Father’s Day

June 20 is Father’s Day. And for all the fathers around the world, may you continue to guide your children and inspire them to greater heights.

Father’s Day complements Mother's Day celebrated on the 2nd week of May. This special day is celebrated with gift-giving, special dinners to fathers, and family-oriented activities

Father's Day was first inaugurated in the early twentieth century to honor and commemorate fathers and forefathers. A bill was introduced in 1913. US President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea in 1924, and a national committee was formed in the 1930s by trade groups in order to legitimize the holiday. It was made a federal holiday when President Lyndon Johnson issued a proclamation in 1966.

Here are some fitting quotes by great men and women describing fathers.

William Shakespeare, English playwright says, “It is a wise father that knows his own child.” And Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey tells, “It is a wise child that knows his own father”.

Proverbs says, “Any man can be a father, but it takes a special person to be a dad”. While Sigmund Freud, Austrian neurologist says, “I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection.”

‘He didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it’, says American writer Clarence B. Kelland.

American actress and musician Madonna says, ‘My father was very strong. I don't agree with a lot of the ways he brought me up. I don't agree with a lot of his values, but he did have a lot of integrity, and if he told us not to do something, he didn't do it either.’

And Lydia Child in Philothea says, ‘Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices calling him father.’