The 60 Best Mother’s Day Quotes That Celebrate the Joys and Trials of Motherhood
The perfect Mother’s Day card, coming right up
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It’s safe to say we probably aren’t giving moms enough credit for all they do—which is a lot. They’re tantrum managers and expert negotiators. They always seem to know where to find the wayward homework assignment, orange peel, sock and lost stuffie. Mothers often run on little sleep, all while wondering if they might be the next Popcorn Mom. In short, they deserve to be celebrated, especially on Mother’s Day. (But really, every day.) So in addition to that fancy Mother’s Day brunch you’re whipping up, plus a cute gift from the kids, here are 60 of the best Mother’s Day quotes to include in your card.
For me, filling out the card is usually the hardest part. What do you say to the woman who has given her all your entire life? The generic “have the best day,” or “I love you” doesn’t feel sufficient. If you’re like me and still searching for the “right” thing to say, don’t worry, this list has you covered. Featuring lines both silly and serious from celebrities, writers and other notables, these words encapsulate the joys and trials of motherhood. Thanks, Mom.
Heartfelt Mother's Day Quotes
1. “Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.” — William Makepeace Thackeray
2. “Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; A mother’s secret hope outlives them all.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes
3. “It may be possible to gild pure gold, but who can make his mother more beautiful?” — Mahatma Gandhi
4. “To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power.” —Maya Angelou
5. “Life began with waking up and loving my mother’s face.” —George Eliot
6. “We are born of love; love is our mother.” — Rumi
7. “Motherhood: all love begins and ends there.” ― Robert Browning
8. “The best place to cry is on a mother’s arms.” — Jodi Picoult, House Rules
9. “A mother’s arms are made of tenderness, and children sleep soundly in them.” ― Victor Hugo
10. “Mother: the most beautiful word on the lips of mankind.” — Kahil Gibran
Inspiring Mother's Day Quotes
11. “My mother: She is beautiful, softened at the edges and tempered with a spine of steel. I want to grow old and be like her.” — Jodi Picoult
12. “The influence of a mother in the lives of her children is beyond calculation.” — James E. Faust
13. “My mother was my role model before I even knew what that word was.” — Lisa Leslie
14. “Most mothers are instinctive philosophers.” — Harriet Beecher Stowe
15. “There’s no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.” — Jill Churchill
16. “Motherhood is the biggest gamble in the world. It is the glorious life force. It’s huge and scary— it’s an act of infinite optimism.” — Gilda Radner
17. “Mothers are like glue. Even when you can't see them, they're still holding the family together.” — Susan Gale
18. “I can imagine no heroism greater than motherhood.” — Lance Conrad
19. “God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers.” — Rudyard Kipling
20. “My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent.” — Ruth Bader Ginsberg
21. “A mother's love liberates.” — Maya Angelou
Funny Mother's Day Quotes
22. “The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found.” — Calvin Trillin
23. “When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen. When they’re finished, I climb out.” — Erma Bombeck
24. “Over the years I have learned that motherhood is much like an austere religious order, the joining of which obligates one to relinquish all claims to personal possessions.” — Nancy Stahl
25. “If your kids are giving you a headache, follow the directions on the aspirin bottle, especially the part that says, ‘keep away from children’.” — Susan Savannah
26. “Maybe it’s just a daughter’s job to piss off her mother.” — Chuck Palahniuk, Diary
27. “Honey, I’m your mother. It’s my job to strong-arm people into seeing how amazing you are.” — Beverly Goldberg from The Goldbergs
28. “I want my children to have all the things I couldn’t afford. Then I want to move in with them.” — Phyllis Diller
29. “Why don’t kids understand that their nap is not for them, it’s for us?” — Alyson Hannigan
30. “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
Mother's Day Quotes From Celebrities
31. “No one told me I would be coming home in diapers too.” — Chrissy Teigen
32. “Once you’re a mom, you’re always a mom. It’s like riding a bike, you never forget.” — Taraji P. Henson
33. “I don’t think empathy is something you can drill in someone’s head. You have to have faith that while your kids can seem to be selfish and concerned only about the word ‘mine’ sometimes, overall, they are watching you really carefully. And if you care about other people, they will too.” — Jennifer Garner
34. “I think every working mom probably feels the same thing: You go through big chunks of time where you’re just thinking, ‘This is impossible—oh, this is impossible.’ And then you just keep going and keep going and you sort of do the impossible.” — Tina Fey
35. “A mother’s arms are more comforting than anyone else’s.” — Princess Diana
36. “I can be covered in spit-up on a conference call while I’m pumping and that's ok because this is my perfect. It may not be somebody else’s, but this is mine.” — Kerry Washington
37. “I always say if you aren’t yelling at your kids, you’re not spending enough time with them.” — Reese Witherspoon
38. “Parenting is f**king hard.” — Adele
39. “She taught me that fear is not an option.” — Diane Von Furstenberg, on her mom
40. “My mother has always been my emotional barometer and my guidance. I was lucky enough to get to have one woman who truly helped me through everything.” — Emma Stone
41. “Every day when you’re raising kids, you feel like you could cry or crack up and just scream ‘This is ridiculous!’ because there's so much nonsense, whether it’s what they’re saying to you or the fact that there's avocado or poop on every surface.” — Kristen Bell
42. “I can’t tell the difference between Kidz Bop and the real songs. My brain is dead.”— Chrissy Teigen
43. “Becoming a mother has made me next-level confident. I’ve never felt more empowered.” — Kelly Clarkson
44. “Sleep at this point is just a concept. Something I’m looking forward to investigating in the future.” — Amy Poehler
45. “When I had my children and I felt that type of love, which I know you understand and every mom out there understands, it made me understand that there was a purity to love. That there is an unconditional love.” — Jennifer Lopez
46. “There were times, in middle school and junior high, I didn’t have a lot of friends. But my mom was always my friend. Always.” — Taylor Swift
47. “My mother is a walking miracle.” — Leonardo DiCaprio
48. “It’s not easy being a mom. If it were easy, fathers would do it.” — Betty White
49. “Having a baby is just living in the constant unexpected. You never know when you’re gonna get crapped on or when you’re gonna get a big smile or when that smile immediately turns into hysterics.” — Blake Lively
50. “It just occurred to me that the majority of my diet is made up of the foods my kid did not finish.” — Carrie Underwood
51. “Nothing can really prepare you for the sheer overwhelming experience of what it means to become a mother. It is full of complex emotions of joy, exhaustion, love and worry, all mixed together. Your fundamental identity changes overnight.” — Kate Middleton
52. “For me, motherhood is learning about the strengths I didn’t know I had, and dealing with the fears I didn’t know existed.” — Halle Berry
53. “Motherhood is the most completely humbling experience I’ve ever had. It puts you in your place because it really forces you to address the issues that you claim to believe in—and if you can’t stand up to those principles when you're raising a child, forget it.” — Diane Keaton
54. “Being a parent has made me more open, more connected to myself, more happy, and more creative. I’m more discerning in what I do and how I do it. It’s just made me a better person all the way around.” — Alicia Keys
55. “My mother is my root, my foundation. She planted the seed that I base my life on, and that is the belief that the ability to achieve starts in your mind.” — Michael Jordan
56. “When your children arrive, the best you can hope for is that they break open everything about you. Your mind floods with oxygen. Your heart becomes a room with wide-open windows.” —Amy Poehler
57. “All those clichés, those things you hear about having a baby and motherhood—all of them are true. And all of them are the most beautiful things you will ever experience.” — Penelope Cruz
58. “If love is as sweet as a flower, then my mother is that sweet flower of love.” — Stevie Wonder
59. “The only love that I really believe in is a mother’s love for her children.” — Karl Lagerfeld
60. “Motherhood brings you to your knees in a way that doesn't leave room for you to judge others. It makes you see that there's no ideal — a constant struggle, constantly compromising, but ultimate love.” — Maggie Gyllenhaal
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