mother: (muh-th-er) noun
One person who does the work of twenty. For free. See also “masochist” and “saint.”
Mothers are, by and large, sentimental beings. A crayoned “I LUV U MOMMY” can hold pride of place for decades among a mothers’ treasured possessions, because the sentiment is pure, uncommercial, unsolicited and comes straight from the heart. It’s the ultimate payback for a mom’s selflessness, devotion and generosity.
Throughout history, giants of politics, academia and literature have paid tribute to their mothers, acknowledging the crucial maternal role in their own development. Hollywood, too, doesn’t stint on paying tribute to mothers everywhere. And sometimes, the phrase that hits exactly the right note comes inadvertently from a child, another parent, or a grandparent.
So cruise through a few of these quotes from the famous and not-so-famous, see if one of them seems as if it were written just for YOUR mom….., and add a line or two of your own!
From history:
- “All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” –Abraham Lincoln
- “My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.” – Mark Twain
- “God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers.” – Rudyard Kipling
- “Motherhood: All love begins and ends there.” – Robert Browning
- “Life began with waking up and loving my mother’s face.” – George Eliot
- “There is no velvet so soft as a mother’s lap, no rose as lovely as her smile, no path so flowery as that imprinted with her footsteps.” – Archibald Thompson
- “Most mothers are instinctive philosophers.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe
- “Mother’s love is peace. It need not be acquired, it need not be deserved.” – Erich Fromm
From Hollywood:
- “My mother is a walking miracle.”
-Leonardo DiCaprio - “Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “I got to grow up with a mother who taught me to believe in me.” – Antonio Villaraigosa
- “Is my mother my friend? I would have to say, first of all she is my Mother, with a capital ‘M’; she’s something sacred to me. I love her dearly…yes, she is also a good friend.” – Sophia Loren
- “Insanity is hereditary; you get it from your children.” – Sam Levenson
- “With what price we pay for the glory of motherhood.” – Isadora Duncan
From the heart:
- Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever. – Author Unknown
- “I realized when you look at your mother, you are looking at the purest love you will ever know.” –Mitch Albom
- “For enduring the bloodcurdling torture of my adolescent years I promise to always keep your electronics functional.”–Unknown
- The only thing better than having you for a mom is my children have you for a grandmother
- Sooner or later, we all quote our mothers….-Unknown
- “Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.” –Unknown
- A mom is like a tea bag. Only hot water do you realize how strong she is “
- “The phrase ‘working mother’ is redundant.” –Jane Sellman
- “If nature had arranged that husbands and wives should have children alternatively, there would never be more than three in a family.” – Lawrence Housman
- “All mothers are working mothers.” – Unknown
- “A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest.” – Irish Proverb
- “Who’s a boy gonna talk to if not his mother?” – Donald E. Westlake
- “Children are a great comfort in your old age — and they help you reach it faster, too.” – Lionel Kauffman
- “The one thing children wear out faster than shoes is parents.” – John J. Plomp
- “A man’s work is from sun to sun, but a mother’s work is never done.” – Unknown
- To the world you are a mother, but to your family you are the world. Mom provides a place to feel at home, no matter where she happens to be.—Author Unknown