“‘Walk a little slower, Daddy,’ said a little child so small. I’m following in your footsteps and I don’t want to fall.  Sometimes you steps are very fast, sometimes they’re hard to see; so walk a little slower Daddy, for you are lead me. Someday when I’m all grown up, you’re what I want to be, then I will have a little child who’ll want to follow me. And I would want to lead just right, and know that I was true; so walk a little slower, Daddy, for I must follow you!’” [Author unknown]

“Small boys become big men through the influence of big men who care about small boys.” [Author unknown]

"Any fool can be a Father, but it takes a real man to be a Daddy!" [Unknown]

"The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother." [Unknown]

"Fathers, be good to your daughters … You are the god and the weight of her world. So fathers, be good to your daughters. Daughters will love like you do. Girls become lovers who turn into mothers, so mothers, be good to your daughters, too." [Johan Mayer, singer-songwriter]

"He didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it." [Clarence Budington Kelland (1881 – 1964), an American fiction writer]

"My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, "You're tearing up the grass." "We're not raising grass," Dad would reply. "We're raising boys." [Harmon Killebrew (1936-2011), was an American professional baseball player]

"Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap-on-a-rope." [Bill Cosby, American comedian and actor]

"A father carries pictures where his money used to be." [Unknown]

"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years." [Mark Twain (1835-1910), born Samuel Clemens, was an American author and humorist]

"Spread the diaper in the position of the diamond with you at bat. Then fold second base down to home and set the baby on the pitcher's mound. Put first base and third together, bring up home plate and pin the three together. Of course, in case of rain, you gotta call the game and start all over again." [Jimmy Piersal, American professional baseball player]

"By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he's wrong." [Unknown]

"Small boys become big men through the influence of big men who care about small boys." [Unknown]

"A man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child." [Unknown]

"I watched a small man with thick calluses on both hands work fifteen and sixteen hours a day. I saw him once literally bleed from the bottoms of his feet, a man who came here uneducated, alone, unable to speak the language, who taught me all I needed to know about faith and hard work by the simple eloquence of his example." [Mario Cuomo, former governor of NY from 1983 to 1994]

"Be a dad. Don’t be "Mom’s Assistant".... Be a man.... Fathers have skills that they never use at home. You run a landscaping business and you can’t dress and feed a four-year-old? Take it on. Spend time with your kids.... It won’t take away your manhood, it will give it to you." [Louis C.K., Mexican-American comedian, screenwriter, producer, film director, actor, voice actor, and film editor]

"Every father should remember that one day his son will follow his example instead of his advice." [Unkonwn]

"By profession I am a soldier and take pride in that fact. But I am prouder--infinitely prouder--to be a father. A soldier destroys in order to build; the father only builds, never destroys." [Douglas MacArthur, (1880 –  1964), American five-star general and field marshal of the Philippine Army who was Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II]

"Any fool can be a Father, but it takes a real man to be a Daddy!" [Unknown]

"The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother." [Unknown]

"Fathers, be good to your daughters … You are the god and the weight of her world. So fathers, be good to your daughters. Daughters will love like you do. Girls become lovers who turn into mothers, so mothers, be good to your daughters, too." [Johan Mayer, singer-songwriter]

"My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it." [Clarence Budington Kelland (1881–1964), an American fiction writer]

"My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, "You're tearing up the grass." "We're not raising grass," Dad would reply. "We're raising boys." [Harmon Killebrew (1936-2011), was an American professional baseball player.]

“Being a father is a choice. Staying true to fatherhood is a duty. [Joan Ambu (1980 - ) is a Cameroon born American writer and poet.]

“A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms, even when his hands are empty.” [Unknown]

“Fatherhood is a vocation in God’s service, to be not held lightly or frivolously, but with the serious determination of serious men.” [Father Lawrence Lovasik (1913 - ) was a Catholic priest, missionary and author of more than thirty books on spiritual life and duty.]

“When you teach your son, you teach your son’s son.” [The Talmud]

“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” [Frederick Douglass (1818 – 1895) was an African-American social reformer, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement.]

“By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he’s wrong.” [Charles Wadsworth, American clergyman]

“A father is neither an anchor to hold us back, nor a sail to take us there, but a guiding light whose love shows us the way.” [Unknown]

“One night a fatter overheard his son pray: Dear God, make me the kind of man my daddy is. Later that night, the father prayed, Dear God, make me the kind of man my son wants me to be.” [Unknown]

“It doesn’t matter who my father was; it matter who I remember he was.” [Ann Sexton (1928 – 1974) was an American poet, known for her highly personal, confessional verse.]

“Having kids doesn’t make you a father; raising them does.” [Unknown]

“My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, ‘You’re tearing up the grass.’ Then dad would reply, ‘We’re no raising grass. We’re raising boys.’” [Harmon Killebrew (1936 – 2011), nicknamed "The Killer" and "Hammerin' Harmon", was an American professional baseball first baseman, third baseman, and left fielder.]

“The father who would taste the expense office fatherhood must turn back from the plane office experience, take with him the fruits of his journey and begin again beside his child, marching step by step over the same old road.” [Angelo Patri (1876 – 1965) was an Italian-American author and educator.]

“There are three stages of a man’s life: He believes in Santa Claus; he doesn’t believe in Santa Claus; he IS Santa Claus.” [Unknown]

“Fatherhood is great because you can ruin someone from scratch.” [Jon Stewart (1962 - ) is an American comedian, writer, filmmaker, actor, media critic, and television host. He is the host of The Daily Show, a satirical news program that airs on Comedy Central.]

“Do I want to be a hero to my son? No. I would like to be a very real human being. That’s hard enough.” [Robert Downey Jr. (1965- ) is an American actor, producer most famous for his role as the superhero Ironman.]

“I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren’t tying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.” [Umberto Eco (1932 - ) is an Italian semiotician, essayist, philosopher, literary critic, and novelist.]

“Why is it that you hardly ever see mothers throwing their children in the air? Fathers are special.” [Michael Josephson (1942 - ) is a former law professor and attorney who founded the nonprofit Joseph and Edna Josephson Institute of Ethics.]

Every day, 24 hours a day, since the 1930s, the sentries of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetary (badgeholders, as they are called) have honored their command to protect and defend that tomb. Regardless of circumstances, they have been ordered to hold their watch, and never abandon their post. Yet, on September 19, 2003, as Hurricane Isabel barraged the Nation's Capital with driving rain and nearly 100mph winds, the sentitels charged with guarding that sacred space were granted permission, for the first time in its history, to stand down to seek shelter.Yet that was not a permission they were willing to act on. NBC news reported at that time:

“They told us that. But that’s not what’s going to happen,” said Sgt. Christopher Holmes, standing vigil on overnight duty. “That’s never an option for us. It went in one ear and right out the other.” ...

With the fierce storm bearing down Thursday night, cemetery officials decided to let the guards move indoors if they felt they were in danger. Cemetery Superintendent John Metzler said he believed it was the first time they have been allowed to do so.

“We certainly didn’t want to put these guards in jeopardy unnecessarily,” Metzler said. ...

Holmes’ group was on duty for 24 hours, from 6 a.m. Thursday until 6 a.m. Friday. They took turns patrolling the tomb in hourly shifts. ...

“Once you become a badgeholder, it’s like you’ll do whatever you have to do to guard the unknowns,” [Staff Sgt. Alfred] Lanier said. “For one, it’s my job. And for two, that’s just how much respect I myself have for the unknowns. That’s just something we cherish.”

Famed Christian author and speaker, Dennis Rainey, had this to add:

In 2003, Hurricane Isabel slammed into the East Coast of the United States, lashing North Carolina and Virginia, then moving northward all the way to Canada, leaving 16 dead and cutting power to six million homes. The edges of the hurricane passed through Washington, D.C., prompting the president and members of Congress to find safer quarters.

That was not the case at Arlington National Cemetery, where guards have relentlessly stood vigil at the Tomb of the Unknowns every hour of every day since July 1, 1937. When the hurricane hit, the soldiers remained at their posts even though they were given permission to seek shelter.

That’s what a soldier does. He acknowledges the storm, but he doesn’t give in to it. He stands firm. As a friend told me, 'If these men can stand guard over the dead, how much more important is it that I stand guard over the living—my wife and children?'

Like these soldiers, we are called to stand and do our duty while staring down the very storms that seek to rob us of courage, taunting and tempting us to neglect our duty and abandon our posts. ...