Mother's Day Quotes

This is a list of my favorite Mother's Day quotes, and why they are special to me.

"Any mother could perform the jobs of several air-traffic controllers with ease."-- Lisa Alther
As a child growing up, I would have felt this quote was appropriate for everything my mother did - now I truly appreciate and understand it. As a new mother myself, juggling the baby, work, and a household, I find that I have to multitask more than I ever have before - and I thought I was good at it already!

"There is a point where you aren't as much mom and daughter as you are adults and friends. It doesn't happen for everyone-but it did for Mom and me."-- Jamie Lee Curtis
This is another one that means a lot to me now. As a mother, I have more empathy for what my own mother went through - and with this understanding and maturity comes a different relationship, one of near-equals, able to offer mutual advice, instead of one based on authority.

"By and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not have regular time off. They are the great vacationless class."-- Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Once again, I didn't understand just how truly "on call" a mother was, 24 hours a day, until I became one. Even when my husband is around, even when he's helping, I'm still the one everything falls back on, as it is with mothers the world over.

"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."-- Rajneesh
Any mother can understand why this quote is special, particularly new mothers. Having a child brings a new element of self-definition, a new identity mothers must absorb into themselves.

"The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother."-- Unknown
My parents always made their love known to us, and for that, I am forever grateful - for being able to grow up in a house so full of love, that even in the midst of disagreements, we had something to hold on to.

"Sweater, n.: garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly."--Ambrose Bierce
So true, for so many children!

"That best academy, a mother's knee."--James Russell Lowell
"One good mother is worth a hundred schoolmasters."--George Herbert
As a teacher, I believe that parents are highly influential in their child's education, and pray that all mothers take that job seriously.

"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 mother's love - how many people realize the sacrifices their mothers made for them? Even those of us who become parents ourselves are liable to forget all that was done for us.

"Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother."--Oprah Winfrey
Any woman can biologically become a mother, but really being a mother - that takes so much more.