Mothers

*Authors are unknown, unless otherwise noted.

Every mother is like Moses. She does not enter the promised land. She prepares a world she will not see.
~ Pope Paul VI

An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy.
~ Spanish Proverb

I looked on child rearing not only as a work of love and duty but as a profession that was fully interesting and challenging as any honorable profession in the world and one that demanded the best that I could bring to it.
~ Rose Kennedy

Motherhood is like Albania - you can't trust the descriptions in the books, you have to go there.
~ Marni Jackson

Over the years I have learned that motherhood is much like an austere religious order, the joining of which obligates one to relinquish all claims to personal possessions.
~ Nancy Stahl

A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path.
~ Agatha Christie

A mother's arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them.
~ Victor Hugo

Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.
~ W.M. Thackeray

Stories first heard at a mother's knee are never wholly forgotten - a little spring that never quite dries up in out journey through scorching years.
~ Giovanni Ruffini

Who is it that loves me and will love me for eve with an affection which no chance, no misery, no crime of mine can do away?? It is you, my mother.
~ Thomas Carlyle

In the heavens, above the angels; whispering to one another, can find, amid their burning terms of love, none so devotional as that of mother.
~ Edgar Allen Poe

Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall: a mother's secret love outlives them all.
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

A mother has perhaps, the hardest earthly lot; and yet no mother worthy of the name ever gave herself thoroughly for her child who did not feel that, after all, she reaped what she had sown.
~ Henry Ward Beecher

A happy childhood is one of the best gifts that parents have it in their power to bestow.
~ Mary Cholmondeley

The best thing you can give your children, next to good habits, are good memories.
~ Sydney J Harris

Womanliness means only motherhood: Al love begins and ends there.
~ Robert Browning

The best academy, a mother's knee.
~ James Russel Lowell

A mother is a mother still, the holiest thing alive.
~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The future destiny of a child is always the work of the mother.
~ Napoleon Bonaparte

There is an enduring tenderness that is the love of a mother.  It is neither to be chilled by selfishness, nor daunted by danger… She will sacrifice every comfort to his convenience;  She will surrender every pleasure to his enjoyment;  She will glory in his fame and exalt in his prosperity; And if adversity overtake him, he will be the dearer to him by misfortune;  And if disgrace settle upon his name, she will still love and cherish him;  And if all the world beside cast him off, she will be all the world to him.
~ Washington Irving

I shall never forget my mother,  For it is she who planted and nurtured the first seeds of good within me.  She opened my heart to the lasting impressions of nature;  She awakened my understanding and extended my horizon  and her percepts exerted an everlasting influence upon the course of my life.
~ Immanuel Kant

My mother was the making of me.  She was so true and so sure of me, I felt that I had someone to live for ~  Someone I must not disappoint, The memory of my mother will always be a blessing to me.
~ Thomas Edison

My mother was the most beautiful woman…. All I am I owe to my mother… I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.
~ George Washington

All mothers are quintessential: In pain and joy they are always with us, encouraging, instructing, loving.
~ Peter Megargee Brown

A mother holds her children's hands for awhile, but their hearts forever.

A Mother's arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them.
~ Victor Hugo

My first job is to be a good mother.
~ Faye Dunaway

Making the decision to have a child -- it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.
~ Elizabeth Stone

...It is not a slight thing, when they, who are so fresh from God, love us.
~ Charles Dickens

All mothers are rich when they love their children. There are no poor mothers, no ugly ones, no old ones. Their love is always the most beautiful of joys.
~ Maurice Maeterlinck

The mother's heart is the child's schoolroom.
~ Henry Ward Beecher

To love is to receive a glimpse of heaven.
~ Karen Sunde

For the mother is and must be, whether she knows it or not, the greatest, strongest, and most lasting teacher her children have.
~ Hannah Whitall Smith

You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be --
I had a Mother who read to me.
~ Strickland Gillilan

My Mother
Who fed me from her gentle breast,
And hushed me in her arms to rest,
And on my cheek sweet kisses prest?
My Mother.
When Pain and sickness made me cry,
Who gazed upon my heavy eye, and wept, for fear that I should die?
My Mother.
Who dresses my doll in clothes so gay,
And fondly taught me how to play.
And minded all I had to say?
My Mother
Who ran to help me when I fell,
And would some pretty story tell,
Or kiss the place to make it well?
My Mother.
And can I ever cease o be
Affectionate and kind to thee,
Who was so very kind to me??
My Mother.
~ Anne Taylor

Mother's Love
Her love is like an island
In life's ocean, vast and wide,
A peaceful, quiet shelter
From the wind, the rain, the tide,
'Tis bound on the north by Hope,
By Patience on the west,
By tender Counsel on the south
And on the east by Rest,
Above it like a beacon light
Shine Faith, and Truth, and Prayer,
And through the changing scenes of life
I find a harbor there.

Baby's Choice
Did you ever think, dear Mother, as the seeds of me you sowed,
As you breathed new life inside of me and slowly watched me grow,
In all your dreams about me, when you planned me out so well,
When you couldn't wait to have me there inside your heart to dwell,
Did you ever think that maybe I was planning for you, too,
And choosing for my very own a mother just like you?
A mother who smelled sweet and who had hands so creamy white,
A tender, loving creature who would soothe me in the night?
Did you ever think in all those days while you were coming due,
That as you planned a life for me ~ I sought a life with you?
And now as I lay in your arms, I wonder if you knew
While you were busy making me, I was choosing you!
~ Colleen M. Story

If I could do it again
If I had my child to raise allover again…
I'd finger paint more and finger point less.
I'd do less correcting and more connecting.
Id' take my eyes off my watch and watch with my eyes.
I would care to know less and know to care more.
I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.
I'd stop playing serious and seriously play.
I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.
I'd do more hugging and less tugging.
I would be firm less and affirm much more.
I'd build self-esteem first and the house later.
I'd teach less about the love of power – and more about the power of love. 
~ Diane Loomans

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray my sanity to keep.
For if some peace I do not find,
I'm pretty sure I'll lose my mind. I pray I find a little quiet
Far from the daily family riot
May I lie back--not have to think
about what they're stuffing down the sink,
or who they're with, or where they're at
and what they're doing to the cat.
I pray for time all to myself
(did something just fall off a shelf?)
To cuddle in my nice, soft bed
(Oh no, another goldfish--dead!)
Some silent moments for goodness sake
(Did I just hear a window break?)
And that I need not cook or clean--
(well heck, I've got the right to dream)
Yes now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray my wits about me keep,
But as I look around I know--
I must have lost them long ago!

What Did I Do Today?
Today I left some dishes dirty;
The bed got made around 3:30.
The diapers soaked a little longer,
The odor grew a little stronger.
The crumbs I spilled the day before,
Are staring at me from the floor.
The fingerprints there on the wall,
Will likely be there still next fall.
The dirty streaks on those windowpanes
Will still be there next time it rains.
Shame on you, you sit and say,
Just what did you do today?
I held a baby till she slept,
I held a toddler while he wept.
I played a game of hide and seek;
I squeezed a toy so it would squeak.
I pulled a wagon, sang a song,
Taught a child right from wrong.
What did I do this whole day through?
Not much that shows, I guess that' s true.
Unless you think that what I've done,
Might be important to someone,
With deep green eyes and soft brown hair,
If that is true... I've done my share.

Time is of the Essence
Now is the time to get things done . . .
Wade in the water,
Sit in the sun,
Squish my toes in the mud by the door
Explore the world with a boy just four.
Now is the time to study books,
Flowers,
Snails,
How a cloud looks,
To ponder "up,"
Where God sleeps nights,
Why mosquitoes take such big bites.
Later there'll be time
To sew and clean
Paint the hall
That soft new green,
To make new drapes, refinish the floor,
Later on . . . when he's not just four.
~Irene Foster

Thoughts of Home
Home is where the heart is,
Where the children's scribbled art is,
Where the random blocks and skates are,
Where the socks without their mates are,
Home is where the bills are,
Where the fevers and the chills are,
Where the crumbs of bread and cakes are,
Where no one knows the rakes are.
Home is where the weeds grow,
Where all except the seeds grow,
Where the dogs and frogs and cats are,
Where the scratches, cuts and spats are.
Home is where the salami is
And, thank heaven, where the mommy is.
~Leonhard Dowty

Motherhood
The dearest gifts that heaven holds,
The very finest, too,
Were made into one pattern
That was perfect, sweet, and true;
The Angels smiled, well-pleased, and said:
"Compared to all the others,
This pattern is so wonderful
Let's use it just for Mothers!"
And through the years, a Mother
Has been all that's sweet and good
For there's one bit of God and love
In all true Motherhood.
~Helen Steiner Rice

When You Thought I Wasn't Looking
When you thought I wasn't looking,
I saw you hang my first painting on the refrigerator, and I wanted to paint another one.
When you thought I wasn't looking,
I saw you feed a stray cat, and I thought it was good to be kind to animals.
When you thought I wasn't looking,
I saw you make my favorite cake just for me, and I knew that little things are special things.
When you thought I wasn't looking,
I heard you say a prayer, and I believed there is a God I could always talk to.
When you thought I wasn't looking,
I felt you kiss me good night and I felt loved.
When you thought I wasn't looking,
I saw tears come from your eyes, and I learned that sometimes things hurt, but it's OK to cry.
When you thought I wasn't looking,
I saw that you cared, and I wanted to be everything that I could be.
When you thought I wasn't looking,
I looked - and wanted to say thanks for all the things I saw when you thought I wasn't looking.
~Mary Rita Schilke Korzan