100 Motherhood Quotes That Highlight All The Perks Of Being A Mom

For most of us, our first words as a baby were “da-da.” You’d think it would be “ma-ma,” but that’s seldom the case. That’s kind of crazy considering the amount of time we spend with our mother, especially before we’re born. 

Unconditional love is carrying a little human for nine months, spending every second of every day with each other, eating together, sleeping together, and hearing all the same things. There's nothing like the bond between mother and child. 

Good motherhood quotes or family quotes are all about these great (and not-so-great) experiences we get to share with our mothers. From the moment of conception, it’s important to remember how special she is, and these quotes highlight some of the best (and worst) parts of being a mom. 

Being a mother is arguably one of the most fulfilling yet difficult roles you can take in life. The feeling of being a mother consists of a life-altering commitment worth all the sleepless nights. 

Whatever the case may be, your mom has done a lot for you, and letting her know you appreciate her for all of that is the best message of love you can send.

Here are 100 of the most inspirational motherhood quotes, all about the bright side of being a mom. 

1. "Motherhood changes everything." ― Adriana Trigiani

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2. “Having children just puts the whole world into perspective. Everything else just disappears.” — Kate Winslet

3. “Being a mom has made me so tired. And so happy.” — Tina Fey

4. “Grown don’t mean nothing to a mother. A child is a child. They get bigger, older, but grown. In my heart, it don’t mean a thing.” — Toni Morrison

5. “Having kids — the responsibility of rearing good, kind, ethical, responsible human beings — is the biggest job anyone can embark on.” — Maria Shriver

6. “Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother.” — Lin Yutang

7. “Being a mama can be tough, but always remember in the eyes of your child, no one does it better than you.”

8. “In a child’s eyes, a mother is a goddess. She can be glorious or terrible, benevolent, or filled with wrath, but she commands love either way. I am convinced that this is the greatest power in the universe.” — N.K. Jemisin

9. "For when a child is born, the mother also is born again." ― Gilbert Parker

10. "You’re always going to wonder if you’re doing things wrong, but that’s what it means to be a mom, to care so much about someone else that you just want to be as perfect as possible.” — Naya Rivera

11. "God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers." ― Rudyard Kipling

12. "A mother's arms are more comforting than anyone else's." ― Princess Diana

13. "Mother is a verb. It’s something you do. Not just who you are.” — Cheryl Lacey Donovan

14. "In giving birth to our babies, we may find that we give birth to new possibilities within ourselves.” — Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn

15. “Babies are bits of star-dust blown from the hand of God. Lucky the woman who knows the pangs of birth for she has held a star.” — Larry Barretto

16. “I believe the choice to become a mother is the choice to become one of the greatest spiritual teachers there is.” — Oprah Winfrey

17. “A mother’s love endures through all.” — Washington Irving

18. “[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

19. “There’s no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.” — Jill Churchill

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

21. "My favorite thing about being a mom is just what a better person it makes you on a daily basis." — Drew Barrymore

22. “The influence of a mother in the lives of her children is beyond calculation.” — James E. Faust

23. “There is such a special sweetness in being able to participate in creation.” — Pamela S. Nadav

24. "Motherhood is the greatest thing and the hardest thing." ― Ricki Lake

25. "When you look into your mother's eyes, you know that is the purest love you can find on this earth." ― Mitch Albom

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26. “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

27. "Mother's love is peace. It need not be acquired, it need not be deserved." ― Erich Fromm

28. “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

29. “Mother—that was the bank where we deposited all our hurts and worries.” — T. DeWitt Talmage

30. "The art of mothering is to teach the art of living to children.” — Elaine Heffner

31. "The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness. ― Honore de Balzac

32. "A child’s first teacher is its mother." ― Peng Liyuan

33. “Motherhood: all love begins and ends there.” — Robert Browning

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

35. “Motherhood has a very humanizing effect. Everything gets reduced to essentials.” — Meryl Streep

36. "No language can express the power and beauty and heroism of a mother’s love.” — Edwin Chapin

37. “We have a secret in our culture, and it’s not that birth is painful. It’s that women are strong.” — Laura Stavoe Harm

38. "He didn't realize that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark." ― J.K. Rowling

39. “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

40. "The only love that I really believe in is a mother’s love for her children.” — Karl Lagerfeld

41. “It may be possible to gild pure gold, but who can make his mother more beautiful?” — Mahatma Gandhi

42. “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

43. "Making a decision to have a child — it’s momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” — Elizabeth Stone

44. “She never quite leaves her children at home, even when she doesn’t take them along.” — Margaret Culkin Banning

45. “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

46. "A mother’s arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them." ― Victor Hugo

47. “Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind.” ― Howard W. Hunter

48. “Motherhood is wonderful, but it’s also hard work. It’s the logistics more than anything. You discover you have reserves of energy you didn’t know you had.” — Deborah Mailman

49. “My mom smiled at me. Her smile kind of hugged me.” — R.J. Palacio

50. “Motherhood is tough. If you just want a wonderful little creature to love, you can get a puppy.” — Barbara Walters

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51. "Supermom wasn't a bad job description. The pay was lousy if you were talking about real money. But the payoff was priceless in so many other ways.” ― Roxanne Henke

52. "Successful mothers are not the ones that have never struggled. They are the ones that never give up, despite the struggles.” — Sharon Jaynes

53. “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

54. The best love in the world is the love of a man. The love of a man who came from your womb, the love of your son! I don't have a daughter, but maybe the love of a daughter is the best, too. I am first and foremost me, but right after that, I am a mother. The best thing that I can ever be, is me. But the best gift that I will ever have, is being a mother.” ― C. JoyBell C.

55. “Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother.” — Oprah Winfrey

56. “Motherhood was the great equalizer for me; I started to identify with everybody.” — Annie Lennox

57. "Mother’s ways are higher than others, even when everyone rejects, mother accepts with her arms open and wide.” — Amit Ray

58. “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

59. “A mother’s love liberates.” — Maya Angelou

60. “A mother is a mother from the moment her baby is first placed in her arms until eternity. It didn't matter if her child were three, thirteen, or thirty.”― Sarah Strohmeyer

61. "I think birth and motherhood are not things that you're trained to do. You might have a good example in your own mum, but nobody teaches you how to be a really great mum.” ― Julie Andrews

62. "Motherhood has most definitely changed me and my life. It's so crazy how drastic even the small details change — in such an amazing way. Even silly things, like the fact that all of my pictures on my cell phone used to be of me at photoshoots — conceited, I know! — but now every single picture on my phone is of Mason.” ― Kourtney Kardashian

63. “Motherhood is so sentimentalized and romanticized in our culture. It's practically against the law to say there are moments in the day when you hate your children. Everyone actually has those moments.” ― Barbara Kingsolver

64. “Mothers can forgive anything! Tell me all, and be sure that I will never let you go, though the whole world should turn from you.” — Louisa May Alcott

65. “Motherhood is such an evolving journey.” ― Solange Knowles

66. “My biggest goal for the future is motherhood.” ― Misty May-Treanor

67. “Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible.” — Marion C. Garretty

68. "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

69. “Being a mother is like being a gardener of souls. You tend your children, make sure the light always touches them; you nourish them. You sow your seeds, and reap what you sow.” ― Karen White

70. "The truth is that no matter how old we are, as long as our mothers are alive, we want our mother. And it’s a very powerful relationship if it’s healthy." — Goldie Hawn

71. "Mothers who work full time — they’re the real heroes." — Kate Winslet

72. "Motherhood is neither a duty nor a privilege, but simply the way that humanity can satisfy the desire for physical immortality and triumph over the fear of death." ― Rebecca West

73. "The mother-child relationship is paradoxical and, in a sense, tragic. It requires the most intense love on the mother's side, yet this very love must help the child grow away from the mother, and to become fully independent." ― Erich Fromm

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

75. “A mother is not a person to lean on, but a person to make leaning unnecessary.” ― Dorothy Canfield Fisher

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76. “My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual, and physical education I received from her.” ― George Washington

77. “Whatever else is unsure in this stinking dunghill of a world a mother's love is not." ― James Joyce

78. “Despite the fact that we ought to show adoration to your mother each and every day, Mother's Day is that one day when we demonstrate the most love for you and make you feel like a Queen.” ― Sheila Sage

79. “No matter how old a mother is, she watches her middle-aged children for signs of improvement.” ― Florida Scott-Maxwell

80. "She (mother) pushed us to always try harder, to want the best out of our lives, and to always be strong — a lesson she was forced to learn herself when we were all still young.” ― Willie Davis

81. “A mother is a woman who shows you the light when you just see the dark.” ― Grimaldos Robin

82. “Most mothers are instinctive philosophers.” — Harriet Beecher Stowe

83. “Mother: the most beautiful word on the lips of mankind.” ― Kahlil Gibran

84. "The joy in 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

85. “Mothers never retire, no matter how old her children are she is always a Mom, always willing to encourage and help her children in any way she can!” ― Catherine Pulsifer

86. "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.” — Washington Irving

87. “A mother is one to whom you hurry when you are troubled.” — Emily Dickinson

88. “My mother's love has always been a sustaining force for our family, and one of my greatest joys is seeing her integrity, her compassion, her intelligence reflected in my daughters.” ― Michelle Obama

89. “Motherhood is more awesome than I ever thought it could be and harder than I ever would have imagined.” ― Sarah Williams

90. “Being a mother is learning about strengths you didn’t know you had, and dealing with fears you didn’t know existed.” — Linda Wooten

91. “Motherhood is not for the faint-hearted. Frogs, skinned knees, and the insults of teenage girls are not meant for the wimpy.” — Danielle Steel

92. “Motherhood has completely changed me. It’s just about like the most completely humbling experience that I’ve ever had. I think that 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

93. “Behind every famous and influential person there is a driving force and in many cases, this driving force is the unfailing love and support of their mothers.” ― Lisa Valentine

94. “A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest.” — Irish Proverb

95. “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” — Ferrell Sims

96. “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

97. “The bond between mothers and their children is 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.” — President George W. Bush

98. “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

99. “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... Do not trade your birthright as a mother for some bauble of passing value... The baby you hold in your arms will grow quickly as the sunrise and sunset of the rushing days.” — Gordon B. Hinckley

100. “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

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Tamara Sanon is a writer with a passion for covering topics about health and wellness, lifestyle, astrology, and relationships.