The Best Dad Quotes for Father’s Day — And Every Day

Dads are many things: caregivers, role models, grandpas, stepdads, and tellers of bad dad jokes, to name a few. But whatever his embarrassing fatherly antics, you also love him for them. And he deserves to hear it — that’s the real value of these dad quotes, that they express what matters, even if the words come from others. So, this Father’s Day, show your appreciation to the dads in your life by letting them know what they mean to you. If that’s easier said than done, don’t worry: Sometimes the best words to express how you feel are… someone else’s. We’ve rounded up the best dad quotes so that you can let Dad know exactly what he means to you.

The Best Dad Quotes

• “Of all the titles I’ve been privileged to have, ‘Dad’ has always been the best.” —Ken Norton
• “Fathering is not something perfect men do, but something that perfects the man.” —Frank Pittman
• “The heart of a father is the masterpiece of nature.” —Antoine Francois Prevost
• “Daddies don’t just love their children every now and then, it’s a love without end.” —George Strait
• “Being a father means you have to think fast on your feet. You must be judicious, wise, brave, tender, and willing to put on a frilly hat and sit down to pretend tea party.” —Matthew Buckley
• “Becoming a dad is one thing — being a dad is many things.” —Steve Chapman
• “Life doesn’t come with an instruction book, that’s why we have fathers.” —H. Jackson Browne
• “Forget Batman: When I really thought about what I wanted to be when I grew up, I wanted to be my dad.” —Paul Asay

The Best Father-Son Quotes

• “When you teach your son, you teach your son’s son.” —The Talmud
• “Sons have always a rebellious wish to be disillusioned by that which charmed their fathers.” —Aldous Huxley
• “A son needs his father at every situation he faces in present, and a father needs his son at every situation he faces for his son in past.” —Nishan Panwar
• “It’s a father’s duty to give his sons a fine chance.” —George Eliot
• “By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he’s wrong.” —Charles Wadsworth
• “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.” —Walter M. Schirra, Sr.
• “A father is a man who expects his son to be as good a man as he meant to be.” —Frank A. Clark
• “When a father gives to his son, both laugh; when a son gives to his father, both cry.”
• “Every son’s first superhero is his father.” —Tiger Shroff
• “Every son quotes his father, in words and in deeds.” —Unknown

The Best Father-Daughter Quotes

• “Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter.” —Joseph Addison
• “Moms should know that even the manliest guys will become softies when they have daughters. Dads immediately fall in love with their little girls, and will let them get away with everything.” —Jimmy Fallon
• “When a daughter is born, the ordinary life of a man turns into the extraordinary life of a father.” —Unknown
• “The laugh of a daughter is a favorite symphony of a father.” —Unknown
• “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
• “A good father will leave his imprint on his daughter for the rest of her life.” —Dr. James Dobson
• “A daughter needs a dad to be the standard against which she will judge all men.” —Unknown
• “There’s something like a line of gold thread running through a man’s words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years, it gets to be long enough for you to pick up with your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself. —John Gregory Brown
• “A man’s daughter is his heart. Just with feet, walking out in the world.” —Mat Johnson

The Best Stepdad Quotes

• “A child cannot have too many people who love them and want to help them succeed.” —Unknown
• “A stepparent is so much more than just a parent: They made the choice to love when they didn’t have to.” —Unknown
• “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
• “The only steps in this house are the stair steps and the only half in this house is the half & half creamer.” —Al Hodson
• “A stepfather means so many things…an understanding heart, a source of strength and of support, right from the very start.” —Unknown
• “It takes a strong man to accept somebody else’s children and step up to the plate another man left on the table.” —Ray Johnson
• “It’s not flesh and blood but the heart that makes us father and son.” —Johann Schiller
• “Any man can help make a child, but it takes a special man to help raise a child.” —Tony Gaskins
• “My stepdad may have not given me my life, but he sure has made my life better.” —Gerardo Campbell