No two days of motherhood are the same, but we all can find comfort in knowing that countless women have gone before us, loved like us, messed up like us, and lived to tell the tale. Truly, community is one of the greatest blessings of being a mom. You have an instant bond with half the population! So when we need a boost or a word of encouragement, some inspirational quotes for moms hit the spot.
Here are some of our favorite inspirational quotes for moms from some pretty inspirational people. Some will make you smile or even belly laugh. Others, in their wisdom, will help you remember what’s most important when life is overwhelming or you feel like you just can’t get parenting right. Some will give you confidence and remind you to keep your chin up. No matter what mood you’re in or what kind of word you need to get through the day, you’ll find it here.
- “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 Bell
- “Being a mom has made me so tired and so happy.” ~ Tina Fey
- “We can’t control our child’s future but we can contribute to our child’s future.”
- “A good mom does all things with love.“
- “If you want to be a good mom, you must be a kind mom.”
- “Every mother is a working mother.”
- “Your greatest contribution to the kingdom of God may not be something you do, but someone you raise.“
- “Mom initiative is the ability to recognize what needs to be done, and do it.” ~ Susan Merrill, The Passionate Mom
- “Patience is like my car keys—often lost and found in the strangest places.” ~ Susan Merrill, The Passionate Mom
- “Love does not allow us to back away from difficult tasks; it pushes us to take on challenges that are out of our comfort zones.” ~ Susan Merrill, The Passionate Mom
- “The circle of fear, worry, anxiety, and panic will come to an end with trust.” ~ Susan Merrill, The Passionate Mom
- “You are unique and there is no one on earth like you.”
- “Your thoughts have value. Your opinions have value. Speak them freely.“
- “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
- “If I have done anything in life worth attention, I feel sure that I inherited the disposition from my mother.” ~ Booker T. Washington
- “Motherhood: All love begins and ends there.” ~ Robert Browning
- “Be intentional about praising and encouraging your son or daughter every opportunity you get.” ~ Mark Merrill
- “Hugs are healthy.”
- “The most precious jewels you’ll ever have around your neck are the arms of your children.“
- “No man is poor who has a godly mother.” ~ Abraham Lincoln
- “Grab hold of what brings you joy.”
- “Kids are curious. Church explains things.“
- “Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.” ~ Winnie the Pooh
- “We are the windows through which our children first see the world. Let us be conscious of the view.” ~ Katrina Kenison
- “Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.” ~ Charles Swindoll
- “A mother’s arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them.” ~ Victor Hugo
- “There are two gifts we should give our children; one is roots, the other is wings.” ~ Jonas Salk
- “Being a mother is learning about strengths you didn’t know you had, and dealing with fears you didn’t know existed.” ~ Linda Wooden
- “If we’re comfortable in our own skin, we can better teach our daughters how to be comfortable in theirs.”
- “Parenting begins with a BIG embrace for who my child is.” ~ Fred A. Hartley
- “Count your blessings, instead of the cost.” ~ Susan Merrill
- “We may not be able to prepare the future for our children, but we can at least prepare our children for the future.” ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
- “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.” ~ Isaiah 66:13
- “Moms who are physically and emotionally healthy are more positive, more patient, and kinder.“
- “Mom you have immeasurable value because you infinitely love your child.”
- “It takes a lot of courage to dare to parent in today’s world.” ~ Susan Merrill, The Passionate Mom
- “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
- “Men are what their mothers made them.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “In the end, when your heart stops, your eyes will close and what you really love will be as clear as day. This is your real passion.” ~ Susan Merrill, The Passionate Mom
- “If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?” ~ Milton Berle
- “You can’t force the development of an authentic, influential relationship, but you can improve the odds by putting your child in the right place around the right people.”
- “A child that feels valued and accepted by his mother can change the world.”
- “Mom you have immeasurable value because you care intimately for every detail of your child’s life.“
- “What the world really needs is courageous parenting from mothers and fathers who are not afraid to speak up and take a stand.” ~ LR Lawrence
- “Motherhood is a wonderful, rewarding, messy, noisy, and sometimes crazy ride. But it is all worth it.”
- “Having teenagers is like riding a fast, furious, fun roller coaster every day.” ~ Susan Merrill, The Passionate Mom
- “Show your kids how to maintain ideological integrity without being hateful or hurtful, and to show simple respect to everyone.”
- “Wisdom dictates that I patiently let my child work it out rather than jumping to the rescue.” ~ Susan Merrill
- “The best time to start talking to your daughter about modesty is now, no matter what her age.“
- “Children are not a distraction from more important work; they are the most important work.” ~ John Trainer, MD
- “We can change this generation of children if we pray. There are a lot of times when that is all we can do.” ~ Susan Merrill
- “Hope will see our children through the darkest days of their lives.“
- “There are some times when you need to trust your parenting instincts, even if your mother or your best friend doesn’t agree.”
- “The toughest thing about parenting is that you have to do all your training on the job.”
- “Freedom + Fame + Fortune = Foolishness“
- “Moms persevere, fight, and bear the burden for their family until they find their way back on track.”
- “It’s always darkest before the dawn.”
- “Sometimes moms have to go to places we don’t want to go.” ~ Susan Merrill, The Passionate Mom
- “Everybody wants to save the Earth; nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes.” ~ PJ O’Rourke
- “Romance is the act of keeping your courtship alive long after the wedding day.”
- “As you parent, remember that obedience and character training go hand in hand.
- “Forgiveness is essential for a marriage to survive.”
- “When life is stormy look for an umbrella.”
- “Forgiveness is a gift, not a given.”
- “I thought about giving up…but then I remembered who was watching.”
- “Nothing you do for children is ever wasted.” ~ Garrison Keillor
- “The best part of being a mom to me is unconditional love. I have never felt a love as pure, a love that’s as rewarding.” ~ Monica Denise Brown
- “We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.” ~ Maya Angelou
- “In the end, I am the only one who can give my children a happy mother who loves life.” ~ Janene Wolsey Baadsgaard
- “You are never ‘just’ a mom. You are everything your child can need in life, and more.” ~ Unknown
- “Motherhood is the exquisite inconvenience of being another person’s everything.” ~ Unknown
- “It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.” ~ L.M. Montgomery
- “Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.” ~ Andy Rooney
- “It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.” ~ Dale Carnegie
- “Happiness is something that comes into our lives through doors we don’t even remember leaving open.” ~ Rose Lane
- “Just because it didn’t last forever, doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth your while.” ~ Unknown
- “There is no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one.” ~ Jill Churchill
- “A baby fills a place in your heart that you never knew was empty.”
- “I never knew how much love my heart could hold, until someone called me mommy.” ~ Heather Stillufsen
- “The days are long but the years are short.” ~ Gretchen Rubin
- “You can be a mess and still be a good mom. We’re allowed to be both.”
- “You are exactly who your kid needs.”
- “Motherhood is amazing. And then it is really hard. And then it is incredible. And then it is everything in-between. So hold on to the good, breathe through the bad, and welcome the wildest and most wonderful ride of your life.”
- “You will never look back on life and think, ‘I spent too much time with my kids.’”
- “The most important work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own home.”
- “I think the best part of being a mom is when your little one looks up at you and just smiles or stares because they know you are their person.”
- “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” ~ Arthur Ashe
- “A child is going to remember who was there, not what was spent on them. Kids outgrow a toy and outfits, but they never outgrow time and love.”
- “Motherhood is a million little moments that God weaves together with grace, redemption, laughter, tears, and most of all, love.”
- “If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them and half as much money.”
- “Taking care of yourself is part of taking care of your kids.” ~ Lenny Lemons
- “Appreciate where you are in your journey even if it’s not where you want to be. Every season serves a purpose.”
- “Children have this amazing way of becoming exactly who we tell them they are. If we tell them they are strong, they become strong. If we tell them they are kind, they become kind. If we tell them they are capable, they become capable. Speak life into your kids, so they will have what it takes to tackle their own life one day.”
- “The loveliest masterpiece of the heart of God is the heart of a mother.” ~ St. Therese of Lisieux
- “Ponder the fact that God has made you a gardener, to root out vice and plant virtue.” ~ St. Catherine of Siena
- “When the baby keeps you awake all night, remember you will have a lifetime to catch up on your sleep. But you’ll never have this night with your little one again.”
- “Whenever you feel discouraged, just remember, you are the center of the universe to tiny humans you made from scratch. ”
- “Birth is not only about making babies. Birth is about making mothers.” ~ Barbara Katz Rothman
- “Parenting is one of the easiest things in the world to have an opinion about, but the hardest thing in the world to do.” ~ Matt Walsh
- “A mother is your first friend, your best friend, your forever friend.”
- “A mother’s love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible.” ~ Marion C. Carretty
- “A mom’s hug lasts long after she lets go.”
- “May your coffee be stronger than your toddler.”
- “Nothing is lost until your mother can’t find it.”
- “Life doesn’t come with a manual. It comes with a mother.”
- “Having children just puts the whole world into perspective. Everything else just disappears.” ~ Kate Winslet
- “Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.”
- “When you are looking at your mother, you are looking at the purest love you will ever know.” ~ Charley Benetto
- “Mothers are like glue. Even when you can’t see them, they’re still holding the family together.” ~ Susan Gale
- “Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; A mother’s secret hope outlives them all.” ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes
- “Motherhood is the exquisite inconvenience of being another person’s everything.”
- “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
- “A mother understands what a child does not say.” ~ Jewish proverb
- “A mother is always the beginning. She is how things begin.”
- “Mother: the most beautiful word on the lips of mankind.” ~ Kahil Gibran
- “Mother is one to whom you hurry when you are troubled.” ~ Emily Dickinson
- “A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place no one else can take.” ~ Cardinal Mermillod
- “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
- “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
- “A mother’s love is everything. It is what brings a child into this world. It is what molds their entire being. When a mother sees her child in danger, she is literally capable of anything.”
- “Mothers have lifted cars off of their children and destroyed entire dynasties. A mother’s love is the strongest energy known to man.” ~ Jamie McGuire
- “Any mother could perform the jobs of several air-traffic controllers with ease.” ~ Lisa Alther
- “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
- “A mom forgives us all our faults, not to mention one or two we don’t even have.” ~ Robert Brault
- “In the end, mothers are always right. No one else tells the truth.” ~ Randy Susan Meyers
- “We have a secret in our culture, and it’s not that birth is painful. It’s that women are strong.” ~ Laura Stavoe Harm
- “The phrase ‘working mother’ is redundant.” ~ Jane Sellman
- “There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it.” ~ Chinese Proverb
- “Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother.” ~ Lin Yutang
- “Mothers can look through a child’s eyes and see tomorrow.” ~ Reed Markham
- “No language can express the power and beauty and heroism of a mother’s love.” ~ Edwin Chapin
- “Mother is a verb. It’s something you do. Not just who you are.” ~ Cheryl Lacey Donovan
- “By being yourself, you put something wonderful in the world that was not there before.” ~ Edwin Elliot
- “There will be so many times you feel like you failed. But in the eyes, heart, and mind of your child, you are super mom.” ~ Stephanie Precourt
- “The love and compassion you’ve always carried in your heart makes you a wonderful mother and a beloved friend.”
- “It’s not what we have in life, but who we have in our life that matters.”
What are some of your favorite inspirational quotes for moms?