“I had a number of very strong personalities in my family. My father was a concert flutist, the solo flute for Toscanini.”

“I really appreciate family. I really can't imagine life without them!”

“Family love is messy, clinging, and of an annoying and repetitive pattern, like bad wallpaper.”

“I would rather start a family than finish one.”

“The left dismisses talk about the collapse of family life and talks instead about the emergence of the growing new diversity of family types.”

“You can say I had a severe case of 'Roots' envy. I wanted to be like Alex Haley, and I wanted to be able to... do my family tree back to the slave ship and then reverse the Middle Passage, as I like to put it, and find the tribe or ethnic group that I was from in Africa.”

“It was the labor movement that helped secure so much of what we take for granted today. The 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, family leave, health insurance, Social Security, Medicare, retirement plans. The cornerstones of the middle-class security all bear the union label.”

“I have often noticed that ancestors never boast of the descendants who boast of ancestors. I would rather start a family than finish one. Blood will tell, but often it tells too much.”

“My wife, my family, my friends - they've all taught me things about love and what that emotion really means. In a nutshell, loving someone is about giving, not receiving.”

“Instead of plotting the demise of the traditional family, as some politicians and religious leaders would have you believe, gay people mow their lawns and watch 'American Idol' and video their children's concerts and have the same hopes and dreams that their straight counterparts do.”

“It's all about quality of life and finding a happy balance between work and friends and family.”

“I've always known I wanted a family.”

“I was the oldest of the children in my family. I had to do a lot of diaper-changing and lunch-making. I was taking my little sister to ballet, picking up my brother, sort of being a super-nanny.”

“I think illness is a family journey, no matter what the outcome. Everybody has to be allowed to process it and mourn and deal with it in their own way.”

“Sure, I have friends, plenty of friends, and they all come around wantin' to borrow money. I've always been generous with my friends and family, with money, but selfish with the important stuff like love.”

“I would like a food/lifestyle show. We're not sure what that is yet. I want to be able to share what I do and how I raise my family. I feel like I have a story to tell. I enjoy talking and listening, sharing ideas and sharing advice.”

“I love being healthy. I get a lot of sleep. I'm a girl who eats. And I feel beautiful no matter how I look. I have my family to thank for that.”

“Everything happens for a reason. I'm used to it, I prepare for it. Like I say, at the end of the day, those in charge of their own destiny are going to do what's right for them and their family.”

“I would prefer to have no money but to have a nice family and good friends around.”

“Until he lost all his money, my father was a successful north London Jewish businessman. He was unusual among his immediate family in that he was enormously cultured and had an incredible library.”

“The kitchen really is the castle itself. This is where we spend our happiest moments and where we find the joy of being a family.”