Parents wear many different hats, from teacher and nurturer to entertainer and provider. Some people call it the most important job in the world - and the UN full-heartedly agrees. Today is Global Day of Parents, an occasion to honor and thank all of the wonderful parents out there who have taken on the lifetime responsibility of caring and loving their children.
MORE: Daily inspirational quotes from Goodnet
For those who have parents and those who are parents, take a moment to step back and smile for all that you give and receive with these nine beautiful quotes about parenthood.
1. “To the world you may be one person; but to one person you may be the world.”
- Dr. Seuss, writer and cartoonist
2. “Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."
- Elizabeth Stone, teacher and author
3. “One thing I had learned from watching chimpanzees with their infants is that having a child should be fun.”
- Jane Goodall, primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist
4. “Your children need your presence more than your presents.”
– Jesse Jackson, American civil rights activist and Baptist minister
4. "There really are places in the heart you don’t even know exist until you love a child."
- Anne Lamott, novelist and nonfiction writer
5. “Give the ones you love wings to fly, roots to come back and reasons to stay.”
- The 14th Dalai Lama, Tibetan spiritual leader and advocate for peace
6. “Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.”
- Anne Frank, diarist and writer
7. "Parenthood… It’s about guiding the next generation, and forgiving the last."
- Peter Krause, actor
9. “Children are apt to live up to what you believe of them.”
- Lady Bird Johnson, Former First Lady of the United States