167 Inspirational Quotes About Becoming a Mother for the First Time

"A baby is something you carry inside you for nine months, in your arms for three years, and in your heart until the day you die."

- Mary Mason

"Having a baby is like falling in love again, both with your husband and your child."

- Tina Brown

"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

"You never understand life until it grows inside of you."

- Sandra C. Kassis

"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

"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 Mother's Love."

- Maureen Hawkins

"To be pregnant is to be vitally alive, thoroughly woman, and distressingly inhabited. Soul and spirit are stretched – along with body – making pregnancy a time of transition, growth, and profound beginnings."

- Anne Christian Buchanan

"Giving birth and being born brings us into the essence of creation, where the human spirit is courageous and bold and the body, a miracle of wisdom."

- Harriette Hartigan

"Whether your pregnancy was meticulously planned, medically coaxed, or happened by surprise, one thing is certain – your life will never be the same."

- Catherine Jones

"Just as there is no warning for childbirth, there is no preparation for the sight of a first child. There should be a song for women to sing at this moment, or a prayer to recite. But perhaps there is none because there are no words strong enough to name that moment."

- Anita Diamant

"Birth is the epicenter of women's power."

- Ani DiFranco

"In giving birth to our babies, we may find that we give birth to new possibilities within ourselves."

- Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn

"Being a mother is learning about strengths you didn't know you had, and dealing with fears you didn't know existed."

- Linda Wooten

"The human heart was not designed to beat outside the human body and yet, each child represented just that —a parent's heart bared, beating forever outside its chest."

- Debra Ginsberg

"If I were asked to define Motherhood. I would have defined it as Love in its purest form. Unconditional love."

- Revathi Sankaran

"Such a mysterious business, motherhood. How brave a woman must be to embark on it."

- M.L. Stedman

"Postpartum is a quest back to yourself. Alone in your body again. You will never be the same, you are stronger than you were."

- Amethyst Joy

"I am not the same person I was before I had my baby. I am stronger, softer, more tired—and more alive than ever."

- Brené Brown

"Birth is not only about making babies. Birth is about making mothers—strong, competent, capable mothers who trust themselves and believe in their inner strength."

- Barbara Katz Rothman

"This is motherhood for you, said my own mother. Going through life with your heart outside your body."

- Jennifer Weiner

"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."

- Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

"You are the closest I will ever come to magic."

- Suzanne Finnamore

"Sometimes, when you pick up your child, you can feel the map of your own bones beneath your hands, or smell the scent of your skin in the nape of his neck. This is the most extraordinary thing about motherhood – finding a piece of yourself separate and apart, that all the same, you could not live without."

- Jodi Picoult

"Feeling fat lasts nine months, but the joy of becoming a mom lasts forever."

- Nikki Dalton

"Having kids feels like that first seventh-grade crush that overwhelms every molecule in your body, but it's permanent."

- Kristen Bell

"That first pregnancy is a long sea journey to a country where you don't know the language, where land is in sight for such a long time that after a while, it's just the horizon – and then one day birds wheel over that dark shape and it's suddenly close, and all you can do is hope like hell that you've had the right shots."

- Emily Perkins

"A miracle is really the only way to describe motherhood and giving birth. It's unbelievable how God has made us women and babies to endure and be able to do so much. A miracle, indeed. Such an incredible blessing."

- Jennie Finch

"The biggest surprise, which is also the best, is that I didn't know I would love motherhood as much as I do."

- Deborah Norville

"There is such a special sweetness in being able to participate in creation."

- Pamela S. Nadav

"Birthing is the most profound initiation to spirituality a woman can have."

- Robin Lim

"Motherhood is the greatest thing and the hardest thing."

- Ricki Lake

"Being a mom has made me so tired. And so happy."

- Tina Fey

"There are hard days in motherhood. But looking at your sleeping baby reminds you why it's all worth it."

- Kara Ferwerda

"Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws."

- Barbara Kingsolver

"If I had my life to live over, instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle."

- Erma Bombeck

"Carrying a baby is the most rewarding experience a woman can enjoy."

- Jayne Mansfield

"The work of a mother is hard, too often unheralded work. Please know that it is worth it then, now, and forever."

- Jeffrey R. Holland

"The joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction."

- M. Russell Ballard

"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."

- Penélope Cruz

"I don't know about changing my perspective, because motherhood is such a glorious blessing and I am very thankful for that. It is such a beautiful experience. I so strongly recommend it. It's bliss, love, and fulfillment of another level."

- Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

"I have found being a mother has made me emotionally raw in many situations. Your heart is beating outside your body when you have a baby."

- Kate Beckinsale

"There will be so many times you feel like you've failed, but in the eyes, heart, and mind of your child, you are super mom."

- Stephanie Precourt

"Mothers and children are in a category all their own. There's no bond so strong in the entire world. No love so instantaneous and forgiving."

- Gail Tsukiyama

"If you're a mom, you're a superhero. Period."

- Rosie Pope

"I think of motherhood as a great big adventure. You set off on a journey, you don't really know how to navigate things, and you don't exactly know where you're going or how you're going to get there."

- Cynthia Rowley

"Motherhood: All love begins and ends there."

- Robert Browning

"Becoming a mother has made me next-level confident. I've never felt more empowered."

- Kelly Clarkson

"You don't take a class; you're thrown into motherhood and learn from experience."

- Jennie Finch

"Motherhood changes everything."

- Adriana Trigiani

"Motherhood brings as much joy as ever, but it still brings boredom, exhaustion, and sorrow too. Nothing else ever will make you as happy or as sad, as proud or as tired, for nothing is quite as hard as helping a person develop his own individuality especially while you struggle to keep your own."

- Marguerite Kelly

"Real motherhood is different. It's better and it's messier and it's more complicated. It will break your heart and make you laugh harder than you ever imagined."

- Melanie Shankle

"A new baby is like the beginning of all things—wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities."

- Eda LeShan

"You just have to be kind to yourself. It's hard. It's all-encompassing. But it's beautiful, and you'll find your rhythm."

- Serena Williams

"The very fact that you worry about being a good mom means that you already are one."

- Jodi Picoult

"To be a good parent, you need to take care of yourself so you can have the physical and emotional energy to take care of your family."

- Michelle Obama

"Just because you become a mother, it doesn't mean you lose who you are."

- Beyoncé

"Taking care of yourself doesn't mean me first, it means me too."

- L.R. Knost

"I can imagine no heroism greater than motherhood."

- Lance Conrad

"Be a full person. Motherhood is a glorious gift, but do not define yourself solely by motherhood. Be a full person. Your child will benefit from that."

- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

"A warrior believes in an end she can't see and fights for it. A warrior never gives up. A warrior fights for those weaker than herself. It sounds like motherhood to me."

- Kristin Hannah

"(24/7) once you sign on to be a mother, that's the only shift they offer."

- Jodi Picoult

"Babies are always more trouble than you thought – and more wonderful."

- Charles Osgood

"We have a secret in our culture, and it's not that birth is painful. It's that women are strong."

- Laura Stavoe Harm

"Life is a flame that is always burning itself out, but it catches fire again every time a child is born."

- George Bernard Shaw

"Motherhood is a great honor and privilege, yet it is also synonymous with servanthood. Every day women are called upon to selflessly meet the needs of their families. Whether they are awake at night nursing a baby, spending their time and money on less-than-grateful teenagers, or preparing meals, moms continuously put others before themselves."

- Charles Stanley

"What if I fail? Oh, but my darling, what if you fly?"

- Erin Hanson

"I believe the choice to become a mother is the choice to become one of the greatest spiritual teachers there is."

- Oprah

"The natural state of motherhood is unselfishness. When you become a mother, you are no longer the center of your own universe. You relinquish that position to your children."

- Jessica Lange

"Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother."

- Lin Yutang

"There's no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one."

- Jill Churchill

"Rigid plans work best if you're building a skyscraper; with something as mysteriously human as giving birth, it's best, both literally and figuratively, to keep your knees bent."

- Mark Sloan

"The strength of a woman is not measured by the impact that all her hardships in life have had on her, but the strength of a woman is measured by the extent of her refusal to allow those hardships to dictate her and who she becomes."

- C. JoyBell C.

"Let us make pregnancy an occasion when we appreciate our female bodies."

- Merete Leonhardt-Lupa

"Think of stretch marks as pregnancy service stripes."

- Joyce Armor

"There is eternal influence and power in motherhood."

- Julie B. Beck

"There is no greater good in all the world than motherhood. The influence of a mother in the lives of her children is beyond calculation."

- James E. Faust

"Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling. It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in, it is what God gave you time for."

- Rachel JanKovic

"There is no role in life more essential and more eternal than that of motherhood."

- M. Russell Ballard

"Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels."

- First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

"Motherhood is a choice you make every day to put someone else's happiness and well-being ahead of your own, to teach the hard lessons, to do the right thing even when you're not sure what the right thing is, … and to forgive yourself over and over again for doing everything wrong."

- Donna Ball

"The highest and noblest work in this life is that of a mother."

- Russell M. Nelson

"Who can justly measure the righteous influence of a mother's love? What enduring fruits result from the seeds of truth that a mother carefully plants and lovingly cultivates in the fertile soil of a child's trusting mind and heart? As a mother, you have been given divine instincts to help you sense your child's special talents and unique capacities."

- Richard G. Scott

"If you try your best to be the best parent you can be, you will have done all that a human being can do and all that God expects you to do."

- Jeffrey R. Holland

"The bond between mothers and their children is one defined by love. As a mother's prayers for her children are unending, so are the wisdom, grace, and strength they provide to their children."

- George W. Bush

"Self-care is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation."

- Audre Lorde

"Self-neglect is sacrificing yourself to serve others. Self-care is making sure that helping others doesn't hurt you. Setting boundaries doesn't mean you're self-centered. It means you're self-aware."

- Adam Grant

"Perhaps it takes courage to raise children."

- John Steinbeck

"I begin to love this little creature, and to anticipate his birth as a fresh twist to a know which I do not wish to unite."

- Mary Wollstonecraft

"Motherhood is about raising and celebrating the child you have, not the child you thought you would have."

- Joan Ryan

"Motherhood is hard enough without judgement from others who don't know the whole story."

- Sarah Addison Allen

"Motherhood is the greatest potential influence either for good or ill in human life. The mother's image is the first that stamps itself on the unwritten page of the young child's mind. It is her caress that first awakens a sense of security; her kiss, the first realization of affection; her sympathy and tenderness, the first assurance that there is love in the world."

- David O. McKay

"Thus far the mighty mystery of motherhood is this: How is it that doing it all feels like nothing is ever getting done."

- Rebecca Woolf

"I think motherhood is the noblest task of all, because you cannot do it at your convenience, or tailor it to suit your preferences. You have to be ready to give up everything when you take on this task: your time, restful nights, your hobbies, your pursuit of physical fitness, any beauty you may have had, and all of the private little pleasures you might have counted as a right, from late dinners and long soaks in the tub to weekend excursions and cycling trips …I'm not saying you can't have any of these things, but you have to be ready to let them all go if you're going to have children and put them first."

- Johann Christoph Arnold

"Motherhood is a Sisyphean task. You finish sewing one seam shut, and another rips open. I have come to believe that this life I'm wearing will never really fit."

- Jodi Picoult

"You have suffered enough. That became my mantra for motherhood from there on out. You have suffered enough. If you can make it easier, make it easier, and don't feel guilty about it."

- Ali Wong

"Motherhood seems to be a no-win battle: however you decide to do (or not do) it, someone's going to be criticizing you."

- Celeste Ng

"When we call martyrdom love we teach our children that when love begins, life ends. This is why Jung suggested: There is no greater burden on a child than the unlived life of a parent."

- Glennon Doyle

"Having children just puts the whole world into perspective. Everything else just disappears."

- Kate Winslet

"The life of a mother is the life of a child: you are two blossoms on a single branch."

- Karen Maezen Miller

"Everything grows rounder and wider and weirder, and I sit here in the middle of it all and wonder who in the world you will turn out to be."

- Carrie Fisher

"I am a mother and mothers don't have the luxury of falling apart in front of their children, even when they are afraid, even when their children are adults."

- Kristin Hannah

"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

"There is no role in life that is more essential than that of motherhood."

- Elder M. Russell Ballard

"You are worth the quiet moment. You are worth the deeper breaths and you are worth the time it takes to slow down, be still, and rest."

- Morgan Harper Nichols

"If you feel 'burnout' setting in, if you feel demoralized and exhausted, it is best, for the sake of everyone, to withdraw and restore yourself."

- Dalai Lama

"Chosen motherhood is the real liberation. The choice to have a child makes the whole experience of motherhood different, and the choice to be generative in other ways can at last be made, and is being made by many women now, without guilt."

- Betty Friedan

"When I got pregnant, I had to concentrate on being pregnant for a whole nine months, even though I knew it was ruining my career at the time."

- Yoko Ono

"Becoming a mother makes you the mother of all children. From now on each wounded, abandoned, frightened child is yours. You live in the suffering mothers of every race and creed and weep with them. You long to comfort all who are desolate."

- Charlotte Gray

"Motherhood has taught me the meaning of living in the moment and being at peace. Children don't think about yesterday, and they don't think about tomorrow. They just exist in the moment."

- Jessalyn Gilsig

"When you're in the thick of raising your kids by yourself, you tend to keep a running list of everything you think you're doing wrong. I recommend taking a lot of family pictures as evidence to the contrary."

- Connie Schultz

"A mother's arms are more comforting than anyone else's."

- Princess Diana

"There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it."

- Chinese Proverb

"Having kids—the responsibility of rearing good, kind, ethical, responsible human beings—is the biggest job anyone can embark on."

- Maria Shriver

"No influence is so powerful as that of the mother."

- Sara Josepha Hale

"What good mothers and fathers instinctively feel like doing for their babies is usually best after all."

- Benjamin Spock

"No one told me I would be coming home in diapers, too."

- Chrissy Teigen

"A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place no one else can take."

- Cardinal Mermillod

"Motherhood was the great equalizer for me; I started to identify with everybody."

- Annie Lennox

"Motherhood has relaxed me in many ways. You learn to deal with crisis. I've become a juggler, I suppose. It's all a big circus, and nobody who knows me believes I can manage, but sometimes I do."

- Jane Seymour

"A mother is always the beginning. She is how things begin."

- Unknown

"A mother continues to labor long after the baby is born."