128 Mother’s Day quotes as great as the moms you celebrate.
Explore this list of happy Mother’s Day quotes for the perfect messages for every mom in your life.
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We have many moms on our minds on Mother’s Day. There are our moms, grandmas, aunts, the moms of our own kids, and even friends or siblings we see act as mothers every day. There are even friends’ moms who took us under their wings at some point.
Mother’s Day is about each one of them.
Mother’s Day brunch, parties, or outing ideas are part of the celebration each year, but the key detail is a meaningful message you send from the heart. Mother’s Day cards and letters, posters and collages, and banners and invitations for the party revolve around finding the right Mother’s Day quotes. Here’s the list with the perfect quote for every mom.
Heart-touching Mother’s Day quotes.
The first sentiment that bubbles up when “Mother” crosses our lips is a warm feeling of love. Heart-touching and beautiful Mother’s Day quotes depict little nuggets of motherhood with a sweetness that truly lasts. They appear in cards and on posters sent to dote on the maternal figures we adore.
Choose the right heart-touching Mother’s Day quotes for the moms in your life and bask in the smiles that follow.
Life began with waking up and loving my mother’s face.”
George Eliot
A mother’s happiness is like a beacon, lighting up the future but reflecting also on the past in the guise of fond memories.”
Honore de Balzac
A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place no one else can take.”
Gaspard Mermillod
Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.”
Unattributed
Once we graduate to adult life, it’s important to tell our mothers that they still play a central role in our lives. Put this quote in a card to send a meaningful message.
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
This heartfelt quote about mothers could go from a fellow mom to a mom, or a partner to the mother of the house. It’s a lovely way to describe maternal love.
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
It's not our job to toughen our children up to face a cruel and heartless world. It's our job to raise children who will make the world a little less cruel and heartless.”
L.R. Knost
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
Being a mother is like being a gardener of souls. You tend your children, make sure the light always touches them.”
Karen White, Sea Change
God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers.”
Rudyard Kipling
Short Mother’s Day quotes like this are perfect for posters and collages. Think of the photos that could go with this message.
The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.”
Honore de Balzac
Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring and integrity, they think of you.”
H. Jackson Brown Jr.
Moms are as relentless as the tides. They just don’t drive us to practice, they drive us to greatness.”
Steve Rushin
Not all Mother’s Day quotes are sent from the kids. This heartfelt quote can work in a card from a partner, friend, or other family member.
When someone asks you where you come from, the answer is your mother.”
Anna Quindlen
A mother is your first friend, your best friend, your forever friend.”
Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words
A heartfelt quote like this could go in a letter to Mom. Writing a Mother’s Day letter comes naturally with this as an opener.
I love my mother as trees love water and sunshine. She helps me grow, prosper, and reach great heights.”
Terri Guillemets
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Mother's Day quotes from the kids.
Adult children and kids at home scramble each Mother’s Day to find the perfect quotes and prepare the Mother’s Day cards, posters, collages, and brunch invitations. No matter the age, these handpicked Mother’s Day quotes from daughter or son are instantly relatable.
Choose the quote that describes your mom — her personality, her role in your life, or how each shaped you — and you’ll have a meaningful message.
The woman who is my best friend, my teacher, my everything: Mom.”
Sandra Vischer
The more I go through parenting, the more I say I owe my mother an apology.”
Ray Romano
A funny Mother’s Day quote like this packs extra punch in a social media graphic. Don’t forget to tag Mom.
As she guided me through these last 18 years, I don't think she ever realized that the person I most wanted to be was her.”
Rory (Alexis Bledel), Gilmore Girls
[My mother] always said I was beautiful, and I finally believed her at some point.”
Lupita Nyong'o
My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.”
Mark Twain
Drop this quippy quote into a card and write a note in the margins. What shenanigans can you recall together with a laugh?
My mom smiled at me. Her smile kind of hugged me.”
R.J. Palacio, Wonder
I need her to make me some cocoa and tell me that everything that is going badly in my life will sort itself out.”
Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan), You've Got Mail
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
When you look into your mother’s eyes, you know that is the purest love you can find on this earth.”
Mitch Albom
My mother was my role model before I even knew what that word was.”
Lisa Leslie
You showed me when I was young just how to grow / You showed me everything that I should know / You showed me just how to walk without your hands / Cuz mom you always were the perfect fan.”
The Backstreet Boys
A digital card or social post with these song lyrics could be accompanied by the song itself. Some call it corny, but it’s certainly catchy.
A mom forgives us all our faults, not to mention one or two we don’t even have.”
Robert Brault
I don't think of myself as a terribly confident person. But I have a survival mechanism that was instilled in me by my mother.”
Naomi Watts
My mother taught me to be nice to everybody. And she said something before I left home. She said, “I want you to always remember that the person you are in this world is a reflection of the job I did as a mother.””
Jason Segel
I like it when my mother smiles. And I especially like it when I make her smile.”
Adriana Trigiani
Use a beautiful sentiment like this one on a banner to stretch across the table at Mother’s Day brunch. Enjoy a day of smiles together and be sure to get photos with the banner in the background.
My mother has always been my emotional barometer and my guidance. I was lucky enough to get to have one woman who truly helped me through everything.”
Emma Stone
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Mother's Day quotes for wife.
If anyone calls your spouse or partner “Mom,” some of the best Mother’s Day quotes recognize your relationship with her in that role. No matter the family structure — if you met when she was already a mom or if you had kids or adopted together — Mother’s Day is a chance to celebrate her.
Some of the Mother’s Day quotes in this collection touch on your sense of marvel for the mom of your house. Others reflect on your image of her. Take your pick of these quotes for the perfect Mother’s Day card or letter. You’ll know the right message when you see it.
Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws.”
Barbara Kingsolver
Motherhood: all love begins and ends there.”
Robert Browning
A collage of family photos around this quote can include the earliest pictures together and the most recent ones, with Mom’s smile present throughout.
The truth is that no matter how old we are, as long as our mothers are alive, we want our mother.”
Goldie Hawn
Let me tell you something, Toula. The man is the head, but the woman is the neck. And she can turn the head any way she wants.”
Maria Portokalos (Lainie Kazan),
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
A mother's arms are made of tenderness, and children sleep soundly in them.”
Victor Hugo
In families with infants, this message observes with no shortage of marvel the babe’s comfort when near to Mom.
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, The Nightingale
Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother.”
Oprah Winfrey
A mother’s love liberates.”
Maya Angelou
Mothers are like glue. Even when you can’t see them, they’re still holding the family together.”
Susan Gale
Used in a card, this Mother’s Day quote shows as much admiration as it does gratitude.
When you’re a mom, you get a front row seat to the best show in town: Watching your kids grow up.”
Rebecca (Mandy Moore), This Is Us
Kids don't stay with you if you do it right. It's the one job where, the better you are, the more surely you won't be needed in the long run.”
Barbara Kingsolver
My parents elected me president of the family when I was 4. We actually had an election every year and I always won. I’m an only child, and I could count on my mother’s vote.”
Condoleezza Rice
Because I feel that, in the Heavens above / The angels, whispering to one another, / Can find, among their burning terms of love / None so devotional as that of “Mother.””
Edgar Allan Poe, To My Mother
Everything good in me, I got it from my mama.”
Honey County, Got It From My Mama
If I know what love is, it is because of you.”
Hermann Hesse
It’s so short and praising that this Mother’s Day quote is perfect for a banner. Where could you hang it so Mom can see it all day?
Call your mother. Tell her you love her. Remember you're the only person who knows what her heart sounds like from the inside.”
Rachel Wolchin
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Mother's Day quotes for friends.
Mother’s Day is also the time to show affection for other moms in your world. Whether you’re a parent or not, there are friends, siblings, cousins, and others you see working motherhood magic every day. Do you admire these moms? Do they deserve some recognition? These quotes go perfectly on posters, social media posts, cards, and letters to do just that.
Make a list of the mothers you want to recognize and choose the quote that makes you think of each.
To the world you may be one person; but to one person you may be the world.”
Dr. Seuss
A Dr. Seuss quote like this one begs to be put on a poster with illustrations from his books.
There’s no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one.”
Jill Churchill
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 thing and the hardest thing.”
Ricki Lake
There will be so many times you feel like you failed. But in the eyes, heart, and mind of your child you are supermom.”
Stephanie Precourt
Being a mother is learning about strengths you didn’t know you had and dealing with fears you didn’t know existed.”
Linda Wooten
If you’re a parent, you can put this quote in a card and add a handwritten reflection of your own.
A mother is not a person to lean on, but a person to make leaning unnecessary.”
Dorothy Canfield Fisher
The natural state of motherhood is unselfishness.”
Jessica Lange
There are no perfect parents, and there are no perfect children, but there are plenty of perfect moments along the way.”
Dave Willis
They are not kidding when they say that mothers are strong women. We need to be strong in more ways than our children will ever know.”
M.B. Antevasin
A good mother loves fiercely but ultimately brings up her children to thrive without her.”
Erin Kelly
I think, as mothers, we are all just trying our best.”
Gisele Bundchen
There is no such thing as a perfect parent. So just be a real one.”
Sue Atkins
This is simple yet hard-to-remember advice can work wonders in a card or a letter to a mom you know is struggling.
What's my destiny, Momma?”
“You're gonna have to figure that out for yourself.””
Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) and Mrs. Gump (Sally Field),
Forrest Gump
Having kids — the responsibility of rearing good, kind, ethical, responsible human beings — is the biggest job anyone can embark on.”
Maria Shriver
Mothers are the people who love us for no good reason. And those of us who are mothers know it’s the most exquisite love of all.”
Maggie Gallagher
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Funny Mother's Day quotes.
If you have a relationship where a little teasing gets a laugh, use these funny Mother’s Day quotes in this year’s cards, letters, or collages. Your gift-giving skills will go up a notch because the funny messages are often the ones best remembered.
Choose the funny Mother’s Day quote that says something about the mom you’re honoring, then let Adobe Express help you use it in the perfect gift.
Motherhood is the exquisite inconvenience of being another person’s everything.”
Unattributed
Having a child is like getting a tattoo...on your face. You better be committed.”
Elizabeth Gilbert
When your mother asks, “Do you want a piece of advice?” It’s a mere formality. It doesn’t matter if you answer yes or no. You’re going to get it anyway.”
Erma Bombeck
No. No, you're not a bad mother. You're just a barking lunatic.”
Will (David Walton), About a Boy
Poking fun at Mom is part of Mother’s Day in some households. This quote goes well in a card or even on a social media graphic.
If you have never been hated by your child, you have never been a parent.”
Bette Davis
It’s a funny thing about mothers...even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful.”
Roald Dahl
Everybody wants to save the earth; nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes.”
P.J. O’Rourke, All the Trouble in the World
Picture this funny Mother’s Day quote on a poster for the kitchen.
The phrase “working mother” is redundant.”
Jane Sellman
Now, Momma said there’s only so much fortune a man really needs, and the rest is just for showing off. “
Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks), Forrest Gump
All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.”
Charles M. Schulz
Use this quote in a card to accompany the chocolates you got for Mother’s Day, and this cute message is perfect.
Of course I have a secret identity. Can you see me in this at the supermarket? Come on. Who’d want to go shopping as Elastigirl, know what I mean?”
Helen/Elastigirl (Holly Hunter),
The Incredibles
When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen. When they’re finished, I climb out.”
Erma Bombeck
An ounce of mother is worth a ton of priest.”
Spanish Proverb
Short. Simple. Perfect for a banner or poster to put up on Mother’s Day.
I don't care if I have to get out on your runway and hitchhike. If it costs me everything I own, if I have to sell my soul to the devil himself, I am going to get home to my son.”
Kate McCallister (Catherine O’Hara),
Home Alone
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.”
Robert Quillen
Some are kissing mothers and some are scolding mothers, but it is love just the same, and most mothers kiss and scold together.”
Pearl S. Buck
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First Mother's Day quotes.
There’s a mix of emotions the first time a new mom celebrates Mother’s Day. The unstoppable force of self-doubt meets the immovable object of a baby in need. These first Mother’s Day quotes recognize some of the challenges (like uncertainty and exhaustion) and some of the treasures (like a newfound level of love and the feeling of togetherness).
Choose the quote that you know new moms in your life will feel to their very core. Maybe it’s your first Mother’s Day as a parent, too, and you’re celebrating it together. Or maybe you’re celebrating a friend or family member who’s had a child. Which quote jumps out at you?
Sleep? What’s that?”
Bernadette (Cate Blanchett),
Where’d You Go Bernadette
Once you sign on to be a mother, 24/7 is the only shift they offer.”
Jodi Picoult
There are really places in your heart that you don’t know exist until you love a child.”
Anne Lamott
A Mother’s Day letter to your partner when you’re celebrating a first Mother’s Day together can open with this tender quote.
Don’t listen to anyone’s advice. Listen to your baby. There are so many books, doctors, and well-meaning friends and family. We like to say, “You don’t need a book. Your baby is a book. Just pick it up and read it.”
Mayim Bialik
Being a mom has made me so tired. And so happy.”
Tina Fey
A mother is a mother from the moment her baby is first placed in her arms until eternity.”
Sarah Strohmeyer, Kindred Spirits
Motherhood has a very humanizing effect. Everything gets reduced to essentials.”
Meryl Streep
But only a mother can walk with the weight of a second beating heart.”
Ocean Vuong, Headfirst
When you’re in the thick of raising your kids by yourself, you tend to keep a running list of everything you think you’re doing wrong. I recommend taking a lot of family pictures as evidence to the contrary.”
Connie Schultz
Why don't kids understand their nap is not for them, but for us?”
Alyson Hannigan
A little humor goes a long way for new moms. Laughter through the exhaustion is like an elixir.
Momma always said you've got to put the past behind you before you can move on.”
Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks), Forrest Gump
She raised us with humor, and she raised us to understand that not everything was going to be great — but how to laugh through it.”
Liza Minnelli
The biggest adjustment is I just didn’t know there was that much room in a house for that much joy. I have to say it—I didn’t know I could feel like this, but I am tired, I am so happy.”
Hoda Kotb
For when a child is born the mother also is born again.”
Gilbert Parker
That's the wonderful thing about mothers: You can because you must, and you just do.”
Kate Winslet
This quote perfectly captures the force that keeps new parents going through doubt and exhaustion. Share it with a new mom who might be feeling overwhelmed.
I believe the choice to become a mother is the choice to become one of the greatest spiritual teachers there is.”
Oprah Winfrey
There isn’t a lot of spiritual leadership needed for a newborn, but this quote used in a Mother’s Day card can leave Mom thinking about the future. It’s all just begun.
Topics
mothers-day, mothers day AND caring, 1st, newborn, pregnant
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Short Mother's Day quotes.
The Mother’s Day quote you choose needs to be short if you have limited space, like on a poster or banner. Short Mother’s Day quotes also come in handy when scribbling a note on a card already jam-packed with notes from others.
These short Mother’s Day quotes get right to the point. Take your pick of these direct — sometimes inspiring, sometimes relatable — quotes about mothers.
To a child’s ear, “mother” is magic in any language.”
Arlene Benedict
Mothers can look through a child’s eyes and see tomorrow.”
Reed Markham
Mother is one to whom you hurry when you are troubled.”
Emily Dickinson
This is a relatable feeling for anyone who’s needed a maternal figure in a time of trouble. You could use this quote in a Mother’s Day letter.
The art of mothering is to teach the art of living to children.”
Elaine Heffner
I didn’t know it, but I was destined to be your Momma. I did the best I could.”
Mrs. Gump (Sally Field), Forrest Gump
There’s a lot of wisdom from “Momma” in the movie Forrest Gump. A poster with this quote could use imagery from the film.
There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it.”
Chinese Proverb
The best place to cry is on a mother's arms.”
Jodi Picoult
I unapologetically and unabashedly am deeply biased toward my mother.”
Chelsea Clinton
A mother’s arms are more comforting than anyone else’s.”
Princess Diana
A mother’s hug lasts long after she lets go.”
Unattributed
We are born of love; love is our mother.”
Rumi
A mother understands what a child does not say.”
Jewish proverb
Proverbs are timeless quotes to use on posters.
Mother is a verb. It’s something you do. Not just who you are.”
Cheryl Lacey Donovan
A mother is the truest friend we have.”
Washington Irving
It’s worth using this quote in a card and adding your own “thank you” message for that friendship you treasure.
Sooner or later we all quote our mothers.”
Bern Williams
All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.”
Abraham Lincoln
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Mother's Day quotes for Grandma.
They say a mother is promoted when she becomes a grandma. Mother’s Day is a special opportunity to include them in your shows of gratitude.
Mother’s Day quotes for Grandma are popular in cards and letters made just for her. Choose your favorite quote for Grandma and Adobe Express can help you use it in the card that will sit on her mantle for months to come.
If nothing is going well, call your grandmother.”
Italian Proverb
As I learned from growing up, you don’t mess with your grandmother.”
Prince William
There’s no place like home except Grandma’s.”
Unattributed
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
Mother’s Day can also mean recognizing your mom for the figure she plays as grandma to your own kids.
Grandmothers are the people who take delight in hearing babies breathing into the telephone.”
Unattributed
We should all have one person who knows how to bless us despite the evidence. Grandmother was that person to me.”
Phyllis Theroux
Use this quote in a card and add your own two cents in a handwritten note. Who is your grandma to you? What role does she play that you believe everyone can benefit from?
Becoming a grandmother is wonderful. One moment you’re just a mother. The next, you are all-wise and prehistoric.”
Pam Brown
For myself, one of the sweetest words I have ever heard is “Nana.”“
Zelda Rosenbaum
Truth be told, being a grandma is as close as we ever get to perfection.”
Bryna Nelson Paston
A poster bearing this quote is something Grandma would put up with pride.
If I had known how wonderful it would be to have grandchildren, I’d have had them first.”
Lois Wyse
A house needs a grandma in it.”
Louisa May Alcott
Perfect love sometimes does not come until the first grandchild.”
Welsh Proverb
The reason grandparents and grandchildren get along so well is that they have a common enemy.”
Sam Levenson
You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.”
Albert Einstein
Even Einstein had a grandma.
It is as grandmothers that our mothers come into the fullness of their grace.”
Christopher Morley
Grandma always made you feel she had been waiting to see just you all day and now the day was complete.”
Marcy DeMaree
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Send Mother’s Day messages in every imaginable way.
Once you have the best Mother’s Day quotes for all the moms in your life, consider how you’ll deliver them.
It doesn’t stop at Mother’s Day cards and letters. Depending on your plans for the occasion, you could think about:
- Banners to put up at the Mother’s Day get-together
- Posters for Mom to put up at home or work
- Collages (of multiple photos or multiple Mother’s Day quotes)
Exercise: Is there a movie mom you love, too?
If there’s a famous mom figure in the movies you absolutely love, consider playing off that persona in whatever you make for Mother’s Day.
Could some kind of imagery related to these famed moms go with the Mother’s Day quote you chose?
- Mrs. Incredible/Elastigirl
Adobe Express can help.
Adobe Express has templates and customization tools to put your favorite Mother’s Day quotes to work. If you want to use happy Mother’s Day quotes in cards, letters, posters, banners, invitations, collages, or other creative projects, Adobe Express makes it as simple as picking a template and personalizing it, or making your own idea with easy-to-use tools. Whatever message you want to convey, Adobe Express brings it to life, no experience required.
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