Cousin quotes for grown cousins who grew up together

Grown cousins sit somewhere between siblings and friends. You spent holidays and summers together growing up, and now you're adults who keep in touch because you want to. The cousin quotes below are for that kind of cousin. They're sorted by which cousin you have in mind, so pick the part that fits and change any word to make it yours.

An example: Tamsin is 38 and Bea is 35, and they are first cousins. Every August they play the same mini golf course by the lake, near the town where both families used to spend the summer. They have kept a running score for more than twenty years, and Bea always holds the card. Tamsin needs one putt at the windmill hole to win the whole summer. She sticks her tongue out, taps the ball, and it rolls straight between the blades. Bea leans on her putter and laughs until she has to wipe her eyes. Then she writes at the bottom of the card: "Tamsin wins. Again. Still my favorite person to lose to."

What a cousin is, in one line

These are for when you want to say what cousins are, in general, at the top of a card or a post.

• "A cousin is a sibling you only had to share on holidays."
• "Cousins are the only people who laugh at the same family stories every time."
• "A cousin knew you before you worked out how to be cool."
• "Cousins are the friends who come with the family recipes."
• "Cousins grow up in different houses and somehow laugh at exactly the same things."

Cousin to cousin, straight from you

These are written from one cousin to the other, for a message, a card or a toast at a family dinner. Each one says a small thing plainly.

• "Cousin to cousin, you're one of my favorite people in this whole family."
• "I don't say it often, so I'll write it down. I'm glad you're my cousin."
• "You were there for half my stories, and I'd like you there for the rest."
• "Of all the people I'm related to, you're the one I'd pick for a road trip."
• "Thanks for always taking my side at the dinner table, even when I was wrong."

The cousin who was more like a sister or brother

Some cousins spent so many summers in the same house that the word cousin never felt big enough.

• "People ask if we're sisters. We stopped correcting them years ago."
• "My first friend was you, and nobody has taken your place since."
• "We slept in the same tent every August. These days we share a group chat and the same bad jokes."
• "You know every family story, including the ones I'd rather you forgot."
• "My cousin, my brother, my oldest teammate."
• "If my parents had given me a brother, I'd have wanted him to be you."

The cousin you see once a year

Maybe it's the summer trip, a family reunion or one long weekend in the fall. You barely text in between, and it never seems to matter.

• "We see each other once a year and talk like it's been a week."
• "Same table, same seats, same cousin. See you next year."
• "One weekend with you is worth a month of small talk with anyone else."
• "You're the best part of every family reunion, and I'll say so at dinner."
• "We don't text much, and we never need to."
• "There's one date on my calendar I never move, and it's the one with you on it."

The cousin who became your best friend

Somewhere in your twenties or thirties, a cousin can turn into the person you call first.

• "I'd pick you as a friend even if we weren't related. Lucky for me, I don't have to choose."
• "Somewhere along the way, my cousin became the first person I call."
• "My cousin knows my whole history and likes me anyway."
• "Cousin, best friend, the one who held my coat at my wedding. You've had every job."
• "We started out as cousins and ended up as each other's favorite people."
• "Family put us at the same table. We've chosen to sit together ever since."

Lines about loving your cousins

Some cousin quotes are less about one person and more about the whole bunch. These work for a long message to all of them, or a few words at a reunion.

• "Love for your cousins doesn't need a reason. It just needs a long table and a free weekend."
• "We all went our own ways, and we still find our way back to each other."
• "My cousins are proof that family can also be fun."
• "I love my cousins for who they were back then and who they are now."
• "However far apart we live, my cousins still feel like home."

Funny cousin quotes

For a cousin who can take a joke, and probably has a few about you.

• "Cousins are the people who remember your worst haircut and bring it up at every wedding."
• "My cousin and I share a face, a laugh and a complete inability to whisper."
• "If the reunion gets too loud, check the cousins' table first."
• "Every family has a cousin who keeps score. In ours, it's me."
• "We've been arguing about the same game of mini golf for twenty years."
• "Being your cousin means I get to tell the canoe story at every family event."

Short cousin quotes for a card or a text

Short lines are easy to send on an ordinary day, which is often when they mean the most. A short one also leaves room for a reply.

• "Checking in on my favorite cousin. Nothing new, just hello."
• "Thinking of you, cousin. Call me on Sunday."
• "Lucky to have a cousin like you."
• "Cousins first, best friends ever since."
• "Two decades of cousin jokes, and still going."

The parts cousins play, by type

Every big group of cousins sorts itself into roles. Typeza sees personality type as part of who plays which. Six of the 16 types:

• Ideator invents a new game for the cousins every year and changes the rules halfway through.
• Analyst keeps the family tree straight and knows exactly who is a cousin once removed.
• Inspector keeps the score honest and the plans on time. If the reunion starts at noon, they're there at noon.
• Dreamer often senses which cousin is having a hard year before anyone says a word.
• Counselor remembers what was worrying each cousin last time and asks how it went.
• Encourager tells each cousin what they could become, and the shy ones leave feeling more capable.

Compare your type with your cousin's

Some cousins click again five minutes into every family dinner, and others need the whole weekend to warm up. Type is often part of why. Typeza puts the types of two people next to each other and names the relationship type between them. Take the free family compatibility test and share your result link with your cousin.

National Cousins Day, birthdays and more

National Cousins Day falls on July 24 each year in the United States, an informal day with its own short lines. For a birthday, happy birthday cousin has wishes for every kind of cousin. Most of the lines above work for a second cousin as well, and what is a second cousin explains where those cousins sit in the family. For the older and younger branches of the family, there are grandchildren quotes and quotes about siblings.

Questions people ask

Can a cousin be your best friend?

Yes. A cousin already knows your family and your history, so the friendship often has a head start.

Written by Virko Kask, founder of Typeza
Written with the help of AI tools.