Cousins are those childhood playmates who grow up to be forever friends.

The above ‘dream photograph’ and the one below are of my son with his cousins. Here you can see them lined up to play a game of ‘Train’ and then joyfully moving across rooms in the house spreading smiles and happiness in the family. My youngest son in not in the photograph, he was not born by then. They are seven cousins and all good friends. Coming across this photograph reminded me of the bonding between my cousins and that of my children and their cousins and of my collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous ‘cousins’ quotes, cousins sayings, and cousins proverbs, collected over a period of time from a variety of sources. Here they are:

Cousins are connected heart to heart,

Distance and time can't keep them apart!

Cousins are friends who will love you forever - Constance Richards

No matter how you feel about your extended family or family gatherings you will be attending. This is because now the ultimate reason for attending family gatherings is for your children to have the time of their lives with their cousins. Little kids love their cousins. I'm not being cute or exaggerating here. Cousins are like celebrities for little kids. If little kids had a People magazine, cousins would be on the cover. Cousins are the barometers of how fun a family get-together will be. Are the cousins going to be there? Fun! - Jim Gaffigan

In my cousin, I find a second self - Isabel Norton

A cousin is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost - Marion C. Garretty

Cousins are people that are ready made friends, you have laughs with them and remember good times from a young age, you have fights with them but you always know you love each other, they are a better thing than brothers and sisters and friends because they are all pieced together as one - Courtney Cox

Cousins are those childhood playmates who grow up to be forever friends - unknown

Cousins are those rare people who ask how we are and then wait to hear the answer - Ed Cunningham

At Christmas, Cousins are the presents under the tree - Karen Decourcey

Every man sees in his relatives, and especially in his cousins, a series of grotesque caricatures of himself - H. L. Mencken

Cousin to cousin we'll always be, special friends from the same family tree - unknown

Cousins by chance, friends by choice - Proverb

I always call my cousin because we're so close. We're almost like sisters, and we're also close because our moms are sisters - Britney Spears

Cousins are Sisters you never had - Reah Glowstorl

Cousins are Cool to see, Impossible to Forget and True to your heart - Leo Farno

Win, lose or draw, you're all my cousins and I love you - Chill Wills

Born as a cousin, made as a friend - Byron Pulsifer

Cousins are not those we do not know but instead part of a family that also provide support and comfort - Byron Pulsifer

A real cousin (or friend) is someone who walks in when the rest of the world walks out - Proverb

I may argue with my brother, but I fight beside my brother against my cousin, and with my cousin against a stranger - Old Arab adage

Our dads used to do this, and now us cousins always get together for it - Larry Lewis

If you have 30 cousins, everything is pretty easy - Joseph P. Kennedy

Within our family there was no such thing as a person who did not matter. Second cousins thrice removed also mattered - Shirley Abbott

A cousin is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost - unknown

Cousins are many. Best friends are few. What a rare delight to find both in you - unknown

Friends are forever, cousins are for life! - unknown

Nobody will understand the craziness of your family better than your cousins - unknown

A cousin is a ready-made friend for life – unknown

Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the cousins together - Woodrow Wilson

Cousins by blood - friends by choice - Darlene Shaw