We never really are the adults we pretend to be. We wear the mask and perhaps the clothes and posture of grown-ups, but inside ourskin we are never as wise or as sure or as strong as we want to… — Frank Pittman Copy Share Image
In colonial America, the father was the primary parent. . . . Over the past two hundred years, each generation of fathers has hadless authority than the last. . . . Masculinity ceased to be defined in terms of domestic involvement, skills at fathering and husbanding, but began to be defined in terms of making money. Men had to leave… — Frank Pittman Copy Share
We long for our father. We wear his clothes, and actually try to fill his shoes. . . . We hang on to him, begging him to teach ushow to do whatever is masculine, to throw balls or be in the woods or go see where he works. . . . We want our fathers to protect us from coming… — Frank Pittman Copy Share
Our ability to fall in love requires enough comfort with our masculinity to join it with someone's femininity and feel enhanced. .. . If our mother made us feel secure and proud in our masculinity, then we want to find that again in our wife. If we are really comfortable with our mother, we can even marry a woman who… — Frank Pittman Copy Share
The mother must teach her son how to respect and follow the rules. She must teach him how to compete successfully with the other boys. And she must teach him how to find a woman to take care of him and finish the job she began of training him how to live in a family. But no matter how good… — Frank Pittman Copy Share
Parents can fail to cheer your successes as wildly as you expected, pointing out that you are sharing your Nobel Prize with a couple of other people, or that your Oscar was for supporting actress, not really for a starring role. More subtly, they can cheer your successes too wildly, forcing you into the awkward realization that your achievement of… — Frank Pittman Copy Share
Every boy was supposed to come into the world equipped with a father whose prime function was to be our father and show us… — Frank Pittman Copy Share Image
At the heart of male bonding is this experience of boys in early puberty: they know they must break free from their mothers and… — Frank Pittman Copy Share Image
We know how powerful our mother was when we were little, but is our wife that powerful to us now? Must we relive our… — Frank Pittman Copy Share Image
Mothers who are strong people, who can pursue a life of their own when it is time to let their children go, empower their childrenof either gender to feel free and whole. But weak women, women who feel and act like victims of something or other, may make their children feel responsible for taking care of them, and they can… — Frank Pittman Copy Share
Fidelity is the single most important element in solidly enduring marriages. — Frank Pittman Copy Share Image
Some parents were awful back then and are awful still. The process of raising you didn't turn them into grown-ups. Parents who were clearly imperfect can be helpful to you. As you were trying to grow up despite their fumbling efforts, you had to develop skills and tolerances other kids missed out on. Some of the strongest people I know… — Frank Pittman Copy Share
To insult a friend implies that you respect his masculinity enough to know he can take it without acting like a crybaby. The swapping… — Frank Pittman Copy Share Image
