My father was a man of love. He always loved me to death. He worked hard in the fields, but my father never hit me. Never. I don't ever remember a really cross, unkind word from my father.

When I was 17 - 16, my father and I cut wood all day long and I was swinging that crosscut saw and hauling wood.

As a father now, I wouldn't do what my dad did, because it left me feeling emotionally unstable as a kid. But he didn't do the things he did out of selfishness or malice.

When a father gives to his son, both laugh; when a son gives to his father, both cry.

This fulfils my ambition. I still have my father's robe as Chancellor. I shall be proud to serve you in this splendid office.

But I know for a fact that had I had a father, I'd have some discipline. I'd have more confidence. Your mother cannot calm you down the way a man can. Your mother can't reassure you the way a man can. My mother couldn't show me where my manhood was. You need a man to teach you how to be a man.