The family is considered the nucleus of civilization, the first form of community that withstood the test of time. Here are 30 family quotes that will strengthen the bond you have with your loved ones.

The family is considered the nucleus of civilization, and our families play a huge role in how we turn out as individuals. Values are instilled at the heart of every household, and while there may be a few members your family that drive you nuts, they are also often your rock. Even a slightly dysfunctional family can provide you with the security and support you need when facing tough times.

Quotes About Family Love and Family Life 

Having the love and support of your family is one of life’s greatest gifts. There’s no better feeling than knowing that, no matter how bad things may go, you always have your family to turn to.

When there is love in a family, there is everything: comfort, protection, support, loyalty, respect, good advice. At the end of the day, those are the things we truly need in order to remain strong and grounded. When we have love in our family, we find the strength to overcome any challenge. That kind of love fuels us with power to keep on going whenever we feel like giving up.

Here are some beautiful family love quotes to celebrate your special bond:

A family portrait is only complete with love to fill its frame.

WES FESLER

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.

JANE HOWARD

When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses.

JOYCE BROTHERS

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

RICHARD BACH

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

PETER BUFFETT

A family is a risky venture, because the greater the love, the greater the loss… That’s the trade-off. But I’ll take it all.  

BRAD PITT
family quote
(JB Lacroix / Contributor / Getty)

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

DEB CALETTI

Home isn’t where you’re from, it’s where you find light when all grows dark.

PIERCE BROWN

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

JIM BUTCHER

Home is people. Not a place. If you go back there after the people are gone, then all you can see is what is not there anymore.

ROBIN HOBB

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

MARJORIE PAY HINCKLEY

Family isn’t blood. It’s the people who love you. The people who have your back. 

CASSANDRA CLARE
(Lisa Lake / Stringer / Getty)

To you who are parents, I say, show love to your children. You know you love them, but make certain they know it as well.

THOMAS S. MONSON

I’m inspired by the love people have for their children. And I’m inspired by my own children, how full they make my heart. They make me want to work to make the world a little bit better. And they make me want to be a better man.

BARACK OBAMA
quotes about family love
(Spencer Platt / Staff / Getty)

Short-and-Sweet Quotes for the Close-Knit Family 

While we may fall in love with more than one person over the course of our lives, our families are the most important things. We shouldn’t miss any opportunity to show them how much they mean to us. If you’re looking for short, but meaningful, quotes to do just that, you’ve come to the right place.

For those who like to be more concise, we’ve handpicked some beautiful, short family quotes. Choose your favorites and share them right away with your loved ones.

Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten.

DAVID OGDEN STIERS

A happy family is but an earlier heaven.

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
family quotes short
(Bettmann / Contributor / Getty)

Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life.

ALBERT EINSTEIN (more Albert Einstein quotes)

The family is one of nature’s masterpieces.

GEORGE SANTAYANA

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

JOHN WOODEN

To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there.

BARBARA BUSH
family quotes
(JOHN MOTTERN / Stringer / Getty)

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

MICHAEL J. FOX

I sustain myself with the love of family.

MAYA ANGELOU

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

LEO TOLSTOY
(Library of Congress / Contributor / Getty)

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

PAUL PEARSALL

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

ALEX HALEY

Family is the most important thing in the world.

PRINCESS DIANA
family quotes
(Tim Graham / Contributor / Getty)

Traveling in the company of those we love is home in motion. 

LEIGH HUNT

I have a wonderful shelter, which is my family.  

JOSÉ CARRERAS

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

J.K. ROWLING
family quotes
(Ferdaus Shamim / Contributor / Getty)

Sticking with your family is what makes it a family.

MITCH ALBOM

Family: where life begins and love never ends.

UNKNOWN

Funny Family Quotes

Our relationships are always better, and more relaxed, when we are able to laugh at ourselves — and at each other.

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

OGDEN NASH
(Bettmann / Contributor / Getty)

Children really can brighten up a house, because they never turn the lights off.

RALPH BUS

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

BOB HOPE
family sayings
(Bettmann / Contributor / Getty)

The advantage of having only one child is that you always know who did it.

ERMA BOMBECK

As a child my family’s menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it.

BUDDY HACKETT

Having a child makes you a parent; having two, you are a referee.

DAVID FROST

Nothing in life is fun for the whole family. There are no massage parlors with ice cream and free jewelry.

JERRY SEINFELD
family quotes
(George Napolitano / Contributor / Getty)

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

GEORGE CARLIN (more George Carlin quotes)

If minutes were kept of a family gathering, they would show that members not present and subjects discussed were one and the same.

ROBERT BRAULT

Family is a blessing. Just keep saying that when you are irritated by something a family member says.

MARCELINA HARDY

In some families, please is described as the magic word. In our house, however, it was sorry. 

MARGARET LAURENCE

Some family trees bear an enormous crop of nuts.

WAYNE H.

For the first time ever I was taking the family on the road. We stayed with my in-laws, which on life’s list of experiences ranks right below sitting in a tub full of scissors.

JEFF FOXWORTHY
quotes about family
(Steve Granitz / Contributor / Getty)

Never let an angry sister comb your hair.

PATRICIA MCCANN

I looked up my family tree and found out I was the sap.

RODNEY DANGERFIELD
family quotes
(George Rose / Contributor / Getty)

Your basic extended family today includes your ex-husband or -wife, your ex’s new mate, your new mate, possibly your new mate’s ex and any new mate that your new mate’s ex has acquired.

DELIA EPHRON

All of us have moments in our lives that test our courage. Taking children into a house with white carpet is one of them. 

ERMA BOMBECK

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

ROBERT BRAULT

Inspirational Family Quotes

There are family quotes that are heartwarming, and there are inspirational ones that open our eyes to what family truly means. Below you’ll find some of the best inspirational family quotes that will strengthen your bond.

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

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
(Heritage Images / Contributor / Getty)

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

LEE IACOCCA

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.

JODI PICOULT

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

MOTHER TERESA (more Mother Teresa quotes)

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

ANTHONY BRANDT

Family isn’t always blood, it’s the people in your life who want you in theirs: the ones who accept you for who you are, the ones who would do anything to see you smile and who love you no matter what.

MAYA ANGELOU
family quotes
(Will & Deni McIntyre / Contributor / Getty)

The family is the test of freedom; because the family is the only thing that the free man makes for himself and by himself.

GILBERT K. CHESTERTON

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

WINSTON CHURCHILL (more Winston Churchill quotes)

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

BRAD HENRY

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

DESMOND TUTU
(Bromberger Hoover Photography / Contributor / Getty)

Family and friendships are two of the greatest facilitators of happiness.

JOHN C. MAXWELL (more John C. Maxwell quotes)

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

WANDA HOPE CARTER

When trouble comes, it’s your family that supports you.

GUY LAFLEUR
(Bruce Bennett / Contributor / Getty)

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.

HANIEL LONG

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

ELIZABETH BERG

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.

MARGE KENNEDY

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

PAUL PEARSALL

ALEX HALEY

(Robert Abbott Sengstacke / Contributor / Getty)

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

ANTHONY LICCIONE

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

GEORGE A. MOORE

“The informality of family life is a blessed condition that allows us all to become our best while looking our worst.”

MARGE KENNEDY

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

MARIO PUZO

(Bob Peterson / Contributor / Getty)

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

GAIL LUMET BUCKLEY

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

KAHLIL GIBRAN

(Heritage Images / Contributor / Getty)

“There’s nothing that makes you more insane than family. Or more happy, or more exasperated, or more secure.”

JIM BUTCHER

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

LETTY COTTIN POGREBIN

“One day you will do things for me that you hate. That is what it means to be family.”

JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

(Leonardo Cendamo / Contributor / Getty)

“The family is the first essential cell of human society.”

POPE JOHN XXIII

Avoiding Toxicity: Quotes to Help Build Stronger Family

Not all families are happy. Some family members create toxic or abusive situations (especially during the holidays) that can be tough to handle. The following toxic family quotes focus more on how to prevent living in a toxic family environment.

Instead of raising children who turn out okay despite their childhood, let’s raise children who turn out extraordinary because of their childhood.

L.R. KNOST

Any man can help make a child, but it takes a special man to help raise a child.

TONY GASKINS

A man should never neglect his family for business.  

WALT DISNEY
(Gene Lester / Contributor / Getty)

Lookin’ back, all I can say about all the things he did for me is, I hope I’m at least half the dad that he didn’t have to be.

BRAD PAISLEY

To be in your children’s memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today.

BARBARA JOHNSON

Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.

ROBERT FULGHUM

It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS
(Hulton Archive / Staff / Getty)

The best security blanket a child can have is parents who respect each other.

JANE BLAUSTONE

Your children need your presence more than your presents.

JESSE JACKSON
(Afro Newspaper/Gado / Contributor / Getty)

Remember you are not managing an inconvenience. You are raising a human being.

KITTIE FRANTZ

Pick your battles with everyone, including yourself… remind yourself every day that you have been given another chance at love and cherish that opportunity.

JESSICA WARRICK

At the end of the day, the most overwhelming key to a child’s success is the positive involvement of the parents.

JANE D. HULL

When you tell a child you hate their other parent, you are telling them you hate half of who they are.

UNKNOWN

Divorce isn’t the child’s fault. Don’t say anything unkind about your ex to the child, because you’re really just hurting the child.

VALERIE BERTINELLI
(John Lamparski / Stringer / Getty)

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.

MARVIN J. ASHTON