Mom Quotes: Top 100+ Mom Quotes

1

Washington Irving

“A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.” ― Washington Irving

2

Mitch Albom

“But there’s a story behind everything. How a picture got on a wall. How a scar got on your face. Sometimes the stories are simple, and sometimes they are hard and heartbreaking. But behind all your stories is always your mother’s story, because hers is where yours begin.” ― Mitch Albom, For One More Day

3

Anchee Min

“If you can’t go back to your mother’s womb, you’d better learn to be a good fighter.” ― Anchee Min, Red Azalea

4

Lana Del Rey

“I was always an unusual girl.
My mother told me I had a chameleon soul, no moral compass pointing due north, no fixed personality; just an inner indecisiveness that was as wide and as wavering as the ocean.” ― Lana Del Rey

5

Karl Lagerfeld

“The only love that I really believe in is a mother’s love for her children.” ― Karl Lagerfeld

6

Abraham Lincoln

“No man is poor who has a Godly mother.” ― Abraham Lincoln

7

Mother Teresa

“The Simple Path
Silence is Prayer
Prayer is Faith
Faith is Love
Love is Service
The Fruit of Service is Peace” ― Mother Teresa

8

N.K. Jemisin

“In a child’s eyes, a mother is a goddess. She can be glorious or terrible, benevolent or filled with wrath, but she commands love either way. I am convinced that this is the greatest power in the universe.” ― N.K. Jemisin, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

9

Barbara Kingsolver

“But 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, Pigs in Heaven

10

Robert A. Heinlein

“Being a mother is an attitude, not a biological relation.” ― Robert A. Heinlein, Have Space Suit—Will Travel

11

George Washington

“My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.” ― George Washington

12

R.J. Palacio

“My mom smiled at me. Her smile kind of hugged me.” ― R.J. Palacio, Wonder

13

J.K. Rowling

“Can you think what the Mirror of Erised shows us all?” Harry shook his head.

“Let me explain. The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is. Does that help.”
Harry thought. Then he said slowly, “It shows us what we want… whatever we want…”
“Yes and no,” said Dumbledore quietly.
“It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you. Ronald Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, the best of all of them. However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible.

“The Mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow, Harry, and I ask you not to go looking for it again. If you ever do run across it, you will now be prepared. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that. Now, why don’t you put that admirable cloak back on and get off to bed.” ― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

14

Chuck Palahniuk

“The truth is, every son raised by a single mom is pretty much born married. I don’t know, but until your mom dies it seems like all the other women in your life can never be more than just your mistress.” ― Chuck Palahniuk

15

Nicholas Sparks

“What’s your heart telling you to do?
I don’t know.’
Maybe, you’re trying too hard to hear it.” ― Nicholas Sparks, A Walk to Remember

16

Kristen Hannah

“That was the thing about best friends. Like sisters and mothers, they could piss you off and make you cry and break your heart, but in the end, when the chips were down, they were there, making you laugh even in your darkest hours.” ― Kristen Hannah, Firefly Lane

17

Joanne Harris

“Children are knives, my mother once said. They don’t mean to, but they cut. And yet we cling to them, don’t we, we clasp them until the blood flows.” ― Joanne Harris, The Girl with No Shadow

18

John Steinbeck

“Perhaps it takes courage to raise children..” ― John Steinbeck, East of Eden

19

Mitch Albom

“I don’t know what it is about food your mother makes for you, especially when it’s something that anyone can make – pancakes, meat loaf, tuna salad – but it carries a certain taste of memory.” ― Mitch Albom

20

C. JoyBell C.

“The best love in the world, is the love of a man. The love of a man who came from your womb, the love of your son! I don’t have a daughter, but maybe the love of a daughter is the best, too. I am first and foremost me, but right after that, I am a mother. The best thing that I can ever be, is me. But the best gift that I will ever have, is being a mother.” ― C. JoyBell C.

21

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Art is the child of nature in whom we trace the features of the mothers face.” ― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

22

Marisa de los Santos

“No one is ever quite ready; everyone is always caught off guard. Parenthood chooses you. And you open your eyes, look at what you’ve got, say “Oh, my gosh,” and recognize that of all the balls there ever were, this is the one you should not drop. It’s not a question of choice.” ― Marisa de los Santos, Love Walked in

23

Mitch Albom

“I love you every day. And now I will miss you every day.” ― Mitch Albom, For One More Day

24

Jodi Picoult

“The best place to cry is on a mother’s arms.” ― Jodi Picoult, House Rules

25

Mitch Albom

“I realized when you look at your mother, you are looking at the purest love you will ever know.” ― Mitch Albom, For One More Day

26

Adriana Trigiani

“I like it when my mother smiles. And I especially like it when I make her smile.” ― Adriana Trigiani, Viola in Reel Life

27

J.K. Rowling

“He didn’t realize that love as powerful as your mother’s for you leaves its own mark.” ― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

28

Cormac McCarthy

“By day the banished sun circles the earth like a grieving mother with a lamp.” ― Cormac McCarthy, The Road

29

Gillian Flynn

“My dad had limitations. That’s what my good-hearted mom always told us. He had limitations, but he meant no harm. It was kind of her to say, but he did do harm.” ― Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl

30

Kyung-Sook Shin

“…I have so many dreams of my own, and I remember things from my childhood, from when I was a girl and a young woman, and I haven’t forgotten a thing. So why did we think of Mom as a mom from the very beginning? She didn’t have the opportunity to pursue her dreams, and all by herself, faced everything the era dealt her, poverty and sadness, and she couldn’t do anything about her very bad lot in life other than suffer through it and get beyond it and live her life to the very best of her ability, giving her body and her heart to it completely. Why did I never give a thought to Mom’s dreams?” ― Kyung-Sook Shin, Please Look After Mom

31

Sylvia Plath

“My mother said the cure for thinking too much about yourself was helping somebody who was worse off than you.” ― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

32

Barbara Kingsolver

“A mother’s body remembers her babies-the folds of soft flesh, the softly furred scalp against her nose. Each child has it’s own entreaties to body and soul.” ― Barbara Kingsolver

33

Criss Jami

“You are evidence of your mother’s strength, especially if you are a rebellious knucklehead and regardless she has always maintained her sanity.” ― Criss Jami, Killosophy

34

Criss Jami

“I’m convinced that most men don’t know what they believe, rather, they only know what they wish to believe. How many people blame God for man’s atrocities, but wouldn’t dream of imprisoning a mother for her son’s crime?” ― Criss Jami, Killosophy

35

Kyung-Sook Shin

“You realize that you habitually thought of Mom when something in your life was not going well, because when you thought of her it was as though something got back on track, and you felt re-energized.” ― Kyung-Sook Shin, Please Look After Mom

36

Chuck Palahniuk

“Fathers. Mothers. With all their caring and attention. They will f— you up, every time.” ― Chuck Palahniuk, Snuff

37

Eve Merriam

“I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask,
Mother, what was war?” ― Eve Merriam

38

Chuck Palahniuk

“Maybe it’s just a daughter’s job to piss off her mother.” ― Chuck Palahniuk, Diary

39

Betty Smith

“It’s come at last,” she thought, “the time when you can no longer stand between your children and heartache. When there wasn’t enough food in the house you pretended that you weren’t hungry so they could have more. In the cold of a winter’s night you got up and put your blanket on their bed so they wouldn’t be cold. You’d kill anyone who tried to harm them – I tried my best to kill that man in the hallway. Then one sunny day, they walk out in all innocence and they walk right into the grief that you’d give your life to spare them from.” ― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

40

Mitch Albom

“Behind all your stories is always your mother’s story. Because hers is where yours begin.” ― Mitch Albom, For One More Day

41

Jodi Picoult

“I have a sister, so I know-that relationship, it’s all about fairness: you want your sibling to have exactly what you have-the same amount of toys, the same number of meatballs on your spaghetti, the same share of love. But being a mother is completely different. You want your child to have more than you ever did. You want to build a fire underneath her and watch her soar. It’s bigger than words.” ― Jodi Picoult, My Sister’s Keeper

42

Denis Johnson

“She wanted to eat my heart and be lost in the desert with what she’d done, she wanted to fall on her knees and give birth from it, she wanted to hurt me as only a child can be hurt by its mother.” ― Denis Johnson, Jesus’ Son

43

Sam Ewing

“When you feel neglected, think of the female salmon, who lays 3,000,000 eggs but no one remembers her on Mother’s Day” ― Sam Ewing

44

Augusten Burroughs

“Turn off the light,” she says as she walks away, creating a small woosh that smells sweet and chemical. It makes me sad because it’s the smell she makes when she’s leaving.” ― Augusten Burroughs, Running with Scissors

45

Janet Fitch

“The expression in her eyes was bitter as nightshade. ‘You ask me about regret? Let me tell you a few things about regret, my darling. There is no end to it. You cannot find the beginning of the chain that brought us from there to here. Should you regret the whole chain, and the air between, or each link separately, as if you could uncouple them? Do you regret the beginning which ended so badly, or just the ending itself? I’ve given more thought to this question than you can begin to imagine.” ― Janet Fitch, White Oleander

46

Thomas S. Monson

“May each of us remember this truth; ‘one cannot forget mother and remember God. One cannot remember mother and forget God.’ Why? Because these two sacred persons, God and mother, partners in creation, in love, in sacrifice, in service, are as one.” ― Thomas S. Monson, Pathways To Perfection: Discourses Of Thomas S. Monson

47

Spencer W. Kimball

“I ask you, what good is a big picture window and the lavish appointments and a priceless decor in a home if there is no mother there?” ― Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness

48

Susan Elizabeth Phillips

“When did my house turn into a hangout for every grossly overpaid, terminally pampered professional football player in northern Illinois?”
“We like it here,” Jason said. “It reminds us of home.”
“Plus, no women around.” Leandro Collins, the Bears’ first-string tight end emerged from the office munching on a bag of chips. “There’s times when you need a rest from the ladies.”
Annabelle shot out her arm and smacked him in the side of the head. “Don’t forget who you’re talking to.”
Leandro had a short fuse, and he’d been known to take out a ref here and there when he didn’t like a call, but the tight end merely rubbed the side of his head and grimaced. “Just like my mama.”
“Mine, too,” Tremaine said with happy nod.
Annabelle spun on Heath. “Their mother! I’m thirty-one years old, and I remind them of their mothers.”
“You act like my mother,” Sean pointed out, unwisely as it transpired, because he got a swat in the head next.”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Match Me If You Can

49

Christine Feehan

“You’re the kind of man my mother warned me about.” ― Christine Feehan, Dark Prince

50

Jodi Picoult

“When you’re pregnant, you can think of nothing but having your own body to yourself again, yet after having given birth you realize that the biggest part of you is now somehow external, subject to all sorts of dangers and disappearance, so you spend the rest of your life trying to figure out how to keep it close enough for comfort. That’s the strange thing about being a mother: until you have a baby, you don’t even realize how much you were missing one.” ― Jodi Picoult, Vanishing Acts

51

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey

“Sometimes being a good mother gets in the way of being a good person.” ― Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey, A Woman of Independent Means

52

G.K. Chesterton

“Babies need not to be taught a trade, but to be introduced to a world. To put the matter shortly, woman is generally shut up in a house with a human being at the time when he asks all the questions that there are, and some that there aren’t. It would be odd if she retained any of the narrowness of a specialist. Now if anyone says that this duty of general enlightenment (even when freed from modern rules and hours, and exercised more spontaneously by a more protected person) is in itself too exacting and oppressive, I can understand the view. I can only answer that our race has thought it worth while to cast this burden on women in order to keep common-sense in the world. But when people begin to talk about this domestic duty as not merely difficult but trivial and dreary, I simply give up the question. For I cannot with the utmost energy of imagination conceive what they mean. When domesticity, for instance, is called drudgery, all the difficulty arises from a double meaning in the word. If drudgery only means dreadfully hard work, I admit the woman drudges in the home, as a man might drudge at the Cathedral of Amiens or drudge behind a gun at Trafalgar. But if it means that the hard work is more heavy because it is trifling, colorless and of small import to the soul, then as I say, I give it up; I do not know what the words mean. To be Queen Elizabeth within a definite area, deciding sales, banquets, labors and holidays; to be Whiteley within a certain area, providing toys, boots, sheets, cakes. and books, to be Aristotle within a certain area, teaching morals, manners, theology, and hygiene; I can understand how this might exhaust the mind, but I cannot imagine how it could narrow it. How can it be a large career to tell other people’s children about the Rule of Three, and a small career to tell one’s own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone? No; a woman’s function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute. I will pity Mrs. Jones for the hugeness of her task; I will never pity her for its smallness.” ― G.K. Chesterton, What’s Wrong with the World

53

Phyllis McGinley

“God know that a mother need fortitude and courage and tolerance and flexibility and patience and firmness and nearly every other brave aspect of the human soul.” ― Phyllis McGinley

54

Jhumpa Lahiri

“There were times Ruma felt closer to her mother in death than she had in life, an intimacy born simply of thinking of her so often, of missing her. But she knew that this was an illusion, a mirage, and that the distance between them was now infinite, unyielding. ” ― Jhumpa Lahiri, Unaccustomed Earth

55

Maggie Stiefvater

“His home was populated by things and creatures from Niall Lynch’s dreams, and his mother was just another one of them” ― Maggie Stiefvater, The Dream Thieves

56

GaryLFrancione

“Every time you drink a glass of milk or eat a piece of cheese, you harm a mother. Please go vegan.” ― GaryLFrancione

57

Kyung-Sook Shin

“Mom’s eyes held yours for a moment. ‘I don’t like or dislike the kitchen. I cooked because I had to. I had to stay in the kitchen so you could all eat and go to school. How could you only do what you like? There are things you have to do whether you like it or not.’ Mom’s expression asked, What kind of question is that? And then she murmured, ‘If you only do what you like, who’s going to do what you don’t like?” ― Kyung-Sook Shin, Please Look After Mom

58

Amit Ray

“Compassion is like mother giving love to her children. Mother’s ways are higher than others, even when everyone rejects, mother accepts with her arms open and wide.” ― Amit Ray

59

Adriana Trigiani

“But what Mom never told me is that along the way, you find sisters, and they find you. Girls are cool that way.” ― Adriana Trigiani, Viola in Reel Life

60

Anna Carey

“I loved my mother too,’ I said. ‘I still do. That’s the thing – it never goes away, even if the person does.” ― Anna Carey, Eve

61

Junot Díaz

“You don’t know what it’s like to grow up with a mother who never said a positive thing in her life, not about her children or the world, who was always suspicious, always tearing you down and splitting your dreams straight down the seams. When my first pen pal, Tomoko, stopped writing me after three letters she was the one who laughed: You think someone’s going to lose life writing to you? Of course I cried; I was eight and I had already planned that Tomoko and her family would adopt me. My mother of course saw clean into the marrow of those dreams, and laughed. I wouldn’t write to you either, she said. She was that kind of mother: who makes you doubt yourself, who would wipe you out if you let her. But I’m not going to pretend either. For a long time I let her say what she wanted about me, and what was worse, for a long time I believed her.” ― Junot Díaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

62

Katherine Howe

“Of course mothers and daughters with strong personalities might see the world from very different points of view.” ― Katherine Howe, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

63

Ezra Taft Benson

“It is a fundamental truth that the responsibilities of motherhood cannot be successfully delegated. No, not to day-care centers, not to schools, not to nurseries, not to babysitters. We become enamored with men’s theories such as the idea of preschool training outside the home for young children. Not only does this put added pressure on the budget, but it places young children in an environment away from mother’s influence. Too often the pressure for popularity, on children and teens, places an economic burden on the income of the father, so mother feels she must go to work to satisfy her children’s needs. That decision can be most shortsighted. It is mother’s influence during the crucial formative years that forms a child’s basic character. Home is the place where a child learns faith, feels love, and thereby learns from mother’s loving example to choose righteousness. How vital are mother’s influence and teaching in the home—and how apparent when neglected!” ― Ezra Taft Benson

64

Rick Riordan

“What-what do you want?” Annabeth asked, trying to maintain a tone of confidence.
The voice cackled maliciously.
‘To curse you, of course! To destroy you thousand times in the name of Mother Night!’
“Only a thousand times?” Percy murmured. “Oh, good…I thought we were in trouble.” ― Rick Riordan

65

Janet Fitch

“I couldn’t imagine owning beauty like my mothers. I wouldn’t dare.” ― Janet Fitch, White Oleander

66

Richelle E. Goodrich

“Without you there would be no me.
I am everything reflected in your eyes.
I am everything approved by your smile.
I am everything born of your guidance.
I am me only because of you.” ― Richelle E. Goodrich, Making Wishes

67

Audrey Niffenegger

“one of the best and the most painful things about time traveling has been the opportunity to see my mother alive.” ― Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler’s Wife

68

Audrey Niffenegger

“I sit quietly and think about my mom. It’s funny how memory erodes, If all I had to work from were my childhood memories, my knowledge of my mother would be faded and soft, with a few sharp memories standing out.” ― Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler’s Wife

69

Amy Tan

“ wisdom is like a bottomless pond. You throw stones in and they sink into darkness and dissolve. Her eyes looking back do not reflect anything.
I think this to myself even though I love my daughter. She and I have shared the same body. There is a part of her mind that is a part of mine. But when she was born she sprang from me like a slippery fish, and has been swimming away ever since. All her life, I have watched her as though from another shore.” ― Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club

70

Susan Elizabeth Phillips

“His mother?” Gracie couldn’t believe it. Suzy Denton looked much too young to be his mother. And much too respectable. “But you’re not a-” She cut herself off in mid-sentence as she realized what she’d almost let slip.

Suzy’s wedding ring clicked against the steering wheel as she gave it a hard smack. “I’m going to kill him! He’s been telling that hooker story again, hasn’t he?” ― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Heaven, Texas

71

Adriana Trigiani

“Isn’t this the truth of any good mother? That in all of our lives. We worry only about those we brought into this world, regardless of whether they loved us back or treated us fairly or understood our shortcomings.” ― Adriana Trigiani, Big Cherry Holler

72

Martha Parravano

“Consider a small child sitting on his mother’s lap while she reads him a picture book. The picture book opens to a width that effectively places the child at the center of a closed circle – that of mother’s body, arms, and the picture book… That circle, so private and intimate, is a place apart form the demands and stresses of daily life, a sanctuary in and from which the child can explore the many worlds offered in picture books. Despite all of our society’s technological advances, it still just takes one child, one book, and one reader, to create this unique space, to work this everyday magic.” ― Martha Parravano

73

Jessica Valenti

“And really, how insulting is it that to suggest that the best thing women can do is raise other people to do incredible things? I’m betting some of those women would like to do great things of their own.” ― Jessica Valenti, Why Have Kids?: A New Mom Explores the Truth About Parenting and Happiness

74

Glenn Beck

“You can’t love your mother or father if you don’t also have the capacity to grieve their deaths and, perhaps even more so, grieve parts of their lives.” ― Glenn Beck, The 7: Seven Wonders That Will Change Your Life

75

Willa Cather

“Sometimes,” I ventured, “it doesn’t occur to boys that their mother was ever young and pretty. . . I couldn’t stand it if you boys were inconsiderate, or thought of her as if she were just somebody who looked after you. You see I was very much in love with your mother once, and I know there’s nobody like her…” ― Willa Cather, My Ántonia

76

James Patterson

“We want Max to… breed. To produce heirs. Who will govern the world after she dies.”
Dead silence for quite some time. We all stared at Dr. Hans, our jaws dropped to various levels. Our lives had reached a new low of inhumanity.
My face flushed. Part of me had assumed, hoped, that if Fang and I lived long enough, we would get married. Maybe have a little flock of our own. But i really hadn’t planned it all out. And he was gone now, anyway. How could I possibly ever find someone…
My eyes scanned Dylan’s face, I saw his discomfort.
“Oh, no,” I said in horror.
“Yes,” Angel confirmed. “Freaking unbelievable.” ― James Patterson, Angel

77

Ana Monnar

“On this Mother’s Day and every day before and after, I thank you God for the precious gift of my three children. I love them unconditionally.” ― Ana Monnar

78

Revathi Sankaran

“If I were asked to define Motherhood. I would have defined it as Love in its purest form. Unconditional Love. ~~ Revathi Sankaran” ― Revathi Sankaran

79

Dr Annabelle RC

“My mother belonged to that group of low IQ individuals who find everything alarming and believe that raising your voice is the most effective form of communication.” ― Dr Annabelle RC

80

Dorothy Allison

“Piece by piece, my mother is being stolen from me.” ― Dorothy Allison, Trash: Stories

81

Pat Cunningham Devoto

“No matter how much he talked, she never answered him, but he knew she was still there. He knew it was like the soldiers he had read about. They would have an arm or a leg blown off, and for days, even weeks after it happened, they could still feel the arm itching, the leg itching, the mother calling.” ― Pat Cunningham Devoto, Out of the Night That Covers Me

82

Suzy Kassem

“MOTHER IS WATER

I wish I could
Shower your head with flowers
And anoint your feet with my tears,
For I know I have caused you
So much heartache, frustration and despair –
Throughout my youthful years.
I wish I could give you
The remainder of my life
To add to yours,
Or simply erase
The lines on your face,
And mend all that has been torn.
For next to God,
You are the fire
That has given light
To the flame in each of my eyes.
You are the fountain
That nourished my growth,
And from your chalice –
Gave me life.
Without the wetness of your love,
The fragrance of your water,
Or the trickling sounds of
Your voice,
I shall always feel
thirsty.” ― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

83

Amit Ray

“There is no teacher equal to mother and there’s nothing more contagious than the dignity of a father.” ― Amit Ray, World Peace: The Voice of a Mountain Bird

84

Julia Quinn

“. . . I do not tell you often enough, dear Mother, how very grateful I am that I am yours. It is a rare parent who would offer a child such latitude and understanding. It is an even rarer one who calls a daughter friend. I do love you, dear Mama.” ― Julia Quinn, To Sir Phillip, With Love

85

Suzy Kassem

“Let us dedicate this new era to mothers around the world, and also to the mother of all mothers — Mother Earth. It is up to us to keep building bridges to bring the world closer together, and not destroy them to divide us further apart. We can pave new roads towards peace simply by understanding other cultures. This can be achieved through traveling, learning other languages, and interacting with others from outside our borders. Only then will one truly discover how we are more alike than different. Never allow language or cultural traditions to come between brothers and sisters. The same way one brother may not like his sister’s choice of fashion or hairstyle, he will never hate her for her personal style or music preference. If you judge a man, judge only his heart. And if you should do so, make sure you use the truth in your conscience when weighing one’s character. Do not measure anybody strictly based on the bad you see in them and ignore all the good.” ― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

86

Bernie Mcgill

“Some ghosts are so quiet you would hardly know they were there.” ― Bernie Mcgill, The Butterfly Cabinet

87

Susan Wiggs

“There is something about losing your mother that is permanent and inexpressable – a wound that will never quite heal.” ― Susan Wiggs, The Goodbye Quilt

88

Christine Ann Lawson

“The Queen is controlling, the Witch is sadistic, the Hermit is fearful, and the Waif is helpless.

And each requires a different approach. Don’t let the Queen get the upper hand; be wary even of accepting gifts because it engenders expectations. Don’t internalize the Hermit’s fears or become limited by them. Don’t allow yourself to be alone with the Witch; maintain distance for your own emotional and physical safety. And with the Waif, don’t get pulled into her crises and sense of victimization. Pay attention to your own tendencies to want to rescue her, which just feeds the dynamic.” ― Christine Ann Lawson, Understanding the Borderline Mother

89

Sue Monk Kidd

“My mother’s life was way too heavy for me.” ― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

90

Richelle Mead

“I went to bed feeling melancholy, wishing I could have
poured out all my fears and insecurities to my mom. Wasn’t
that what normal mothers and daughters did?” ― Richelle Mead, Bloodlines

91

Nora Roberts

“[Everyone needs] a woman who’ll listen, take your side, tell the truth – or not, as you need it. A woman you can count on, no matter what, and who’ll love you no matter how much you screw up.” ― Nora Roberts, Chasing Fire

92

Christopher Moore

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, You’re doing the same thing, trying to reconcile all the moms that Mom ever was – The one you wanted, the one she was when you needed her and she was there, the one she was when she didn’t understand. Most of us don’t live our lives with one, integrated self that meets the world, we’re a whole bunch of selves. When someone dies, they all integrate into the soul – the essence of who we are, beyond the different faces we wear throughout our lives. You’re just hating the selves you’ve always hated, and loving the ones you’ve always loved. It’s bound to mess you up.” ― Christopher Moore, A Dirty Job

93

Mona Simpson

“And even if you hate her, can’t stand her, even if she’s ruining your life, there’s something about her, some romance, some power. She’s absolutely herself. No matter how hard you try, you’ll never get to her. And when she dies, the world will be flat, too simple, reasonable, fair.” ― Mona Simpson, Anywhere But Here

94

Ilona Andrews

“Mom?” Mother turned to Grandmother.
“What?”
“She’s going to lunch with her kidnapper!”
“Take a picture for me,” Grandma said.” ― Ilona Andrews, Burn for Me

95

Mariama Bâ

“And also, one is a mother in order to understand the inexplicable. One is a mother to lighten the darkness. One is a mother to shield when lightning streaks the night, when thunder shakes the earth, when mud bogs one down. One is a mother in order to love without beginning or end. ” ― Mariama Bâ, So Long a Letter

96

Tina Fey

“My parents raised me that you never ask people about their reproductive plans. “You don’t know their situation,” my mom would say. I considered it such an impolite question that for years I didn’t even ask myself. Thirty-five turned into forty faster than McDonald’s food turns into cold nonfood.” ― Tina Fey, Bossypants

97

Suzy Kassem

“We are not sheep or cows. God didn’t create fences for us or boundaries to contain our nationalities. Man did. God didn’t draw up religious barriers to separate us from each other. Man did. And on top of that, no father would like to see his children fighting or killing each other. The Creator favors the man who spreads loves over the man who spreads hate. A religious title does not make anyone more superior over another. If a kind man stands by his conscience and exhibits truth in his words and actions, he will stand by God regardless of his faith. If mankind wants to evolve, we must learn from our past mistakes. If not, our technology will evolve without us.” ― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

98

Zadie Smith

“- You look fine.
– Right. I look fine. Except I don’t, said Zora, tugging sadly at her man’s nightshirt. This was why Kiki had dreaded having girls: she knew she wouldn’t be able to protect them from self-disgust. ” ― Zadie Smith, On Beauty

99

Amy Tan

“Can I tell my daughter that I loved her father? This was the man who rubbed my feet at night. He praised the food that I cooked. He cried honestly when I brought out trinkets I had saved for the right day, the day he gave me my daughter, a tiger girl.

How could I not love this man? But it was a love of a ghost. Arms that encircled but did not touch. A bowl full of rice but without my appetite to eat it. No hunger. No fullness.

Now Saint is a ghost. He and I can now love equally. He knows the things I have been hiding all these years. Now I must tell my daughter everything. That she is a daughter of a ghost. She has no chi . This is my greatest shame. How can I leave this world without leaving her my spirit?

So this is what I will do. I will gather together my past and look. I will see a thing that has already happened. The pain that cut my spirit loose. I will hold that pain in my hand until it becomes hard and shiny, more clear. And then my fierceness can come back, my golden side, my black side. I will use this sharp pain to penetrate my daughter’s tough skin and cut her tiger spirit loose. She will fight me, because this is the nature of two tigers. But I will win and give her my spirit, because this is a way a mother loves her daughter.

I hear my daughter speaking to her husband downstairs. They say words that mean nothing. They sit in a room with no life in it.

I know a thing before it happens. She will hear the table and vase crashing on the floor. She will come upstairs and into my room. Her eyes will see nothing in the darkness, where I am waiting between the trees.”― Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club

100

Jamaica Kincaid

“…be sure to wash every day, even if it is with your own spit; don’t squat down to play marbles—you are not a boy, you know; don’t pick people’s flowers—you might catch something; don’t throw stones at blackbirds, because it might not be a blackbird at all; this is how to make a bread pudding; this is how to make doukona; this is how to make pepper pot; this is how to make a good medicine for a cold; this is how to make a good medicine to throw away a child before it even becomes a child; this is how to catch a fish; this is how to throw back a fish you don’t like, and that way something bad won’t fall on you; this is how to bully a man; this is how a man bullies you; this is how to love a man; and if this doesn’t work there are other ways, and if they don’t work don’t feel too bad about giving up; this is how to spit up in the air if you feel like it, and this is how to move quick so that it doesn’t fall on you; this is how to make ends meet; always squeeze bread to make sure it’s fresh; but what if the baker won’t let me feel the bread?; you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread?” ― Jamaica Kincaid

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