Sibling Love

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These Are The Perfect Quotes To Share On National Siblings Day

Because what would you do without them?

by Kinsey Gidick and Jessica Booth
Updated: 
Originally Published: 

Siblings: can’t live with them, can’t live without them. Okay, so maybe you can live without them, but like a boomerang you’ll always fly back to each other, like it or not. Our siblings are the keepers of our childhood secrets, archivists of our failures and successes, and if we’re lucky, best friends. So it’s no surprise there’s a national day to celebrate this special relationship. And to do just that, here are 50 quotes to share on National Siblings Day.

On Sunday, April 10, turn to these wise words when you’re thinking about your brothers or sisters. Each represents a universal truth about what it means to share parents, whether by blood or not. And there’s a little something for every relationship, whether your Siblings Day message is a silly one or you feel a little more generous and prefer to share something heartfelt. Some are the words of famous authors, others come from fictional characters (ahem, Lemony Snicket), but they all say what we’re all thinking when we give our bro the side-eye or reach for a long-awaited hug from a sis. They say, “love you, mean it” but, you know, in a much more profound way.

"To the outside world, we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other's hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time." - Clara Ortega

“Brothers and sisters can say things to one another that no one else can.” ― Gregory E. Lang

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"Your parents leave you too soon and your kids and spouse come along late, but your siblings know you when you are in your most inchoate form." — Jeffrey Kluger

"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them." — Desmond Tutu

"Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero." — Marc Brown

"Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet." — Vietnamese Proverb

“Siblings that say they never fight are most definitely hiding something.” ― Lemony Snicket

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"There's no other love like the love for a brother. There's no other love like the love from a brother." — Terri Guillemets

"Sibling relationships - and 80 percent of Americans have at least one - outlast marriages, survive the death of parents, resurface after quarrels that would sink any friendship. They flourish in a thousand incarnations of closeness and distance, warmth, loyalty and distrust." - Erica E. Goode

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"The family is one of nature's masterpieces." — George Santayana

"A brother is a friend given by nature." — Jean Baptiste Legouve

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"Sweet is the voice of a sister in the season of sorrow." — Benjamin Disraeli

"Siblings are the people we practice on, the people who teach us about fairness and cooperation and kindness and caring, quite often the hard way." — Pamela Dugdale

"In the cookies of life, sisters are the chocolate chips." — Anonymous

"We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together." ― Erma Bombeck

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"If you want to do really important things in life and big things in life, you can't do anything by yourself. And your best teams are your friends and your siblings." ― Deepak Chopra

"Like branches on a tree we grow in different directions yet our roots remain as one. Each of our lives will always be a special part of the other." ― Anonymous

"The best thing about having a sister was that I always had a friend." ― Cali Rae Turner

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"Older siblings... the only people who will pick on you for their own entertainment and beat up anyone else who tries." ― Anonymous

"There's a special kind of freedom sisters enjoy. Freedom to share innermost thoughts, to ask a favor, to show their true feelings. The freedom to simply be themselves." ― Anonymous

“Older siblings… the only people who will pick on you for their own entertainment and beat up anyone else who tries.” ― Unknown

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"A sibling may be the keeper of one's identity, the only person with the keys to one's unfettered, more fundamental self." ― Marian Sandmaier

"First a brother, then a bother, now a friend." ― Anonymous

“Half the time when brothers wrestle, it’s just an excuse to hug each other.” ― James Patterson

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“Having a sister is like having a best friend you can’t get rid of. You know whatever you do, they’ll still be there.” — Amy Li

“The greatest gift our parents ever gave us was each other.” ― Unknown

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“The best things in life come in threes, like friends, dreams, and memories.” — Anonymous

“True siblings are bound together by far more essential things than blood, while more times than many blood isn’t thicker than water.” ― Constantina Maud

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"Back in time it seemed that having a sister were a tragedy. Instead it is one of the best presents my parents could have ever given me." ―Sara Anzellotti

“Think of your family today and every day thereafter, don’t let the busy world of today keep you from showing how much you love and appreciate your family.” — Anonymous

"For there is no friend like a sister in calm or stormy weather; to cheer one on the tedious way, to fetch one if one goes astray, to lift one if one totters down, to strengthen whilst one stands." ― Christina Rossetti

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“A sibling is the lens through which you see your childhood.” ― Ann Hood

“The mildest, drowsiest sister has been known to turn tiger if her sibling is in trouble.” ― Clara Ortega

“Having lots of siblings is like having built-in best friends.” ― Kim Kardashian

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“A good friend knows all of your best stories, a sibling has lived them with you.” ― Unknown

“Siblings are like streetlights along the road, they don’t make distance any shorter but they light up the path and make the walk worthwhile.” ― Unknown

“They say that no matter how old you become, when you are with your siblings, you revert back to childhood.” ― Karen White

“Siblings: your only enemy you can’t live without.” — Anonymous

“Children of the same family, the same blood, with the same first associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply.” — Jane Austen

“A sibling represents a person’s past, present, and future.” — John Corey Whaley

“In some ways, siblings, and especially sisters, are more influential in your childhood than your parents.” — Deborah Tannen

“How do people make it through life without a sister?” — Sara Corpening

“You can kid the world, but not your sister.” — Charlotte Gray

“Family isn’t an important thing. It’s everything.” — Michael J. Fox

“Sisters annoy, interfere, criticize. Indulge in monumental sulks, in huffs, in snide remarks. Borrow. Break. Monopolize the bathroom. Are always underfoot. But if catastrophe should strike, sisters are there. Defending you against all." — Pam Brown

“Our brothers and sisters are there with us from the dawn of our personal stories to the inevitable dusk.” — Susan Scarf Merrell

“Brother and sister, together as friends, ready to face whatever life sends. Joy and laughter or tears and strife, holding hands tightly as we dance through life.” — Suzie Huitt

“None of us are sure why we fight. We’re sisters. We need no good reason to fight." —Ken Wheaton

“We didn’t know we were making memories... we were having fun.” — Winnie the Pooh

“The advantage of growing up with siblings is that you become very good at fractions.” — Robert Brault

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