Father’s Day Quotes From 4 MasterClass Instructors

Father’s Day is an official holiday meant to highlight and celebrate the good that fathers—as well as grandfathers and stepdads—do for their children. In the United States, it falls on the first Sunday of June each year, after the springtime holidays of Easter and Memorial Day and before Independence Day in the heart of summer.

Around the world, different countries celebrate Father’s Day at distinct times. For example, it falls on the first Sunday of September in Australia and New Zealand, but the United Kingdom and Canada celebrate it on the third Sunday of June. It’s tradition to exchange a Father’s Day card as one way of saying “I love you” to your family member.

Some experts trace the history of Father’s Day all the way back to St. Joseph’s Day, a Catholic holiday to commemorate Joseph, the father of Christ, and all other fathers alongside him. To this day, Spain and Portugal are two countries that still celebrate Father’s Day on St. Joseph’s Day.

In the United States, Father’s Day owes its genesis at least in part to the establishment of Mother’s Day as an official public holiday. Follow the holiday’s history:

• First stirrings: Sonora Smart Dodd, the daughter of a Civil War veteran, heard of Anna Jarvis’s success in getting Mother’s Day approved as a national holiday, and thought she should lobby for her own good father and fathers like him to receive the same treatment. Smart Dodd managed to get her Spokane YMCA to celebrate the first Father’s Day in the United States as early as 1910. Still, it would be a long time before the practice spread from the state of Washington throughout the rest of the country.
• The path toward legitimacy: In the summer of 1908, people in West Virginia had gathered to commemorate the fathers lost in the Monongah Mining Disaster, which had occurred the previous December. Still, it wasn’t until 1913 when Congress first began to try to certify Father’s Day as a national holiday alongside the efforts of President Woodrow Wilson. There was a great deal of pushback at first—some worried the holiday would become too commercial and others argued it would be more useful to have a joint Parents’ Day.
• Presidential endorsements: In the 1920s, President Calvin Coolidge recommended people celebrate the holiday but stopped short of codifying it into law. Father’s Day still wasn’t a holiday until long after World War II, for that matter. Still, President Lyndon B. Johnson insisted the United States celebrate the holiday on every third Sunday of June starting with his presidential proclamation in 1966.
• Seal of approval: President Richard Nixon declared Father’s Day an official federal holiday in 1972, and the United States has celebrated it as such ever since. Today celebrating the holiday includes the exchange of DIY or commercial greeting cards and Father’s Day gifts, as well as other special, family-specific ways of commemorating the occasion.

The best Father’s Day quotes are timeless. These seven quotes from MasterClass instructors’ dad can help brighten up an already happy Father’s Day celebration with the right words of wisdom:

1. 1. Be ready for the future. Fatherhood is about preparing your kids for the future and all the twists and turns it can throw their way. “My dad's most famous quote was probably, ‘Skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it's been,’” hockey legend Wayne Gretzky says. “And he really believes in his heart of hearts that you can teach anticipation.”
2. 2. Give back. Great fathers can extend a caring hand to another person as if they were their own child. “My dad always said, ‘There's people less fortunate than us,’” singer and percussionist Sheila E. says. “‘Let's get the gear, meaning the timbales, congas, bongos, hand toys. Let's put them in the car. Let's find kids that don't have [access to] and play music. And let's make them happy for one day.’”
3. 3. Know your worth. Fathers help their children know their worth. “My dad pulled me aside, and he walked me into the kitchen,” Sheila E. says. “And he opened the refrigerator, and he said, ‘See that right there? There's not much in there. You have to get paid because you wanna help support yourself. If this is gonna be your career, it's okay to get paid.’”
4. 4. Let your work stand for itself. Fathers help their children build confidence by empowering them to be proud of what they accomplish. “I do remember the looks that we got, and particularly from kids, the negative kind of comments,” race car driver Lewis Hamilton says. “But when we were at these cart races, my dad just said, ‘Do your talkin' on the track.’"
5. 5. Make friends with failure. A great dad shows you how to pick yourself up when you’re down and helps you learn from your mistakes. “My dad, when I was growing up, taught me to fail and encouraged me to fail,” business mogul Sarah Blakely says. “And I do the same thing inside of Spanx. Your company will lose its competitive edge if people start to fear making mistakes.”
6. 6. Never give up. A great father-child relationship transcends time and space—sometimes you can hear your dad’s words of wisdom even if he’s not there. Lewis recalls, “I definitely feel through my life, my dad was always kind of on my shoulder, whispering in my ear, ‘Don't give up.’”
7. 7. Stay dedicated. Your dad can be your biggest cheerleader at the same time he tries to keep you clear-eyed about what it takes to succeed. “My dad was a big believer that they don't ask you how you scored,” Wayne remembers. “They ask how many you scored.”

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