sticking with your family is what makes it a family.

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Ohana means family. Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten.

The family is one of nature's masterpieces.

Having somewhere to go is home. Having someone to love is family. Having both is a blessing.

Family: where life begins and love never ends.

The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life.

Being a family means you are a part of something very wonderful. It means you will love and be loved for the rest of your life.

Family is not an important thing. It's everything.

Peace is the beauty of life. It is sunshine. It is the smile of a child, the love of a mother, the joy of a father, the togetherness of a family. It is the advancement of man, the victory of a just cause, the triumph of truth.