“If daughters couldn't soften a man, then nothing would.”
“What kind of a man would turn his daughter into an outboard motor?”
“A man who desires to soften another man's heart, should always abuse himself. In softening a woman's heart, he should abuse her.”
“A woman should soften but not weaken a man.”
“In 2005, a man diagnosed with multiple myeloma asked me if he would be alive to watch his daughter graduate from high school in a few months. In 2009, bound to a wheelchair, he watched his daughter graduate from college. The wheelchair had nothing to do with his cancer. The man had fallen down while coaching his youngest son's baseball team.”
“Daughters," he told her as they dug. "Nothing better than a good daughter.”