Ellen Key Quotes

Divorce, which was once no more than tolerated out of necessity, if that, has now become a right. Everyone is now free to divorce as easily as is possible. Yet it cannot be said that divorce does not infringe upon the rights of others. The rights of children to be raised in a family environment are clearly damaged by divorce, but this is not deemed to be a serious enough infringement to limit the right of divorce

It's not that, you know, when a relationship doesn't work and there are issues, you have to somehow work it out if there are children involved.

Here's the thing: the unit of reverence in Europe is the family, which is why a child born today of unmarried parents in Sweden has a better chance of growing up in a house with both of his parents than a child born to a married couple in America. Here we revere the couple, there they revere the family.

My kids have a great dad. I don't really want them to have a stepfather, and I don't think they do, either.

I'm not a good father and they're not children any more; the eldest is in his fifties. My relationship with their mothers broke down and, because of what the law was, they went with their mothers and were imbued with their mothers' morality in life and they were not my people any more.

India has progressed to a stage where a divorcee status hardly matters. What matters is that you raise a positive, independent, well-behaved and intelligent child.

Americans, indeed, often seem to be so overwhelmed by their children that they'll do anything for them except stay married to the co-producer.

I tell everyone in the world that I have always been the best father I could be and that I was the worst husband. Wooo!

'Kramer vs. Kramer' is one of my favorite films, where you have a story that really juxtaposes a lot of ideas that we have about family and about parenting.

Protecting our kids is a sacred obligation.

Michael and I will always be connected with the kids. I will always be there for him. I will always be there for the children. And people make remarks: 'I can't believe she left her children.' Left them? I left my children? I did not leave my children. My children are with their father, where they are supposed to be.

I had to learn to respect the relationship my son had with his father outside of the three of us.

Who's taking care of the children is an important question for all of us.

A decent person does not alienate children from a parent, no matter how angry they are at the parent for the divorce. It's unfair to the children, and it's unfair to the other human being

Children might or might not be a blessing, but to create them and then fail them was surely damnation.

There may be some doubt as to who are the best people to have charge of children, but there can be no doubt that parents are the worst.

They have taken the care and upbringing of children out of the hands of parents, where it belongs, and thrown it upon a gang of irresponsible and unintelligent quacks.

Parents own the children, and it is an issue of freedom and public health.

Raising children was not designed for single parents. (Which is why divorce was such a taboo prior to birth control).

I have heard earnest American sociologists say that American children have a right to the divorce experience as an enriching element of an advanced civilisation.

The greatest reverence is due to a child! If you are contemplating a disgraceful act, despise not your child's tender years.

There are accidental parents, but there are no accidental children. There are illegitimate parents, but there are no illegitimate children.

Children are entitled to life. We conceive them and so we owe them our care and our protection. This may not be a dictate of law anymore, but it is a dictate of love.

...to bring a child into existence without a fair prospect of being able, not only to provide food for its body, but instruction and training for its mind is a moral crime, both against the unfortunate offspring and against society

Ever wonder why people are so determined to reach for white picket fences, supposed normalcy, a nuclear family? Well, try growing up without one.