Quotes about mothers, motherhood

[aggie01]

I'm working on a project for a friend's baby shower. I wanted to make something with a quote about motherhood on it. I've googled and searched the web for ideas, none of which I truly love. Wanted to see if any of you have a good quote about being a mother or motherhood.

TIA!

[MamaMolly]

I've seen some sweet and funny ones in siggies here. Look around and maybe one will catch your imagination? HTH

[american_mama]

I used quotes extensively in my baby shower, including on magnets as a party favor, so I have a ton. The first one is from our very own MamaKath on these boards, who recently put it in her signature, and the second is from an essay on motherhood by Anna Quindlen which was posted by someone on these boards.

"God sends children for another purpose than merely to keep up the race -- to enlarge our hearts, to make us unselfish, and full of kindly sympathies and affections." -- Mary Howitt

"Raising children is presented at first as a true-false test, then becomes multiple choice, until finally, far along, you realize that it is an endless essay. - Anna Quindlen (the whole essay is wonderful, see http://mommytown.blogspot.com/2008/05/mothers-day-words-of-wisdom-from-anna.html

"There is no way to be a perfect mother, but there are a million ways to be a good one." - Jill Churchill

"To have a child is to be given the world to hold in your hands... And the entire universe to try to fit inside your heart." -- Douglas Pagels

"The best reason for bringing a child into the world is that you have an abundant life that you want to share." -- Unknown

"This too shall pass."

"Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs... since the payment is pure love." - Mildred B. Vermont

"Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible." -- Marion Garretty

"I'm not perfect, but I'm perfect for you." -- singer Grace Jones

Many quotes from "The Prophet" by Khalil gibran, see http://www.katsandogz.com/onchildren.html

"To my mother, who has proven to me lots of times that mothers can do anything... and indeed will." -- my own mother (as an aside, my mother used to say the first part all the time when I was a child and the simple act of her getting Barbie into those tiny clothes seemed miraculous. Later, as a teenager, I wrote the phrase in a handmade Mother's Day card, which my mother kept on the refrigerator for years. Flash foward to this year, and my mother turned the phrase around to remind me of my own presence and strengths among the ranks of mothers.)

[aggie01]

"To my mother, who has proven to me lots of times that mothers can do anything... and indeed will." -- my own mother (as an aside, my mother used to say the first part all the time when I was a child and the simple act of her getting Barbie into those tiny clothes seemed miraculous. Later, as a teenager, I wrote the phrase in a handmade Mother's Day card, which my mother kept on the refrigerator for years. Flash foward to this year, and my mother turned the phrase around to remind me of my own presence and strengths among the ranks of mothers.)

That is a great quote and beautiful story between you and your mom! Thanks for sharing and thanks for all the other ideas...the wheels in my head are spinning :D

[mamaoftwins]

These are my two favs (but the second may not apply to your friend):

“If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do matters very much.” - Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
(this one was written in a card that my friend from Moms of Twins Club sent me)

"Mothers of little boys work from son up til son down"
(plaque from my MIL, on the wall in my kitchen)

[shawnandangel]

"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts."
-Washington Irving

"A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie."
-Tenneva Jordan

"All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother."
-Abraham Lincoln

[lizajane]

"to have a child, it is momentuous. it is to forever have your heart go walking around outside your body."

i used this one in an album that i made for DH of pregnancy photos of me (less than dresssed... ahem...)

(google it for the author! i don't know where the book is! and i think i got it right, but may have slightly misquoted.)

[Emmas Mom]

I like the one I have in my siggie. My DH found it at a Hallmark store (I think) & it's on a magnet on our fridge.

[JoyNChrist]

"If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?" - Milton Berle

"If I have a monument in this world, it is my son." - Maya Angelou

"The days are long but the years are short."

[KHF]

"to have a child, it is momentuous. it is to forever have your heart go walking around outside your body."


This one is my favorite! The full quote and author are:

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." -Elizabeth Stone

I believe I read it for the first time here, and it's really stuck with me. It's even my quote on Facebook :)

[CiderLogan]

More about the child than the mom, but I love this one:
"Before you were conceived I wanted you.
Before you were born I loved you.
Before you were here an hour I would die for you.
This is the miracle of love."
Sorry, can't remember the author, but I'm sure you could google it....

[kedss]

here's a good source:
http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_mothers.html
http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_children.html

[MamaKath]

The first one is from our very own MamaKath on these boards, who recently put it in her signature, and the second is from an essay on motherhood by Anna Quindlen which was posted by someone on these boards.

"God sends children for another purpose than merely to keep up the race -- to enlarge our hearts, to make us unselfish, and full of kindly sympathies and affections." -- Mary Howitt

:hug: Thanks Mama!

Here are some others I like...
A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. ~Tenneva Jordan

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new. ~Rajneesh

I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life. ~Abraham Lincoln

Some mothers are kissing mothers and some are scolding mothers, but it is love just the same, and most mothers kiss and scold together. ~Pearl S. Buck

Sweater, n.: garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly. ~Ambrose Bierce

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness. ~Honoré de Balzac

All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his. ~Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, 1895

She never quite leaves her children at home, even when she doesn't take them along. ~Margaret Culkin Banning

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child. ~Sophia Loren, Women and Beauty


If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands? ~Milton Berle

[Twoboos]

This one was in the preschool newsletter one month. I cut it out and kept it. Honestly, I can't decide if I like it or what to argue it! :)

"A mother is not a person to lean upon but a person to make leaning unnecessary." - Dorothy Canfield