Top 60 James Dobson Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “Touching Hearts, Changing Lives.”

— James Dobson

2. “No man stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child.”

— James Dobson

3. “There is nothing more important than parents passing on a generational legacy of faith and values to their children.”

— James Dobson

4. “Respect is intended to operate on a two-way street.”

— James Dobson

5. “My legacy doesn’t matter. It isn’t important that I be remembered. It’s important that when I stand before the Lord, he says, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’ I want to finish strong.”

— James Dobson

Featured in: Strong Quotes

6. “Children represent God’s most generous gift to us.”

— James Dobson

7. “Don’t marry the person you think you can live with; marry only the individual you think you can’t live without.”

— James Dobson

8. “A child identifies his parents with God, whether or not the adults want that role. Most children ‘see’ God the way they perceive their earthly fathers.”

— James Dobson

9. “The footsteps a child follows are most likely to be the ones his parents thought they covered up.”

— James Dobson

10. “Trust involves letting go and knowing God will catch you.”

— James Dobson

11. “The final heartbeat for the Christian is not the mysterious conclusion to a meaningless existence. It is, rather, the grand beginning to a life that will never end.”

— James Dobson

12. “If you’re going through difficult times today, hold steady. It will change soon. If you are experiencing smooth sailing and easy times now, brace yourself. It will change soon. The only thing you can be certain of is change.”

— James Dobson

13. “To those who say Ted Bundy should burn forever in eternity I would only say, so should I, so should all of us...”

— James Dobson

14. “Don’t throw away your friendship with your teenager over behavior that has no great moral significance. There will be plenty of real issues that require you to stand like a rock. Save your big guns for those crucial confrontations.”

— James Dobson

15. “It will always hurt to be laughed at, snubbed, ignored or attacked by others. But I would remind you that the human personality grows through adversity, provided it is not crushed in the process.”

— James Dobson

16. “We are so busy giving our children what we never had that we forget to give them what we did have.”

— James Dobson

17. “You have to work to keep love alive; you have to protect it and maintain it, just like you would a delicate flower.”

— James Dobson

18. “Marriage succeeds only as lifetime commitment with no escape clauses.”

— James Dobson

19. “A good marriage is not one where perfection reigns: it is a relationship where a healthy perspective overlooks a multitude of “unresolvables.””

— James Dobson

20. “Loving discipline encourages a child to respect other people and live as a responsible, constructive citizen.”

— James Dobson

21. “Great beginnings are not as important as the way one finishes.”

— James Dobson

22. “One of the most important responsibilities in the Christian life is to care about others, smile at them, and be a friend to the friendless.”

— James Dobson

23. “God does not need our money. But you and I need the experience of giving it.”

— James Dobson

24. “Show me a husband who keeps his thoughts to himself, and I will show you a frustrated wife.”

— James Dobson

25. “A boy or girl who knows that love abounds at home will not resent well-deserved punishment. One who is unloved or ignored will hate any form of discipline.”

— James Dobson

26. “Children are not casual guests in our home. They have been loaned to us temporarily for the purpose of loving them and instilling a foundation of values on which their future lives will be built.”

— James Dobson

27. “Extreme independence is as destructive to a relationship as total dependence.”

— James Dobson

28. “Conceit is a weird disease – it makes everybody sick except the guy who has it.”

— James Dobson

29. “God’s Heart is especially tender toward the downtrodden and the defeated. He knows your name and He has seen every tear you have shed.”

— James Dobson

30. “Morality and immorality are not defined by man’s changing attitudes and social customs. They are determined by the God of the universe, whose timeless standards cannot be ignored with impunity.”

— James Dobson

31. “If homes are going to survive, it will be because husbands and fathers again place their families at the highest level on their system of priorities.”

— James Dobson

32. “It is impossible to overstate the need for prayer in the fabric of family life.”

— James Dobson

33. “Authority is God ordained, but authoritarianism and raw power, in almost all forms, is dangerous.”

— James Dobson

34. “We human beings can survive the most difficult of circumstances if we are not forced to stand alone.”

— James Dobson

35. “If you let a child know that you think he is lazy, sloppy, untruthful, unpleasant, and thoughtless, he’ll probably prove you are right. Obviously, it is much better to make him stretch to reach a positive image than stoop to match one at ground level.”

— James Dobson

36. “Clearly, the Scripture tells us that we lack the capacity to grasp God’s infinite mind or the way He intervenes in our lives. How arrogant of us to think otherwise! Trying to analyze His omnipotence is like an amoeba attempting to comprehend the behavior of man.”

— James Dobson

37. “Those who are the happiest are not neccessarily those for whom life has been easiest.”

— James Dobson

38. “When you let people put you up on a pedestal, you step one step in any direction, and you’re going to go down.”

— James Dobson

39. “Can’t you see the Creator of the universe, who understands every secret, every mystery, sitting patiently and listening to a four-year-old talk to Him? That’s a beautiful image of a father.”

— James Dobson

40. “Those who control what young people are taught, and what they experience – what they see, hear, think, and believe – will determine the future course for the nation.”

— James Dobson

41. “When these parenting years have passed, something precious will have flickered and gone out of my life. Thus, I am resolved to enjoy every day that remains in this fathering era.”

— James Dobson

42. “The right to criticize must be earned, even if the advice is constructive in nature.”

— James Dobson

43. “God has called us to be His representatives in our nation and in our world. Select candidates who represent your views and work for their election.”

— James Dobson

44. “The universe and everything in it will someday pass away and be made new by the Creator. Therefore, the events of today that seem so important are not really very significant, except for those matters that will survive the end of the universe.”

— James Dobson

45. “It is our uniqueness that gives freshness and vitality to a relationship.”

— James Dobson

46. “There are very few certainties that touch us all in this mortal experience, but one of the absolutes is that we will experience hardship and stress at some point.”

— James Dobson

47. “We Americans are living a lifestyle of exhaustion. We don’t have time for ourselves, much less for each other and our children.”

— James Dobson

48. “My dad and I hunted and fished together. How could I get angry at this man who took the time to be with me?”

— James Dobson

49. “Prayer and dependence on God has been our history. How unfortunate it is now that an unaccountable and unelected and misguided judge from Wisconsin, Judge Barbara Crabb, has declared National Days of Prayer – established by the Congress – to be unconstitutional.”

— James Dobson

50. “One of the first things you and your fiance need to develop is a meaningful prayer life even before the wedding. My wife, Shirley, and I did that, and the time we have spent on our knees has been the stabilizing factor throughout nearly forty years of marriage.”

— James Dobson