1,337 Quotes About Motherhood

The first birth is documented. A doctor stands by; physical facts are readily available; literature abounds in accounts of birth. Folk knowledge hammocks the pregnant woman; she sways in the gentle wind of attention. Not so with the second birth into adulthood. That is a solitary business for the parent. The course of events is not documented--cannot be, as each child tears the connective tissue differently.

One mother could look after twelve children and decades later these twelve adults would fidget and struggle to look after that one mother.

I was ready for all of that. I wanted the baby so hungrily I'd shorten my life or wreck my body. I was prepared to complete one less book than I might otherwise have published over my lifetime. I wanted the baby, and I would make the trade. No woman needs to convince me that she would give her life for her children, because every mother has already given her life for her children. That is the first thing that happens.

She hasn't always been easy. But she deserved more from you." With your hands in your pockets, you took one step down the stairs, away from me. "And you deserved more from me.

In choosing to carry a pregnancy, a woman gives of her body with a selflessness so ordinary that it goes unnoticed, even by herself. Her body becomes bound to altruism as instinctively as to hunger. If cannot consume sufficient calcium, for example, that mineral will rise up from deep with her bones and donate itself to her infanct on her behalf, leaving her own system in deficiency. Sometimes a female body serves another by effecting a theft upon herself.

My mom raising me had already happened. And I knew that everything had turned out okay. But when I had you, I realized that nothing was certain. We were at the very beginning together and anything could happen.

Prometo ser tu guía terrestre, pues tú ya eres mi guía estelar.

At the heart of it,all men understand that they are born alone and without purpose. Men make their purpose. A woman is born and quickly learns that she is a cherished vessel for the next generation. Built in meaning and purpose is within her grasp. She can grow life, give birth to living being who will love her. This is her power, and in our chaotic societ any man can help her make this happen. Her power to create is godlike.

I wondered if motherhood held such appeal for me because it was a masochism you couldn't ever let go of.