Quotes in English about family. English proverbs about family: family is a haven in a heartless world

If you are asked what is most important in life, what will be the answer? Career, friends, self-realization, and... that's right - family! And if the EnglishDom online school can help you with self-realization and career growth, then family is, as a rule, the holy of holies, which always comes first and is the most personal for each of us. From the moment of birth, we experience the love of father and mother, brothers and sisters, and over time we ourselves look for a soul mate and create a new unit of society. To speak a foreign language fluently, you need a deep understanding of “folk wisdom” (sayings), as well as an understanding of exactly when to use a particular expression.

Getting married is not drinking water

The time has come to make up your mind and get married. But how to choose this one or that one? Most sayings serve as advice specifically for men, because, as a rule, they are the initiators of marriage. Almost all proverbs call on men to pay attention not only to beauty, but also to evaluate all the internal qualities of their chosen ones for life. Also, such expressions advise not to rush into such a branching step, because this is a choice for life. For example:

Marry in haste and repent at leisure.- I got married in a hurry and for a long time.

Perhaps we can use this saying in relation to both men and women. Marriage is a serious matter, so you shouldn't marry the first person who blows your mind with his resemblance to Brad Pitt or Monica Bellucci. What if he (or she) is allergic to your favorite cat? Different musical tastes and simply - ARE YOU DIFFERENT? Therefore, remember, whoever is in a hurry makes people laugh, especially if we are talking about marriage.

Choose your wife on Saturday, not on Sunday.- Choose your wife not in a round dance, but in the garden.

Gone are the days when a woman was chosen based on how much land she could plow. But if you are a man for whom home comfort and always clean and ironed shirts are important, take a closer look at the housekeeping of your chosen one.

Some proverbs say that before deciding to get married, a person must achieve something, get on his feet, and then he will be able to take responsibility for the whole family:

First thrive and then wife.- First lean on, and then go up.

And, of course, a person is very often judged not only by his own characteristics, but also by his upbringing. When choosing a bride, a man is advised to look at what kind of mother she has:

Take a vine of a good soil, and a wife of a good mother.- Choose a daughter-in-law after your mother-in-law.

Having chosen a companion or companion for your whole life, be prepared to compromise, give in to each other, and not look at others:

Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.- Look into your eyes before your wedding night, and then squint your eyes.

Therefore, take your choice seriously, otherwise you will later say:

All are good lasses, but whence come bad wives.- All brides are good, where only evil wives come from.

Husband and wife, one of Satan

Men and women marry out of great love for each other and over time become the main support and support for each other, and then they begin to be talked about as two halves of a whole. Therefore, what a man or woman looks like or has achieved in life speaks about how much they are supported and loved by their other halves in life.

• A good wife makes a good husband.- A good wife will have a bad husband.
• A good Jack makes a good Jill.- A good husband and wife are good/the wife is red with her husband.
• Every Jack must have his Jill.- Every bride is born for her groom.
• There’s one good wife in the country and every man thinks he has her.- To each his own darling
  - the most beautiful / every husband has his own wife dearer.

A spoon of tar

Although marriages are made in heaven, each of them has its own problems and secrets. For example:

• Accidents will happen in the best regulated families.“And misfortunes happen in noble families.”
• Every family has a skeleton in the cupboard.- Every hut has its own rattles (its own skeleton in the closet).

Often such secrets are associated with children, because a good upbringing and wealth in the family do not always guarantee ideal heirs. The most universal saying is:

Like father, like son.- Like the dad, like the son.

The guy is a jack of all trades? Apparently the father is smart, and vice versa, if some negative traits are present in a young man, then it is quite possible that this is hereditary. Some sayings are used specifically when talking about bad heredity, or descendants:

• A miserly father makes a prodigal son.- The father saved up, and the son became cowardly, or the stingy die, and the children open the chests.
• Many a good father has but a bad son.- Every family has its black sheep.
• One scabby sheep will mar a whole flock.- One black sheep spoils the whole flock.

We wish you only a pleasant and happy family life! Take care of your family and learn English with us, because at our school this is guaranteed by additional family bonuses!

List of useful words and expressions

whence - from where?
in haste - hastily, in haste
at leisure - at leisure
wide open - completely open, wide open

Big and friendly EnglishDom family

A family in harmony will prosper in everything. ~Chinese Proverb

It is easy to govern a kingdom but difficult to rule one’s family.~Chinese Proverb

A man can’t get rich if he takes proper care of his family.~ Navajo Proverb

Even the maid has a family.~South African Proverb

The family is like the forest: if you are outside, it is dense; if you are inside, you see that each tree has its own position. ~ Ghanaian Proverbs

None but a mule denies his family. ~ Arabian Proverb

If you want a place in the sun, you must leave the shade of the family tree.~ Osage Proverb

Dine with a stranger but save your love for your family.~ Ethiopian Proverb

In a good family the husband is deaf and the wife is blind.~ French Proverb

Look for the good, not the evil, in the conduct of members of the family.~ Jewish Proverbs

A dog shows affection even to a poor family. ~Chinese Proverb

The family that prays together stays together. ~Traditional Proverb

A family with an old person has a living treasure of gold. ~Chinese Proverb

If the family is together, the soul is in the right place.~ Russian Proverbs

The one who first shuts up in an argument is from a good family. ~ Slovak Proverbs

You can eat and drink with your family but not count and measure. ~ German Proverbs

When you return from a trip, bring back something for your family- even if it is only a stone. ~ Lebanese Proverb

Man is the head of the family, woman the neck that turns the head.~ Chinese Proverb

Govern a family as you would cook a small fish, very gently.~ Chinese Proverb

In every family's cooking pot is one black spot.~ Chinese Proverb

Quotations about Family

Where can a person be better than in the bosom of their family.~ Marmontel Gretry

In that family where the husband is pleased with his wife, and the wife with her husband, happiness will assuredly be lasting. ~ Brahma

A happy family is but an earlier heaven.~ Sir John Bowring

Christmas is a holiday that we celebrate not as individuals nor as a nation, but as a human family. ~Ronald Reagan Quotes

In intimate family life, there comes a moment when children, willingly or no, become the judges of their parents. ~ Honore de Balzac

Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life! ~Albert Einstein Quotes

Family: Life’s greatest blessing, family is what grounds you. ~Angelina Jolie

The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, is in its loyalty to each other. ~Mario Puzo

The family is the first essential cell of human society. ~Pope John XXIII

Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family. ~Anthony Brandt

The family is both the fundamental unit of society as well as the root of culture. It... is a perpetual source of encouragement, advocacy, assurance, and emotional refueling that empowers a child to venture with confidence into the greater world and to become all that he can be. ~ Marianne E. Neifert

Perhaps the greatest social service that can be rendered by anybody to the country and to mankind is to bring up a family. ~George Bernard Shaw

All men are children, and of one family. The same tale sends them all to bed, and wakes them in the morning. ~Henry David Thoreau

At the end of the day, a loving family should find everything forgivable. ~ Mark V. Olsen and Will Sheffer

A family is a place where minds come in contact with one another.~ Buddha

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. ~Jane Howard

To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there. ~Barbara Bush

The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works, is the family. ~ Lee Iacocca

You leave home to seek your fortune and, when you get it, you go home and share it with your family. ~ Anita Baker

The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof. ~Richard Bach

To maintain a joyful family requires much from both the parents and the children. Each member of the family has to become, in a special way, the servant of the others. ~Pope John Paul II

The family is a haven in a heartless world. ~Christopher Lasch

My family begins with me, your family ends with you. ~ Author Unknown

The trouble with the family is that children grow out of childhood, but parents never grow out of parenthood. ~ Evan Esar

The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt Quotes

Every family should have a plan for work that touches the life of each family member so that this eternal principle will be ingrained in their lives. ~ M. Russell Ballard

No matter what you’ve done for yourself or for humanity, if you can’t look back on having given love and attention to your own family, what have you really accomplished? ~ Lee Iacocca

A family can develop only with a loving woman as its center.~ Karl Wilhelm Friedrich

The family is the nucleus of civilization.~ William J. Durant

Friends are the family we choose for ourselves.~ Edna Buchanan

Nothing purchased can come close to the renewed sense of gratitude for having family and friends. ~Courtland Milloy

I would like to be remembered as a man who had a wonderful time living life, a man who had good friends, fine family - and I don’t think I could ask for anything more than that, actually. ~ Frank Sinatra

To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must cultivate our personal life; and to cultivate our personal life, we must first set our hearts right. ~ Confucius Quotes

God created the family to provide the maximum love and support and morality and example that one can imagine. ~ Jerry Falwell

If we abandon marriage, we abandon the family.~ Michael Enzi

I believe the world is one big family, and we need to help each other.~ Jet Li

Having a place to go - is a home. Having someone to love - is a family. Having both is a blessing. ~ Donna Hedges

The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family. ~Thomas Jefferson Quotes

The whole world is one family.~ Sun Yat-sen

The family is the most basic unit of government. As the first community to which a person is attached and the first authority under which a person learns to live, the family establishes society’s most basic values. ~Charles Caleb Colton

Cherish your human connections: your relationships with friends and family. ~Barbara Bush Quotes

The ultimate economic and spiritual unit of any civilization is still the family. ~ Clare Boothe Luce

I would rather start a family than finish one.~ Don Marquis

The family is the school of duties… founded on love.~ Felix Adler

I don’t care how poor a man is; if he has family, he’s rich. ~ Dan Wilcox and Thad Mumford

My family really does come first. It always did and always will. ~ Meryl Streep

The family is the test of freedom; because the family is the only thing that the free man makes for himself and by himself. ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

A family needs to work as a team, supporting each other’s individual goals and aspirations. ~ Buzz Aldrin

Family means putting your arms around each other and being there.~ Barbara Bush

Love makes a family. ~ Florence Nightingale

The tenure is temporary but the family is permanent.~ Yvonne De Gaulle

The family unit plays a critical role in our society and in the training of the generation to come. ~ Sandra Day O'Connor

He that raises a large family does, indeed, while he lives to observe them, stand a broader mark for sorrow; but then he stands a broader mark for pleasure too. ~ Benjamin Franklin Quotes

A woman can take care of the family. It takes a man to provide structure. To provide stability. Not that a woman can’t provide stability, I’m not saying that… It does take a father, though. ~Tom Delay

Family is the most important thing in the world.~ Princess Diana Quotes

Family is not an important thing, it’s everything.~ Michael J. Fox

If you don’t believe in ghosts, you’ve never been to a family reunion. ~ Ashleigh Brilliant

Marriage is to family what legs are to a table. ~Betty Jane Wylie

Where there is lasting love, there is a family.~ Shere Hite

Children keep a family together, especially when one can’t get a babysitter. ~Frederick Shepperd

Family life is too intimate to be preserved by the spirit of justice. It can be sustained by a spirit of love which goes beyond justice. ~ Reinhold Niebuhr

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. ~Desmond Tutu

Rarely do members of the same family grow up under the same roof.~ Richard Bach

Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don’t wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it’s at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored. ~Earl Nightingale

A man cannot leave a better legacy to the world than a well-educated family.~ Thomas Scott

My family is my strength and my weakness.~ Aishwarya Rai

The angel of the Family is Woman. Mother, wife, or sister. ~ Giuseppe Mazzini

In our family, as far as we are concerned, we were born and what happened before that is myth. ~ V. S. Pritchett

Family is just an accident…. They don't mean to get on your nerves. They don’t even mean to be your family, they just are. ~ Marsha Norman

Disorder in the society is the result of disorder in the family.~ Elizabeth Ann Seton

The family is the association established by nature for the supply of man’s everyday wants. ~ Aristotle Quotes

A family is a tyranny ruled over by it’s weakest member. ~ George Bernard Shaw Quotes

A man should never neglect his family for business. ~ Walt Disney

Family life is the source of the greatest human happiness.~ Robert J. Havighurst

Family relationships are one of the most interesting and complex. There are many expressions that characterize family members, their behavior, and character.

Let's look at some idioms that are somehow related to family and family relationships.

The black sheep

This immediately brings to mind the Russian “black sheep”, but in English the black sheep does not carry a negative meaning. To be the black sheep- means to be different from everyone else, to be different, as a rule, from relatives. Therefore, it would be more correct to translate the black sheep as - White crow.

My younger brother is the black sheep. He is different from the rest of the family.

My younger brother is a black sheep. He is different from all members of our family.

To see eye to eye (lit. look eye to eye)

When can people look into each other's eyes? The British believe that when people completely agree with each other, they look at the situation with the same eyes, i.e. see eye to eye.

They split up because they didn't see eye to eye.

They got divorced because they didn’t completely see eye to eye (because they didn’t agree on their personalities).

To be not on speaking terms

The expression itself speaks for itself, namely: that someone don't talk to each other; declare a boycott.

The atmosphere is a bit tense right now as my two sisters aren’t on speaking terms.

Now there is a tense atmosphere in the family, because... the sisters don't talk to each other.

Get-together

The verb to get has many meanings, some of them are to receive, get, collect.

The idiom get-together itself means come together.

We’re having a family get-together to celebrate my dad’s 80th birthday.

Our whole family will gather to celebrate my grandfather’s 80th birthday.

To wear the trousers (lit. wear trousers)

Logically, initially only men could wear trousers, and from time immemorial the man in the family was the head, the breadwinner.

But in the modern world, even a woman can be the head of the family ; These are the ladies we are talking about, about “generals in skirts.”

My sister wears the trousers in that marriage! She makes the decisions and tells her husband what to do.

My sister is the leader in her marriage. She makes all the decisions and tells her husband what to do.

It runs in the family (lit. it runs/moves in the family)

That's what they say about what is passed down in a family from generation to generation , for example: green eye color or the birth of twins.

I only want one more child, but twins run in our family.

I would like another child, but twins (twins) are born in our family.

To have a skeleton in the cupboard (lit. have a skeleton in the closet)

This idiom completely coincides with the Russian expression and is used to describe some kind of family “skeletons”, i.e. secrets, mysteries, little-known and unpleasant things.

Most families have a skeleton in the cupboard. Something happened in the past that they would prefer to keep secret.

Most families have their secrets. Events from the past that I would not like to talk about (I would like to forget).

Own flesh and blood (lit. own (own) flesh and blood)

Of course, they call their blood-children, relatives’ children, siblings, their own flesh and blood, i.e. those who flesh from flesh and blood from blood.

She's your sister! How can you say that about your own flesh and blood?

Is she your sister! How can you talk about your own flesh and blood like that?

Many will agree that family is the most important thing in a person’s life. This is probably why both in Russian and in English there are many idioms and set expressions related to home and family. This article will introduce you to 11 of the most popular ones. Go!

Literally - shh/silence is the word.

Meaning of the idiom:

This expression is said when asking someone to remain silent or hide some secret.

History of the idiom:

According to one version, the word mum comes from the sound that a person can make with his mouth closed - mooing. Subsequently, it began to be translated as “silence” or the exclamation “Shh!”, calling for silence. According to the second version, the word mum in Middle English was translated as “silence.” It comes from the word mummer (mime): a mime shows pantomime without a single sound, so the word mum has become associated with silence.

Usage example:

We are planning a surprise for Tom’s birthday, but mum's the word. - We're planning a surprise for Tom's birthday, but don't tell anyone about this.

Literally - the one who wins the bread; winning bread.

Meaning of the idiom:

This word is used to describe a person who brings the main income to the family and supports other family members.

History of the idiom:

There are two interesting versions of the origin of this expression. According to the first of them, in the 19th century (and it was then that the idiom appeared), the main food product in most families was bread. Therefore, the person who brought home money and fed his family was called “the one who wins the bread.”

According to the second version, many ordinary workers in the 19th century were often paid not in money, but in bread. Therefore, the person who earned the most brought home the most bread.

Usage example:

Mary's a breadwinner of her family; she makes a lot of money. - Mary - breadwinner of his family, she earns a lot of money.

Literally - wear pants.

Meaning of the idiom:

Most often, this expression is used in relation to a powerful woman who commands in the family and keeps her man under her thumb.

History of the idiom:

The history of the origin of this expression is quite obvious. Let's go back to the days when women only wore dresses and skirts and didn't wear pants. At that time, the world belonged to men: they were respected, they had the right to vote, they made all the decisions in the family and the world. Women's opinions were not taken into account at all. It was from these times that the stereotype began: a person wears pants, which means he is a man, which means he makes all the decisions.

Usage example:

Bill is a tough guy, but it’s Louisa who really wears the trousers in their relationship. - Bill is a tough guy, but it's Louise - the person who makes decisions in their relationship.

Now let's get acquainted with 8 more interesting expressions and idioms about family and home in English.

By the way, earlier in our articles we have already considered several expressions on this topic. For example, from the article “” you will learn who is called the “black sheep in the family”. In the article "" we talked about the interesting phraseological unit to bring home the bacon. And from the article “” you will learn about the expression it runs in the family.

We hope that all English idioms about home and family are easy for you to remember and you will be happy to use them in your own speech. And to study them better, download a pdf file with our selection and repeat them several times. We wish you success in English!