All dads know that fatherhood is a demanding, difficult, and extraordinary experience. Celebrate the father in your life with 10 of the best quotes about dads from literature.

1. “My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.” ―Jim Valvano

2. “A man who is not a father to his children can never be a real man.” ― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

3. “You don’t raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they’ll turn out to be heroes, even if it’s just in your own eyes.” ― Walter M. Schirra, Sr.

4. “My father didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.” ― Clarence B. Kelland

5. “It is not flesh and blood, but heart which makes us fathers and sons.” ― Friedrich von Schiller

6. “He promised us that everything would be okay. I was a child, but I knew that everything would not be okay. That did not make my father a liar. It made him my father.” ―Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

7. “I saw my father as a man, and not, as a man who was my father.” ― Richard Llewellyn, How Green Was My Valley

8. “The difference between a ‘man’ and a ‘father’ is that the former shares his genes, but latter gives his life.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

9. “A great father is one whose children look up to him rather than away from him.” ― Richelle E. Goodrich, Slaying Dragons

10. “Although he couldn’t have articulated it, he felt that knowing about his father was a prerequisite to knowing himself.” ―Jeff Wallach, Mr. Wizard

Related: 5 Novels About Fatherhood.