Do you look forward to Mother’s Day? Or do you dread it?
I am in the second camp. Again.
When I was a child, I was envious of my friends who thought this was a special day to wish the best person they knew a Happy Mother’s Day. Whenever it was time to make a Mother’s Day card, I just couldn’t come up with a heartfelt message. The teacher wanted me to write:
“You are a great mom,”
“You are an incredible mother,”
“You’re an amazing mom,”
but I just couldn’t. I have always just wanted to say the truth and, at that age, it didn’t quite set me free, if you know what I mean.
If you have a mother wound, you probably can relate.
And now fast forward to 21 years after becoming a mom myself, I am in a good space with my own mother but I find myself grieving the little things I cherished when my daughters were little girls.
Motherhood is so hard.
One day, they tell you you’re “the best mom in the entire world,” next, you are the obstacle that stands between them and everything they want – anything from a dollar-store toy, a filthy worm, staying awake, or that boy they really like.
And you don’t know where you’ll stand on Mother’s Day.
You fantasize about getting a thoughtful gift with a handmade card professing the purest love of all.
Maybe you’ll find your worth in those Mother’s Day messages…
But alas it’s not there.
Mother’s Day can be hard for so many people:
- Mothers who lost a child or people who lost their mothers
- Mothers who are estranged from their kids or people who are estranged from their mothers
- Women who can’t have kids but would love to
- Single moms or widows, or those who parent alone
- People who are adopted or mothers who gave someone up for adoption
- Women who had an abortion
- Foster children or the women who foster them
- People who lost a sibling with whom they shared their mother
- People who lost someone who supported them as a mom or lost maternal figures
- Women who chose not to have children
- Moms who struggle with chronic illness or disabilities
The list in which Mother’s Day hurts is quite long
And because motherhood is such a thankless job, Mother’s Day can be downright dark and depressive…
This is even when you get thanks…
Let me explain!
Let’s say you get the best gift, accompanied by a beautiful greeting card wishing you a very Happy Mother’s Day and, inside, a beautiful message with the perfect words, raving about a mother’s heart, the strength of motherhood, and the heroism of a mother.
You smile and nod and deep inside, you just don’t feel like the Wonder Woman being described. In fact, you don’t even feel like a good woman, let alone a good mom. And, to be honest, you don’t feel like you do a great job at mothering… not even a good job or a decent job. And how can you be a strong woman when you always feel like you’re a mess and excel at falling apart? You can offer the best compliment and we can’t receive it with open arms if we don’t feel like it fits in the first place.
So is Mother’s Day an impossible case? Are we miserable if we get celebrated and miserable if we’re not?
The way I see it, the best way to honor a mom is to do it every single day. No, not in a weird way, showering her with flowers or presents, but in little ways that match up her love language.
New mothers are blessed because little ones are good at this. They always have the right words and the sweetest gestures.
For older children, young adults or older ones, really, it’s all about finding the perfect opportunity to let your mom know you are thinking of her and you appreciate her.
Mother’s Day quotes can be a great way to express meaningful messages to moms.
Why are Mother’s Mother’s Day Quotes important?
You can use these quotes to:
- Express Gratitude to Mom: Simply put, Mother’s Day quotes can show Mom that you appreciate her, especially when you send them at random times and throughout the year. It feels good to know that even though we know we’re not the “best mother in the whole wide world,” we are seen and the good is acknowledged.
- Foster Connection: Sending any messages to communicate with your mom can make her day. Mother’s Day quotes can add a meaningful, heartfelt, and inspiring touch to an everyday conversation. The best gift for a mom is to feel an emotional connection with their son or daughter throughout the years.
- Celebrate Motherhood: Sending a Mother’s Day quote lets your mom know you celebrate her and honor her role and the role mothers and mother figures play in society. No mother is perfect but usually the bad is amplified and the good is overlooked.
Ideas to Use Mother’s Day Quotes Any Day of The Year:
Mother’s Day quotes can be used in many ways and anytime and every day throughout the year to honor moms, whether yours or not.
- Greeting Cards: This is the most common way to use Mother’s Day quotes. Adding a beautiful quote to a handwritten card can make any mom’s day special.
- Social Media Posts: This one is actually my favorite – for many reasons. When you are acknowledged with a Mother’s Day quote publicly on social media platforms, along with a sentimental memory or a sweet photo, it is a tribute that can bring so much pride and joy in motherhood. It feels like a speech or toast to cherish us!
- Gifts: Embedding Mother’s Day quotes into gifts is like adding pure gold to them. You can add quotes to custom photo albums (yes, I still use those), custom-made mugs, framed prints, or even jewelry. You can add Mother’s Day quotes to DIY projects as everyday Mother’s Day gifts whether it’s artwork, crafts, a painting on a canvas, or a handmade card with calligraphy. It can make mom’s day!
Meaningful Mother’s Day Quotes
These are some of the best quotes to say “Dear mom, you matter,” and to put a smile on your mother figure’s or your mother’s face:
“Motherhood: All love begins and ends there.” ~ Robert Browning
“The influence of a mother in the lives of her children is beyond calculation.” ~ James E. Faust
“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 arms are more comforting than anyone else’s.” ~ Princess Diana
“Life doesn’t come with a manual, it comes with a mother.” ~ Unknown
“Motherhood is the greatest thing and the hardest thing.” ~ Ricki Lake
“The love of a mother is the veil of a softer light between the heart and the heavenly Father.” ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“Moms are the people who know us the best and love us the most.” – Unknown
“A mother is not a person to lean on but a person to make leaning unnecessary.” ~ Dorothy Canfield Fisher
“To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power.” ~ Maya Angelou
“Motherhood is the exquisite inconvenience of being another person’s everything.” ~ Unknown
“There’s no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.” ~ Jill Churchill
“Mother’s love is peace. It need not be acquired, it need not be deserved.” ~ Erich Fromm
“A mother’s arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them.” ~ Victor Hugo
“All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” ~ Abraham Lincoln
“A mother’s love is the strongest energy known to man.” ~ Jamie McGuire
“The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.” ~ Honore de Balzac
“A mother is your first friend, your best friend, your forever friend.” ~ Unknown
“A mother’s love knows no bounds, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path.” ~ Agatha Christie
“The loveliest masterpiece of the heart of God is the heart of a mother.” ~ St. Therese of Lisieux
“A mother’s love is patient and forgiving when all others are forsaking, it never fails or falters, even though the heart is breaking.” ~ Helen Rice
“There is no role in life that is more essential than that of motherhood.” ~ M. Russell Ballard
“A mother is clothed with strength and dignity, laughs without fear of the future.” ~ Proverbs 31:25-26
“The art of mothering is to teach the art of living to children.” ~ Elaine Heffner
“A mother’s hug lasts long after she lets go.” ~ Unknown
“A mother’s love is like a circle, it has no beginning and no ending.” ~ Unknown
“Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.” ~ Unknown
“The best place to cry is in a mother’s arms.” ~ Jodi Picoult
“Being a mom has made me so tired. And so happy.” ~ Tina Fey
“My mother is my root, my foundation. She planted the seed that I base my life on.” ~ Michael Jordan
“Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible.” ~ Marion C. Garretty.
Mama was my greatest teacher, a teacher of compassion, love, and fearlessness.” ~ Stevie Wonder
“Mother is the heartbeat in the home; and without her, there seems to be no heartthrob.” ~ Leroy Brownlow
A mother’s body remembers her babies-the folds of soft flesh, the softly furred scalp against her nose. ~ Barbara Kingsolver
“Life began with waking up and loving my mother’s face.” ~ George Eliot
“Youth fades, love droops, the leaves of friendship fall; A mother’s secret hope outlives them all.” ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes
“Most mothers are instinctive philosophers.” ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe
“Mothers are not the nameless, faceless stereotypes who appear once a year on a greeting card with their virtues set to prose, but women who have been dealt a hand for life and play each card one at a time the best way they know how.” ~ Erma Bombeck
“But behind all your stories is always your mother’s story, because hers is where yours begins.” ~ Mitch Albom
“Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.” ~ William Makepeace Thackeray
Choosing a Mother’s Day Quote
Some of these Mother’s Day Quotes don’t resonate, but some do. Some could use a little creative tweaking to ring true to me, both as a daughter and as a mom of daughters. Ultimately, we can use these quotes as inspiration to create our own, and even mix and match the words and the emotions.
Mother’s Day quotes can either celebrate a mother’s unwavering support and unconditional love or offer these to her. Moms need it as much as anyone else.
Which Mother’s Day quote would you send to your mom, role model, or mother figure, or maybe to a new mom wishing her a Happy First Mother’s Day? Share it with us below!
Elayna is a single mom of 4, an award-winning Storyteller, Story Strategist, and Student of Pain. She’s a bestselling author, internationally acclaimed keynote speaker, and 4x TEDx speaker. Founder of the Positive MOM® and creator of the S.T.O.R.Y. System: a blueprint to craft and share powerful stories that will transform your results, so you can have the wealth, opportunities, and freedom you deserve. Connect with Elayna Fernández at thepositivemom.com/keynote-speaker and follow @thepositivemom. To receive a gift from Elayna, click HERE.
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