These Father's Day quotes perfectly express how much we love and appreciate our dads
75 Heartfelt Father’s Day Quotes That Celebrate the No. 1 Guy in Your Life
Heartfelt Father’s Day quotes to share with your pop
It’s once again time to honor your favorite man: Dad, of course! You may come up with the best Father’s Day ideas to celebrate him, but if you really want to express your love and appreciation, try sharing meaningful quotes that perfectly sum up your special relationship. Need some help? The Father’s Day quotes below will capture how much you love your old man—and they may even make him a little teary-eyed.
You’ll no doubt come across plenty of funny Father’s Day quotes—including a few on this list—but this collection leans more toward the heartfelt and sentimental. Your dad may not be a man of many words, but he’ll surely love receiving these quotes, whether they’re from his wife, daughter or son.
Ready to sing your father’s praises? Read on for dad quotes that will make him smile this holiday and beyond.
Get Reader’s Digest’s Read Up newsletter for quotes, humor, cleaning, travel, tech and fun facts all week long.
Sentimental Father’s Day quotes
1. “Dads are most ordinary men turned by love into heroes, adventurers, storytellers and singers of song.” —Pam Brown
2. “My father didn’t do anything unusual. He did what dads are supposed to do—be there.” —Max Lucado
3. “The older I get, the smarter my father seems to get.” —Tim Russert
4. “Lately all my friends are worried they’re turning into their fathers. I’m worried I’m not.” —Dan Zevin
5. “A father is someone you look up to no matter how tall you grow.” —Unknown
6. “I realized being a father is the greatest job I have ever had and the greatest job I will ever have.” —Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
7. “The only way I can describe [fatherhood]: It sounds stupid, but at the end of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, you know how his heart grows like five times? Everything is full. It’s just full all the time.” —Matt Damon
8. “One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters.” —George Herbert
9. “I’ve never been part of anything so great as those three kids.” —Al Roker
10. “I’m a father; that’s what matters most. Nothing matters more.” —Gordon Brown
11. “Being a parent is the single most challenging thing I’ve ever done/continue to do, but it’s also far and away the greatest joy in my life. It has given me purpose, taught me patience and expanded my heart.” —Neil Patrick Harris
12. “Some people don’t believe in heroes, but they haven’t met my dad.” —Unknown
13. “I have a Father’s Day every day.” —Dennis Banks
14. “Dads don’t need to be tall and broad-shouldered and clever. Love makes them so.” —Pam Brown
15. “Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices call him father.” —Lydia Maria Child
16. “Having a kid is like falling in love for the first time when you’re 12, but every day.” —Mike Myers
When Father’s Day comes around, any of these quotes would make a great Father’s Day message for your father figure.
Inspirational Father’s Day quotes
17. “Any man can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad.” —Anne Geddes
18. “The power of a dad in a child’s life is unmatched.” —Justin Ricklefs
19. “It’s only when you grow up and step back from him—or leave him for your own home—it’s only then that you can measure his greatness and fully appreciate it.” —Margaret Truman
20. “I think back to the day I drove Michelle and a newborn Malia home from the hospital nearly 13 years ago—crawling along, miles under the speed limit, feeling the weight of my daughter’s future resting in my hands. I think about the pledge I made to her that day: that I would give her what I never had—that if I could be anything in life, I would be a good father.” —Barack Obama
21. “My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person: He believed in me.” —Jim Valvano
22. “I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments when they aren’t trying to teach us. We are formed by the little scraps of wisdom.” —Umberto Eco
23. “A father is neither an anchor to hold us back nor a sail to take us there but a guiding light whose love shows us the way.” —Unknown
24. “My dad, like any coach, has always stressed the fundamentals. He taught me responsibility, accountability and the importance of hard work.” —Steve Young
25. “My father didn’t tell me how to live; he lived and let me watch him do it.” —Clarence Budington Kelland
26. “Father’s Day is hopefully a time when the culture says, ‘This is our moment to look at who our men and boys are.'” —Michael Gurian
27. “Life doesn’t come with an instruction book—that’s why we have fathers.” —H. Jackson Brown Jr.
28. “It is a wise father that knows his own child.” —William Shakespeare
29. “What was silent in the father speaks in the son, and often I found in the son the unveiled secret of the father.” —Friedrich Nietzsche
30. “Dad—a son’s first hero, a daughter’s first love.” —John Walter Bratton
These Father’s Day quotes double as uplifting quotes about Dad, so let your spirit be lifted as you share them with your old man.
Father’s Day quotes for new dads
31. “A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society.” —Billy Graham
32. “We never know the love of the parent until we become parents ourselves.” —Henry Ward Beecher
33. “What makes you a man is not the ability to make a child; it’s the courage to raise one.” —Barack Obama
34. “Your kids require you most of all to love them for who they are, not to spend your whole time trying to correct them.” —Bill Ayers
35. “Parenthood: It’s about guiding the next generation and forgiving the last.” —Peter Krause
36. “There is no such thing as a perfect parent. So just be a real one.” —Sue Atkins
37. “There really are places in the heart you don’t even know exist until you have a child.” —Anne Lamott
38. “The reward of child-rearing is spending the rest of your life proudly knowing this person you helped guide.” —Mike Sager
Is your stepdad the new man in your life? If so, celebrate Father’s Day with these stepdad quotes.
Father’s Day quotes from wives
39. “The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.” —Theodore Hesburgh
40. “What a father says to his children is not heard by the world, but it will be heard by posterity.” —Jean Paul
41. “The most important thing in the world is family and love.” —John Wooden
42. “A man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child.” —Unknown
43. “Fathers, yours is an eternal calling from which you are never released.” —Ezra Taft Benson
44. “Fathers in today’s modern families can be so many things.” —Oliver Hudson
Check out these other Father’s Day quotes for your husband—they will move you both.
Father’s Day quotes from daughters
45. “My daughter got me a World’s Best Dad mug. So we know she’s sarcastic.” –Bob Odenkirk
46. “I think my mom put it best. She said, ‘Little girls soften their daddies’ hearts.'” —Paul Walker
47. “A little girl giggles when she is denied an ice cream by her mother. She knows daddy will get her some later.” –Unknown
48. “It is admirable for a man to take his son fishing, but there is a special place in heaven for the father who takes his daughter shopping.” —John Sinor
49. “Being a daddy’s girl is like having permanent armor for the rest of your life.” —Marinela Reka
50. “To her, the name of father was another name for love.” —Fanny Fern
51. “Old as she was, she still missed her daddy sometimes.” —Gloria Naylor
52. “My daddy was my hero—he was always there for me when I needed him.” —Bindi Irwin
53. “My dad’s my best mate, and he always will be.” —Cher Lloyd
54. “No one in this world can love a girl more than her father.” —Michael Ratnadeepak
55. “My sisters and I can still recite Dad’s grilling rules. Rule No. 1: Dad is in charge. Rule No. 2: Repeat rule No. 1.” —Connie Schultz
56. “When my father didn’t have my hand, he had my back.” —Linda Poindexter
57. “It doesn’t matter who my father was. It matters who I remember he was.” —Anne Sexton
58. “To a father growing old, nothing is dearer than a daughter.” —Euripides
Looking for more Father’s Day quotes to send Dad? Browse through these touching father-daughter quotes!
Father’s Day quotes from sons
59. “By the time a man realizes that his father was right, he has a son who thinks he’s wrong.” —Charles Wadsworth
60. “Every father should remember that one day his son will follow his example rather than his advice.” —Charles F. Kettering
61. “Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad, and that’s why I call you Dad, because you are so special to me. You taught me the game, and you taught me how to play it right.” —Wade Boggs
62. “An almost-perfect relationship with his father was the earthly root of all his wisdom.” —C.S. Lewis
63. “Teaching a boy to be a man is the primary job of a father.” —Clayton Lessor
64. “It is not flesh and blood but heart which makes us fathers and sons.” —Friedrich Schiller
65. “I decided in my life that I would do nothing that did not reflect positively on my father’s life.” —Sidney Poitier
66. “For thousands of years, father and son have stretched wistful hands across the canyon of time.” —Alan Valentine
67. “Are we not like two volumes of one book?” —Marceline Desbordes-Valmore
68. “When a father gives to his son, both laugh; when a son gives to his father, both cry.” —William Shakespeare
69. “You don’t raise heroes; you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they’ll turn out to be heroes, even if it’s just in your own eyes.” —Wally Schirra
Read more heartwarming father-son quotes that perfectly capture that special bond.
Father’s Day quotes about fatherhood
70. “No music is so pleasant to my ears as that word—father.” —Lydia Maria Child
71. “Of all the titles I’ve been privileged to have, ‘Dad’ has always been the best.” —Ken Norton
72. “I’ve jumped out of helicopters and done some daring stunts and played baseball in a professional stadium, but none of it means anything compared to being somebody’s daddy.” —Chris Pratt
73. “Daddies don’t just love their children every now and then; it’s a love without end.” —George Strait
74. “Never is a man more of a man than when he is the father of a newborn.” —Matthew McConaughey
75. “That’s my job. That’s what I do. Everything I do is because of you. To keep you safe with me, that’s my job, you see.” —Conway Twitty
If you think Dad will love these Father’s Day quotes, he’ll surely love these Father’s Day songs too!
Additional reporting by Emma Taubenfeld.
Why trust us
At Reader’s Digest, we’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experience where appropriate. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing, and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
