50 Inspirational Quotes for Mothers: A Heartfelt Collection

"Even if the whole world was throwing rocks at you, if you had your mother at your back, you’d be okay."

- Jojo Moyes

"It’s not what you do for your children but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings."

- Ann Landers

"Being a mom means choosing to show up day after day and love day after day and give day after day and try day after day and not having all the answers and not being perfect but simply doing your best."

- Rachel Martin

"There is no way to be a perfect mother, but a million ways to be a good one."

- Jill Churchill

"I’m not a good mom. I’m not a bad mom. I’m the mama I am, and I try very hard, and when I fail, that’s ok."

- Kristen Bell

"Motherhood is basically finding activities for children in three-hour pockets of time for the rest of your life."

- Mindy Kaling

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

- Princess Diana

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

- Cardinal Mermillod

"When you look at your mother, you are looking at the purest love you will ever know."

- Mitch Albom

"Be thankful for what you have, you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough."

- Oprah Winfrey

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

- Joan Ryan

"I can imagine no heroism greater than motherhood."

- Lance Conrad

"Motherhood is a choice you make everyday, 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

"Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind."

- Howard W. Hunter

"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

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

- Jennifer Weiner

"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

"Motherhood: All love begins and ends there."

- Robert Browning

"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

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

- Barbara Kingsolver

"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

"There is eternal influence and power in motherhood."

- Julie B. Beck

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

- Revathi Sankaran

"Motherhood changes everything."

- Adriana Trigiani

"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

"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 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

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

- Jodi Picoult

"Successful mothers are not the ones who have never struggled. They are the ones who never gave up despite the struggles."

- Sharon Jaynes

"At the end of the day, my most important job is still mom-in-chief."

- Michelle Obama

"If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of."

- Fred Rogers

"The influence of a mother in the lives of her children is beyond calculation."

- James E. Faust

"Being a mother is learning about strengths you didn’t know you had."

- Linda Wooten

"A mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dates all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path."

- Agatha Christie

"Acceptance, tolerance, bravery, compassion. These are the things my mom taught me."

- Lady Gaga

"You are a universe made up of waves that brought life, stars that hold dreams, landscapes of home, rocks that will crumble but will always remain. You are someone’s ‘all’ and ‘all’ is not lost. You are a mother but never, just."

- Jessica Urlichs

"If love is as sweet as a flower, then my mother is that sweet flower of love."

- Stevie Wonder

"Motherhood isn’t a typical love story, it’s the raw unedited version with all the outtakes, which is what makes it the most beautiful love story of all."

- Jessica Urlichs

"There are few things more powerful than the faithful prayers of a righteous mother."

- Boyd K. Packer

"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

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

- Jill Churchill

"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

"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

"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

"All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother."

- Abraham Lincoln

"A mother’s arms are made of tenderness, and children sleep soundly in them."

- Victor Hugo

"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

"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 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

"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

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

- Linda Wooten

"You have nothing in this world more precious than your children. When you grow old, when your hair turns white and your body grows weary, when you are prone to sit in a rocker and meditate on the things of your life, nothing will be so important as the question of how your children have turned out."

- Gordon B. Hinckley

"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

"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

"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

"Love as powerful as your mother’s for you leaves its own mark. … To have been loved so deeply … will give us some protection forever."

- J. K. Rowling

"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

"Sometimes even grown women need their mother’s comfort so we can just take a break from having to be strong all the time."

- Colleen Hoover

"Motherhood is tough. If you just want a wonderful little creature to love, you can get a puppy."

- Barbara Walters

"I feel that in the heavens above, the angels whispering to one another can find among their burning terms of love, none so devotional as that of ‘mother.’"

- Edgar Allan Poe

"Perhaps the reason we respond so universally to our mothers’ love is because it typifies the love of our Savior."

- Bradley D. Foster

"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 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

"It’s the curse of motherhood. You’re required to love us even when we vex you."

- Julia Quinn

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

- M.L. Stedman

"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

"My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute my success in life to the moral, intellectual, and physical education I received from her."

- George Washington

"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

"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

"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

"The noblest thoughts my soul can claim, / The holiest words my tongue can frame, / Unworthy are to praise the name / More sacred than all other. / An infant when her love first came— / A man, I find it just the same; / Reverently I breathe her name, / The blessed name of mother"

- George Griffith Fetter

"What a mother sings to the cradle goes all the way down to the coffin."

- Henry Ward Beecher

"A happy mother is a good mother, and if work makes you hum, your whole family sings along."

- Sharon Meers and Joanna Strober

"A mother needs only step into the shower to be instantly reassured she is indispensable to every member of her family."

- Lynne Williams

"Motherhood is not for the faint-hearted. Frogs, skinned knees, and the insults of teenage girls are not meant for the wimpy."

- Danielle Steel

"No society will long survive without mothers who care for their young and provide that nurturing care so essential for their normal development."

- Ezra Taft Benson

"To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is."

- Fred Rogers

"A mother is one to whom you hurry when you are troubled."

- Emily Dickinson

"Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; a mother’s secret hope outlives them all."

- Oliver Wendell Holmes

"I’m blessed and I couldn’t be more grateful. Do you want to know why? Because I’m a mother, but that’s only half of it. I’m blessed because, when I need to, I can still just be a daughter. I get the feeling that there is nothing more precious than to have both of these roles, simultaneously."

- Adrianna Stepiano

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

- Gretchen Rubin

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

- Annie Lennox

"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

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

- Jennie Finch

"You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance."

- Franklin P. Jones

"Burnt toast is actually fairly symbolic of Motherhood. If you are the one who burned the toast, you scrape if off and eat it yourself. If they burned it, you eat it because the burned it specially for you."

- Emily Watts

"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 desert us; when trouble thickens 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."

- Anonymous

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

- Robert J. Quillen

"You are not responsible for other people’s opinions, feelings, or perceptions of you. They own that, not you."

- Shane Parrish

"Remember, Mama, you’re doing an amazing job. You deserve to take a few moments for yourself each day. You are so worth it."

"Beautiful Mama, you are enough. You are so much MORE than enough."

"Make the most of today because it is right here. Play that game, sing that song, read one more book, and enjoy those cuddles. Treasure all those precious little moments. Because at the end of your life, you’ll never look back and think, ‘I spent too much time with my kids.’"

"Deep within your heart and soul lives the truth of your worth. Learn to look within at the gifts you innately possess. Value the person you are. You are worthy."

"Be patient and kind with yourself, mama. You are already doing so much."

"You, Mama, are filled up from head to toe. You are grateful. You are here. You matter."

"Those little people didn’t grow themselves. You were there every step of the way. Your house was empty when you moved in, and look at how much beauty and comfort you’ve created in it."

"You’ve Got This"

"When we look back, we can feel gratitude for the most challenging experiences because we have learned more about ourselves through the process. We can consciously find the gems in the struggles."

"You are here right now. There is no other place that is more perfect for you. You are here. At this moment, your lungs are breathing, your heart is beating, and your blood is flowing. This moment is meant just for you."

"Within each one of us is a reservoir of peace and wisdom. Within us we have everything we need to navigate life and motherhood."

"Whenever you feel like you are failing, look in the eyes of your child and know your value."

"You always have the choice to pause."

"You embody a wonderful quality that will support you and others throughout the day. You are bright and radiant and ready. Have a beautiful day, Mama."

"Mama, your body is beautiful. It’s doing, and has done, miraculous work."

"Keep seeking the many moments for gratitude in your life. Even if these moments might seem small at first. A lot of little grateful moments really add up."

"Never limit yourself. You can be a mom and pursue your dream simultaneously."

"I am brave and courageous for even trying, when I think I can’t do it."

"I am not a bad mom because I work, and I am not a bad employee because I am a mom."

"A goal is what we want the end result to be. An intention is the way of being on our journey to get there."

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

"Behind every great kid is a mom who is pretty sure she is screwing it up."

"A mother’s hug lasts long after she lets go."

"Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever."

"Motherhood is the exquisite inconvenience of being another person’s everything."

- Unknown

"Nothing is really lost until your mom can’t find it."