The most basic element… is parental love, which finds fulfillment in the task of education as it completes and perfects its service of life. – St. John Paul the Great, Familiaris Consortio

There is no school equal to a decent home and no teacher equal to a virtuous parent. – Gandhi

…experience shows what an important role is played by a family living in accordance with the moral norm, so that the individual born and raised in it will be able to set out without hesitation on the road of the good, which is always written in his heart. – St. John Paul the Great, Letter to Families

The gospel of love is the inexhaustible source of all that nourishes the human family as a “communion of persons.” In love the whole educational process finds its support and definitive meaning as the mature fruit of the parents’ mutual gift. Through the efforts, sufferings and disappointments which are part of every person’s education, love is constantly being put to the test. To pass the test, a source of spiritual strength is necessary. This is only found in the One who “loved to the end”. Thus education is fully a part of the “civilization of love.” It depends on the civilization of love and, in great measure, contributes to its upbuilding.

The Church’s constant prayer… is for the education of man, so that families will persevere in their task of education with courage, trust and hope, in spite of difficulties occasionally so serious as to appear insuperable. – St. John Paul the Great

There is little point in keeping children out of Hell if you don’t afford them the means of getting into Heaven. So give them solid catechetics, strong preaching, good example, healthy exercise, supervision in a general and determinant way but not in each particular and by all means permitting them the freedom of the good, dangerous books as well as the dangerous games such as football, or mountain climbing. Given the state of man, some will break their necks and sin; but in good Catholic families with common sense, the falls should be few and the bodies and souls recoverable. – John Senior, The Restoration of Christian Culture

Education then is before all a reciprocal “offering” on the part of both parents: together they communicate their own mature humanity to the newborn child, who gives them in turn the newness and freshness of the humanity which it has brought into the world. – St. John Paul the Great, Letter to Families

Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another. – G.K. Chesterton

It should be the objective and is definitiely the responsibility of every rational Catholic mother and father to see that the child is educated, so that he can be truly Catholic with the consent of all his faculties. – Francis Crotty, Implementation of Ignatian Education in the Home

Many of our enemies and most of our friends seem to think that a peasant is a man whose end in life is to raise vegetables. That is the definition of a truck gardener. A peasant is a man whose end in life is to raise a family, and to do that, it is usually necessary to raise vegetables, or hell, or both. – Carl Schmitt (1932)

Trust was accumulated quickly, due primarily to the brute strength of the man’s gentleness, his thereness. – The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

What is involved in raising children? In answering this question two fundamental truths should be kept in mind: first, that man is called to live in truth and love; and second, that everyone finds fulfillment through the sincere gift of self. This is true both for the educator and the one being educated. Education is thus a unique process for which the mutual communion of persons has immense importance. The educator is a person who ‘begets’ in a spiritual sense. From this point of view, raising children can be considered a genuine apostolate. – St. John Paul the Great, Letter to Families

His house was perfect, whether you liked food, or sleep, or work, or story-telling, or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all. Evil things did not come into that valley. – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

The family is also a school which enables men and women to grow to the full measure of their humanity. The experience of being loved by their parents helps children to become aware of their dignity as children. – Pope Benedict XVI

I’ve got a message for Larry. You tell him this is what it’s all about. This is the real happening. If you want to know what love really is, take a look around you… It’s giving life that counts. Til you’re ready for it, all the rest is just a big fraud. All the crazy haircuts in the world won’t keep it turning. Life isn’t a love-in, it’s the dishes and the orthodontist and the shoe repairman and ground round instead of road beef. And I’ll tell you something else: it isn’t going to bed with a man that proves you’re in love with him; it’s getting up in the morning and facing the drab, miserable, wonderful everyday world with him that counts. – Frank Beardsley (Henry Fonda) in Yours, Mine and Ours

A DEFINITION NOT FOUND IN THE DICTIONARY Not leaving: an act of trust and love, often deciphered by children. – The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak