Father’s Day is just around the corner, and in honor of dear ol’ Dad, here are 10 quotes that truly embody what being a father is all about.

“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.”

– Jim Valvano

“I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father’s protection.”

– Sigmund Freud

“Nothing I’ve ever done has given me more joys and rewards than being a father to my children.”

– Bill Cosby

“He didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.”

– Clarence Budington Kelland

“My daddy, he was somewhere between God and John Wayne.”

– Hank Williams, Jr.

“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 in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself.”

– John Gregory Brown

“I’ve had a hard life, but my hardships are nothing against the hardships that my father went through in order to get me to where I started.”

– Bertrand Hubbard

“One father is more than a hundred Schoolmasters.”

– George Herbert

“Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away. “

– Dinah Craik

“Old as she was, she still missed her daddy sometimes. “

– Gloria Naylor

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads, grandpas, dads-to-be, and anyone else who serves as a father figure for friends, family, and neighbors. Hats off to you!

– Esther Carlstone