70 Loving Quotes About the Joys of Motherhood

UPDATED: September 17, 2024
PUBLISHED: May 11, 2017
lovingquotesaboutthejoysofmotherhood

Whether you’re searching for encouraging quotes for moms, mother-daughter quotes or mother-son quotes, we have the perfect one for your matriarch in mind.

It might be physically impossible to count the ways a mother expresses her love. Where loving warmth meets a teachable moment, that’s where you’ll find a mother, confidently wielding her superhuman ability to be everything you’ll ever need. With a knack for adapting, she goes from teacher to comforter to selfless giver in a matter of moments—an awesome thing to witness.

This Mother’s Day, reach out to the moms in your life and share some kind words to show how much you appreciate them. You can start with these loving quotes about the joys of motherhood. These encouraging quotes for moms are sure to bring about a smile and remind mothers how influential they truly are. 

Uplifting Inspirational Quotes For Moms To Recognize Their Impact

“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 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
  • “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 
  • “Mothers and their 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
  • “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
  • “Mother is a verb. It’s something you do. Not just who you are.” —Dorothy Canfield Fisher
  • “The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.” —William Ross Wallace
  • “Having kids—the responsibility of rearing good, kind, ethical, responsible human beings—is the biggest job anyone can embark on.” —Maria Shriver
  • “A mother’s happiness is like a beacon, lighting up the future but reflected also on the past in the guise of fond memories.” —Honore de Balzac

Related: The Most Important Lessons My Grandma Taught Me

Mother-Daughter Quotes That Will Warm Your Heart

“Sometimes even grown women need their mother’s comfort so they can take a break from all that being strong.
  • “If you ever feel like giving up, just remember there is a little girl who wants to be just like you. Don’t disappoint her.” —Anonymous 
  • “The relationship between parents and children, but especially between mothers and daughters, is tremendously powerful, scarcely to be comprehended in any rational way.” —Joyce Carol Oates
  • “A daughter is someone you laugh with, dream with, and love with all your heart.” —Unknown
  • “Mothers are the most dynamic and influential force on the development of a young woman’s journey to being herself.” —Hillary L. McBride
  • “A daughter is a mother’s gender partner, her closest ally in the family confederacy, an extension of her self. And mothers are their daughters’ role model, their biological and emotional road map, the arbiter of all their relationships.” —Victoria Secunda
  • “A mother’s treasure is her daughter.” —Catherine Pulsifer
  • “Mothers and daughters are part of each other’s consciousness, in different degrees and in a different way, but still with the mutual sense of something which has always been there.” ―Edith Wharton
  • “No matter how old she may be, sometimes a girl just needs her mom.” —Cardinal Mermillod
  • “A mother is a daughter’s best friend.” —Unknown
  • “Sometimes even grown women need their mother’s comfort so they can take a break from all that being strong.” —Colleen Hoover
  • “Mothers and daughters together are a powerful force to be reckoned with.” —Melia Keeton-Digby

Related: 25 Mother’s Day Quotes

Mother-Son Quotes That Are Timeless Truths

“A mother’s love doesn’t make her son more dependent and timid; it actually makes him stronger and more independent.” —Cheri Fuller
  • “To be a mother of a son is one of the most important things you can do to change the world. Raise them to respect women, raise them to stand up for others, raise them to care for the earth, raise them to be kind, compassionate and honest.” —Shannon L. Alder 
  • “A mother’s love doesn’t make her son more dependent and timid; it actually makes him stronger and more independent.” —Cheri Fuller
  • “There is an endearing tenderness in the love of a mother to a son that transcends all other affections of the heart.” —Washington Irving
  • “No man succeeds without a good woman behind him. Wife or mother, if it is both, he is twice blessed indeed.” —Godfrey Winn
  • “I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.” —Abraham Lincoln
  • “If you have a baby, hug him, carry him, look at him, sing to him. Make him the owner of your time. This doesn’t last long, and it never comes back. Everything else can wait.” —Unknown
  • “My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me; and I felt I had something to live for, someone I must not disappoint.” —Thomas Edison
  • “A boy’s best friend is his mother.” —Joseph Stefano
  • “When you look into your mother’s eyes, you know that is the purest love you can find on this Earth.” —Mitch Albom
  • “Men are what their mothers made them.”  —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Strong Mom Quotes For The Women Who Can Do Anything

“Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws.
  • “Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws.” —Barbara Kingsolver 
  • “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 
  • “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 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 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.
  • “[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
  • “To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power. Or the climbing, falling colors of a rainbow.” —Maya Angelou
  • “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
  • “I can imagine no heroism greater than motherhood.” —Lance Conrad
  • “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
  • “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

Funny Mom Quotes About The Women Who Keep You Smiling

“Any mother could perform the jobs of several air traffic controllers with ease.
  • “Any mother could perform the jobs of several air traffic controllers with ease.” —Lisa Alther 
  • “Sleep, at this point, is just a concept, something I’m looking forward to investigating in the future.” —Amy Poehler
  • “One thing I know for sure—this motherhood thing is not for sissies.” —Jennifer Nettles
  • “I want my children to have all the things I couldn’t afford. Then I want to move in with them.” —Phyllis Diller
  • “When your children are teenagers, it’s important to have a dog so that someone in the house is happy to see you.” —Nora Ephron
  • “By the time you realize your mother was right, you have a daughter who thinks that you’re wrong.” —Sada Malhotra
  • “That’s what motherhood is: you’re working, you’re doing 25 different jobs, and you’re not getting paid.” —Melissa Peterman
  • “Setting a good example for your children takes all the fun out of middle age.” —William Feather
  • “Motherhood is basically finding activities for children in three-hour pockets of time for the rest of your life.” —Mindy Kaling

New Mom Quotes That Put Motherhood Into Perspective

“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
  • “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
  • “A mother’s arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them.” —Victor Hugo
  • “Perhaps the reason we respond so universally to our mothers’ love is because it typifies the love of our Savior.” —Bradley D. Foster
  • “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
  • “The life of a mother is the life of a child: you are two blossoms on a single branch.” —Karen Maezen Miller
  • “There’s no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.” —Jill Churchill
  • “The moment he wakes up from a nap… just a gummy mouth, no teeth, just a big smile, happy that you’re alive and you’re just looking at him. That’s probably the most magical.” —Jessica Biel
  • “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
  • “A new baby is like the beginning of all things—wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities.” —Eda LeShan
  • “If I were asked to define Motherhood, I would have defined it as Love in its purest form. Unconditional love.” —Revathi Sankaran
  • “You don’t take a class; you’re thrown into motherhood and learn from experience.” —Jennie Finch
  • “Motherhood is tough. If you just want a wonderful little creature to love, you can get a puppy.” —Barbara Walters

Single Mom Quotes For The Women Who Do It All

“A single mother has a backbone made of steel and a heart made of gold.” —Anonymous
  • “A single mother has a backbone made of steel and a heart made of gold.” —Anonymous
  • “What is free time? I’m a single mother. My free moments are filled with loving my little girl.” —Roma Downey
  • “I have time for everything I had time for before. I just have an added amazing thing in my life.” —January Jones
  • “Being a working mother and a working single parent instills in you a sense of determination.” —Felicity Jones
  • “Remember that a single mom is just like any other mom and that our number one priority is still our kids. Any parent does whatever it takes for their kids, and a single mother is no different.” —Paula Miranda
  • “Nothing you do for children is ever wasted.” —Garrison Keillor
  • “I have a great career, and I have my daughter. So what I don’t have is not as important to me as what I do have.” —Padma Lakshmi
  • “In the end, I am the only one who can give my children a happy mother who loves life.” —Janene Wolsey Baadsgaard
  • “I would say to any single parent currently feeling the weight of stereotype or stigmatization that I am prouder of my years as a single mother than of any other part of my life.” —J.K. Rowling
  • “I’m not really single. I mean, I am, but I have a son. Being a single mother is different from being a single woman.” —Kate Hudson
  • “As a single mum, you’ll discover inner strengths and capabilities you never knew you had.” —Emma-Louise Smith
  • “Single moms: You are a doctor, a teacher, a nurse, a maid, a cook, a referee, a heroine, a provider, a defender, a protector, a true superwoman. Wear your cape proudly.” —Mandy Hale

Photo credit: Shutterstock.com

Lydia Sweatt

Lydia Sweatt is a freelance writer, bookworm, and bass guitar enthusiast. When she goes outside, a bicycle goes with her.

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