Barbara Bush

“I married the first man I ever kissed. When I tell my children that, they just about throw up.”

“Believe in something larger than yourself... get involved in the big ideas of your time.”

“At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a friend, a child, or a parent.”

“Your success as a family... our success as a nation... depends not on what happens inside the White House, but on what happens inside your house.”

“The home is the child's first school, and the parent is the child's first teacher.”

“Never lose sight of the fact that the most important yardstick of your success will be how you treat other people.”

“Cherish your human connections: your relationships with friends and family.”

“For heaven's sake, enjoy life. Don't cry. Don't whine. Don't complain. Be grateful.”

“To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there.”

“Giving frees us from the familiar territory of our own needs by opening our minds to the unexplained worlds occupied by the needs of others.”

“If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle: 'Take two aspirin' and 'Keep away from children.'”

“Reading is the basis of all learning.”

“You don't just luck into things... You build them step by step, whether it's friendships or opportunities.”

“The darn trouble with cleaning the house is it gets dirty the next day anyway, so skip a week if you have to. The children are the most important thing.”

“Somewhere in this audience may be the next president of the United States. But I'm not going to specify which one of our children I'm talking about.”

“I'm not going to change my ways just to please you or the Republican Party.”