While we should be thankful for our mothers every day, Mother’s Day is the perfect opportunity to show our moms how much we love and appreciate them. Whether the mommy you want to celebrate is your own or someone else’s, a new mom or a grandmother, a mom who appreciates a good joke or a mom to a fur baby – let’s make sure to wish all of them a Happy Mother’s Day this year!

Sometimes it can be difficult to find the right words to show gratitude. Why struggle? Someone else has probably already said exactly what you want to say. We have curated a list of 125 Mother’s Day Quotes for all kinds of mothers and are sure you’ll find the perfect quote for the woman you want to celebrate. All you’ll have to do is add a personal touch.

A hand-written note, her favorite chocolates or even a lavish flower bouquet are all ways to show your gratitude and make sure the mother you are thinking of has an amazing day!

Short Mother’s Day Quotes

Sometimes it’s best to keep it short and sweet. Any of these quotes are short enough to fit into a text message or Instagram caption!

1. “Sooner or later we all quote our mothers.” — Bern Williams
2. “A mother’s love endures through all.” — Washington Irving
3. “Life doesn’t come with a manual. It comes with a mother.” — unknown
4. “Life began with waking up and loving my mother’s face.” — George Eliot
5. “Mothers are like buttons. They hold everything together.” — unknown

 

 

 

6. “Mother: the most beautiful word on the lips of mankind.” — Kahil Gibran
7. “Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.” — unknown
8. “If love is as sweet as a flower, then my mother is that sweet flower of love.” — Stevie Wonder
9. “Motherhood: All love begins and ends there.” — Robert Browning
10. “A mother understands what a child does not say.” — Jewish Proverb
11. “Don’t poets know it better than others? God can’t always be everywhere: and, so, invented mothers.” — Sir Edwin Arnold
12. “Mother’s love is peace. It need not be acquired, it need not be deserved.” — Erich Fromm
13. “I can imagine no heroism greater than motherhood.” — Lance Conrad
14. “A mother is the one who fills your heart in the first place.” — Amy Tan
15. “All I am I owe to my mother.” — George Washington
16. “A mother’s hug lasts long after she lets go.” — unknown
17. “The natural state of motherhood is unselfishness.” — Jessica Lange
18. “We are born of love; Love is our mother.” — Rumi

For First Time Moms

New parents deserve all the appreciation and recognition in the world. Show a first time mom that you care about her with one of these quotes and maybe a pretty bouquet to celebrate her newborn!

19. “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
20. “There’s no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.” — Jill Churchill
21. “Being a mother is learning about strengths you didn’t know you had.” — Linda Wooten
22. “When you are a mother you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother thinks twice, once for herself and once for her child.” — Sophia Loren
23. “The days are long, but the years are short.” — Gretchen Rubin
24. “A mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dates all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path.” — Agatha Christie
25. “My mother was my role model before I even knew what that word was.” — Lisa Leslie
26. “Once you’re a mom, you’re always a mom. It’s like riding a bike, you never forget.” — Taraji P. Henson
27. “A mother’s love is more beautiful than any fresh flower.” — Debasish Mridha
28. “There is such a special sweetness in being able to participate in creation.” — Pamela S. Nadav

 

 

 

29. “You never understand life until it grows inside of you.” — Sandra C. Kassis
30. “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.” — Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

For Moms of Many

Many kids equal a lot of joy – and chaos. Give a mom a break with one of these quotes that will make her feel appreciated for all the stress she is putting herself through to be a great mother to her children.

41. “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
42. “There’s nothing like your mother’s sympathetic voice to make you want to burst into tears.” — Sophie Kinsella
43. “Mothers are like glue. Even when you can’t see them, they’re still holding the family together.” — Susan Gale

 

 

 

 

34. “The best way to make children good is to make them happy.” — Oscar Wilde
35. “A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place no one else can take.” — Cardinal Meymillod
36. “If at first you don’t succeed, try doing it the way mom told you to in the beginning.” — unknown
37. “To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power.” — Maya Angelou
38. “The soul is healed by being with children.” — Fyodor Dostoevsky

For Working Moms

Even the busiest moms will be grateful for an opportunity to sit down and read a thoughtful Mother’s Day card. Let one of the following quotes speak to her.

39. “If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?” — Milton Berle
40. “The phrase ‘working mother’ is redundant.” — Jane Sellman

 

 

 

41. “That’s the wonderful thing about mothers: you can because you must, and you just do.” — Kate Winslet
42. “Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws.” — Barbara Kingsolver
43. “If you’ve never been hated by your child, you’ve never been a parent.” — Bette Davis
44. “A mom is like a teabag. You can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
45. “Behind every great kid is a mom who is pretty sure she is screwing it up.” — unknown

For Stay at Home Moms

Stay at home mothers are usually thankful for any kind of interaction with an adult. Give her a hand on Mother’s Day and maybe a card with a quote that is a little more sophisticated than the love letters her six-year-old writes for her.

46. “There is no role in life that is more essential than that of motherhood.” — Elder M. Russel Ballard
47. “Mother is a verb. It’s something you do. Not just who you are.” — Dorothy Canfield Fisher
48. “The mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom.” — Henry Ward Beecher
49. “Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs, since the payment is pure love.” — Mildred Vermont

 

 

 

50. “Motherhood is the exquisite inconvenience of being another person’s everything.” — unknown
51. “What greater aspiration and challenge are there for a mother than the hope of raising a great son or daughter?” — Rose Kennedy
52. “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

For Moms of Daughters

The bonds between mothers and daughters are often mysterious. As much as they may fight and disagree on things, they will always have a special connection few outsiders can understand.

53. “A mother is a daughter’s first best friend.” — unknown
54. “As my mother always said: ‘You’d rather have my smile lines that frown lines’” — Cindy Crawford

 

 

 

55. “Teach your daughter to worry less about fitting into the glass slippers and more about shattering the glass ceilings.” — unknown
56. “By the time a woman realizes her mother was right, she has a daughter who thinks she’s wrong.” — unknown
57. “Mother is one to whom you hurry when you are troubled.” — Emily Dickinson

For Moms of Sons

He may deny it in front of others but a son will always be his mother’s little boy. These quotes perfectly reflect the beautiful and sometimes difficult relationship between mothers and sons.

58. “My mother has a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.” — Mark Twain
59. “All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.” — Oscar Wilde
60. “Mother — that was the bank where we deposited all our hurts and worries.” — T. Dewitt Talmage

 

 

 

61. “A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest.” — Irish Proverb
62. “A mother’s love doesn’t make her son more dependent and timid; it actually makes him stronger and more independent.” — Cheri Fuller

For Moms of Moms

What do you call your grandmother? Grandma, Nana, Nonna, Grammy? Regardless of how you address her, she will certainly appreciate a thoughtful Mother’s Day quote.

63. “I realized when you look at your mother, you are looking at the purest love you will ever know.” — Mitch Albom
64. “The influence of a mother in the lives of her children is beyond calculation.” — James E. Faust
65. “Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; A mother’s secret hope outlives them all.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes

 

 

 

66. “I think in a lot of ways unconditional love is a myth. My mom’s the only reason I know it’s a real thing.” — Conor Oberst
67. “I can only hope to be 10% of the mom mine was to me.” — Charlize Theron
68. “It may be possible to gild pure gold, but who can make his mother more beautiful?” — Mahatma Gandhi
69. “My mother: She is beautiful, softened at the edges and tempered with a spine of steel. I want to grow old and be like her.” — Jodi Picoult

For Honorary Moms

A mom does not have to be your biological mother. Mother figures come in all shapes and sizes. Whether they be your aunt, your godmother or your stepmom, even your mother-in-law can become someone special in your life that you want to show your gratitude to on this special day.

70. “The older you get, the more you need people who knew you when you were young.” — Mary Schmich
71. “Only an aunt can give hugs like a mother, keep secrets like a sister and share love like a friend.” — unknown
72. “An aunt is a safe haven for a child. Someone who will keep your secrets and is always on your side.” — Sara Sheridan
73. “We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.” — Cynthia Ozick
74. “The best aunts aren’t substitute parents, they’re co-conspirators.” — Daryl Gregory
75. “Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” — Marcel Proust
76. “An aunt is someone special to remember with warmth, think of with pride, and cherish with love.” — unknown
77. “Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation of all abundance.” — Eckhart Tolle

 

 

 

78. “I look back on my childhood and thank the stars above. For everything you gave me, but mostly for your love.” — Wayne F. Winters
79. “Aunt — a double blessing. You love like a parent and act like a friend.” — unknown
80. “It’s not where you are in life, it’s who you have by your side that matters.” — unknown
81. “An aunt is very special. She’s considerate and kind. She’s thoughtful of others and loved a lot each day throughout the year.” — unknown
82. “What seems insignificant when you have it is important when you need it.” — Franz Grillparzer

For Pet Moms

Just because someone’s child has four legs and a furry coat, doesn’t mean this person is any less of a mom! Caring for a dog or a cat can be its very own kind of motherhood, with rewarding, stressful, annoying and precious moments throughout. Like all other mothers, pet moms too deserve a thoughtful Mother’s Day card with a quote that fits them and their baby.

83. “Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.” — Roger Caras
84. “Time spent with cats is never wasted.” — Sigmund Freud
85. “A dog is like a person — he needs a job and a family to be what he’s meant to be.” — Andrew Vachss
86. “Are cats strange animals or do they so resemble us that we find them curious as we do monkeys?” — John Steinbeck

 

 

 

87. “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” — Anatole France
88. “Dogs do speak but only to those who know how to listen.” — Orhan Pamuk
89. “It is amazing how much love and laughter they bring into our lives and even how much closer we become with each other because of them.” — John Grogan
90. “A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.” — Josh Billings
91. “What greater gift than the love of a cat.” — Charles Dickens
92. “I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.” — Jean Cocteau
93. “Dogs are like that, I guess — they know how to fix you without ever saying a word.” — Caroline George
94. “Dogs have a way of finding the people who need them, and filling the emptiness we didn’t even know we had.” — Thom Jones
95. “There are few things in life more heartwarming than to be welcomed by a cat.” — Tay Hohoff
96. “Everyone thinks they have the best dog and none of them are wrong.” — W.R. Purche

Funny Mother’s Day Quotes

We’ve all heard our fair share of dad jokes but who’s to say that moms aren’t funny? After all, they are the ones that put on the fake laugh when your father tells another one of his silly puns. For all the hilarious moms out there, these are the perfect Mother’s Day quotes!

97. “Nothing is really lost until your mom can’t find it.” — unknown
98. “My mother’s menu consisted of two choices: Take it or leave it.” — Buddy Hackett
99. “Children are great comfort in your old age — and they help you reach it faster, too.” — Lionel Kauffman
100. “It is never easy being a mother. If it were easy, fathers would do it.” — Betty White
101. “I want my children to have all the things I couldn’t afford. Then, I want to move in with them.” — Phyllis Diller

 

 

 

102. “Mothers don’t sleep. They just worry with their eyes closed.” — unknown
103. “A mom forgives us all our faults, not to mention one or two we don’t even have.” — Robert Brault
104. “There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it.” — Chinese Proverb
105. “I always say if you aren’t yelling at your kids, you’re not spending enough time with them.” — Reese Witherspoon
106. “A mother is the person you can always call to see how long chicken lasts in the fridge” — unknown
107. “Insantiy is hereditary; you get it from your children!” — Sam Levenson
108. “Setting a good example for your children takes all the fun out of middle age.” — William Feather
109. “Motherhood: Feeding them as a baby and then throughout most of their twenties.” — unknown
110. “The one thing children wear out faster than shoes is parents.” — John J. Plomp
111. “Ma-ma does everything for the baby, who responds by saying Da-da first.” — Mignon McLaughlin
112. “Mothers of teens know why some animals eat their young.” — unknown
113. “The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found.” — Calvin Trillin
114. “Sweater, n.: garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly.” — Ambrose Bierce

Inspirational Mother’s Day Quotes

If all else fails, consider a classic. Inspirational quotes will touch the heart of the woman you’re addressing and make her feel special on Mother’s Day.

115. “There is nothing as sincere as a mother’s kiss.” — Saleem Sharma
116. “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
117. “Everything I am, you helped me to be.” — unknown
118. “All that I am, or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” — Abraham Lincoln
119. “The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.” — Honoré de Balzac
120.  “Acceptance, tolerance, bravery, compassion. These are the things my mom taught me.” — Lady Gaga
121. “Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible.” — Marion C. Garretty
122. “No language can express the power and beauty and heroism of a mother’s love.” — Edwin Chapin
123. “A mother’s arms are more comforting than anyone else’s.” — Princess Diana

 

 

 

124. “The art of mothering is to teach the art of living to children.” — Elaine Heffner
125. “My mother taught me about the power of inspiration and courage, and she did it with a strength and a passion that I wish could be bottled.” — Carly Fiorina

Finding the right words doesn’t have to be a struggle. As long as you know where to find inspiration, you’ll be just fine. Write the quote on a greeting card, or try some beautiful calligraphy on a canvas to immortalize your favorite quote on your mom’s nightstand. If you want to go all out, maybe write down or recite a Mother’s Day poem that shows your mom how much you love her. However you choose to show the mother your love, never underestimate the language of flowers – a beautiful bouquet of roses will say it all.