Though mothers often get the majority of society’s appreciation, dads are pretty important as well.  We won’t delve into the data here, but it’s been shown over and over that children who have a dad around tend to be better off.

We published some popular quotes about mothers for Mother’s Day, so we thought we’d do the same for fathers today. Below are some of our favorites. To all the fathers out there, thanks.

• 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

• Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap-on-a-rope. — Bill Cosby

• 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

• A father carries pictures where his money used to be. — anonymous

• It’s only when you grow up and step back from him — or leave him for your own home — it’s only then that you can measure his greatness and fully appreciate it. — Margaret Truman

• It is easier for a father to have children than for children to have a real father. — Pope John XXIII

• A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society. — Billy Graham