35 Quotes About Sibling Rivalry

Having siblings in life can bring us many blessings. For some, a little bit of sibling rivalry can make it all worth it. These quotes about sibling rivalry will bring you the encouragement and inspiration you need to enhance your relationship.

“As parents it is well to be aware of the tendency to equate energetic activity with contest. Our children’s worth does not dependon their ability to trounce one another.”

“At the snowy summit of all these things, however, is the fact that you simply cannot go about locking your siblings in towers when they misbehave. It is unseemly and betrays a sad lack of creativity.”

“But a vague jealousy, one of those dormant jealousies that develop between brothers or sisters almost unnoticed until maturity, only to burst out when one of them marries or has a stroke of good fortune, kept them constantly on the alert in a fraternal, unaggressive hostility.”

“Even though siblings share similar genes, their personalities vary 80% of the time.”

“Eventually we will learn that the loss of indivisible love is another of our necessary losses, that loving extends beyond the mother-child pair, that most of the love we receive in this world is love we will have to share–and that sharing begins at home, with our sibling rivals.”

“Friends are the siblings God never gave us.”

“From their struggles to establish dominance over each other, siblings become tougher and more resilient. From their endless rough-housing with each other, they develop speed and agility.”

“I believe in soulmates, yes, but I believe you also have to work at love. I happen to believe your soulmate doesn’t have to be your partner – your soulmate could be your best friend, your sibling, it doesn’t have to be the person you marry.”

“I don’t believe an accident of birth makes people sisters or brothers. It makes them siblings, gives them mutuality of parentage. Sisterhood and brotherhood is a condition people have to work at.”

“I don’t remember any sibling rivalry growing up, because by the time I was really conscious, Tom was going away to college. My relationship with him, which is a very close one, really developed in more recent years.”

“I grew up with an older brother, and the bond between siblings is unlike anything else, and it can be a real journey to accept what that bond is once you both mature into it. Because it’s not always what you want. It’s not always what you expect.”

“I had this odd sibling rivalry with America.”

“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.”

“I know it’s a cliche, but the whole family is just whacked. I mean, we’re all out of our minds. They’re the funniest, most eccentric bizarre people I’ve ever met, my siblings.”

“I think I’m funny because my family, my siblings were funny.”

“It seems to me that we have to draw the line in sibling rivalry whenever rivalry goes out of bounds into destructive behavior of aphysical or verbal kind. The principle needs to be this: Whatever the reasons for your feelings you will have to find civilized solutions.”

“Many toxic parents compare one sibling unfavorably with another to make the target child feel that he’s not doing enough to gain parental affection.”

“More people would be depressed, if parents tried to please their children as frequently and as badly as children try to please their parents.”

“My mom wasn’t home to arbitrate, so he forced me to try to strangle him with a phone cord.”

“My sister and I never engaged in sibling rivalry. Our parents weren’t that crazy about either one of us.”

“Siblings are the people we practice on, the people who teach us about fairness and cooperation and kindness and caringquite often the hard way.”

“Take two kids in competition for their parents’ love and attention. Add to that the envy that one child feels for the accomplishments of the other; the resentment that each child feels for the privileges of the other.”

“The best thing about having a sister was that I always had a friend.”

“The last image I registered was Ethan and my hand – linked, bound and unbreakable.”

“The mere existence of an additional child or children in the family could signify Less. Less time alone with parents. Less attention for hurts and disappointments. Less approval for accomplishments.”

“The more you love,the more love you have to give.It’s the only feeling we have which is infinite…”

“The two brothers looked so alike now and their faces seemed to ripple under the weight of powerful emotions. Hatred, love, violence and fear.”

“We have to divide mother love with our brothers and sisters. Our parents can help us cope with the loss of our dream of absolute love. But they cannot make us believe that we haven’t lost it.”

“We know one another’s faults, virtues, catastrophes, mortifications, triumphs, rivalries, desires, and how long we can each hang by our hands to a bar. We have been banded together under pack codes and tribal laws.”

“We must love one another, yes, yes, that’s all true enough, but nothing says we have to like each other. It may be the very recognition of all men as our brothers that accounts for the sibling rivalry, and even enmity, we have toward so many of them.”

“When he heard his father call out for Abel and he saw his brother go forth, it made him feel like he was nothing. He couldn’t even say that he felt like Cain anymore.”

“When I was writing the script, I knew didn’t want to make a sports movie. I was very clear that I wanted to make a sibling rivalry story. So when I was writing the script, the football was getting in the way of the drama.”

“You actually do confront your dark side, your impulses, or your feelings of sibling rivalry in Cinderella or whatever.”

“You know, I don’t think your brother dislikes you as much as you think. After all, he gave up a kingdom to stay with his family.”

“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.”

Gaining preference in the light of your parents can be a leading cause of sibling rivalry.