KNOWN AND LITTLE KNOWN MOTHER’S DAY QUOTES

They say that man is mighty,

He governs land and sea,

He wields a mighty scepter

O’er lesser powers that be;

 

But a mightier power and stronger

Man from his throne has hurled

For the hand that rocks the cradle

Is the hand that rules the world

William Ross Wallace, 1819-1881, American poet

 

“If you bungle raising your children, I don’t think whatever else you do matters very much.” Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

 

“When I had my baby it was quite an event, although not an entirely blessed one. I had a twenty-two hour labor, a near cesarean, a doctor who had an allergy attack from my perfume, and a big, big baby. They don’t call it labor for nothing.” Pia Zadora – movie actress

 

“I never thought you should be rewarded for the greatest privilege of life.” Mary Roper Cohen, after being crowned 1958 mother of the year

 

“Spoil your husband, but don’t spoil your children.”      Louise Sevier Giddings-Currey ─ 1961 mother of the year

 

“My mother usually somehow managed, at eleven, to sit down in the red rocking chair by the window to read aloud to us. Here was the very doorsill to complete enchantment for she was as seemingly as lost as we—in whatever she was reading.  Smells of our approaching dinner filled our noses from stew pans or baking dishes; while my mother’s voice brought trooping into our kitchen all those with whom we rejoiced or suffered, admired or feared, loved or hated.”   Mary Ellen Chase, 1887-1973, American educator, teacher and writer

 

There was a place in childhood, that I remember well,

And there a voice of sweetest tone, bright fairy tales did tell,

And gentle words, and fond embrace, were given with joy to me,

When I was in that happy place upon my mother’s knee.

Samuel Lover, 1797-1868, Irish songwriter, novelist, painter of portraits

 

The Reading Mother

I had a Mother who read me things

That wholesome life to a child’s heart brings –

Stories that stir with an upward touch.

Oh that every Mother were such!

 

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 Gillian, 1869-1954, journalist, humorist, writer, poet

 

“As is the mother, so is her daughter.”   (Ezekiel 16:44)

 

“Mothers of daughters are daughters of mothers and have remained so, in circles joined in circles, since time began.”   Signe Hammer, born early 1940’s.  Daughters and Mothers/Mothers and Daughters

 

And now so well I know her that I know

The graciousness of her will always grow

Like daybreak in my spirit, and will be

Through all my life a radiant mystery.

Amelia Josephine Burr, 1878-1968, American poet

 

“Mother—that was the bank where we deposited all our hurts and worries.” T. Dewitt Talmage, 1832-1902, Presbyterian Minister

 

“Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.” Charles R. Swindoll, 1934, Evangelical Christian pastor, author, educator, radio preacher

 

Before a day was over,

Home comes the rover,

For mother’s kiss – sweeter this

Than any other thing!

William Allingham, 1826-1889, Irish poet

 

“The mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom.” Henry Ward Beecher, 1813-1887, Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, abolitionist, speaker

 

“Mothers hold their children’s hands a short while, but their hearts forever.” Author Unknown

 

Who ran to help me when I fell

And would some pretty story tell,

Or kiss the place to make it well?

My mother.

Ann Taylor

 

“Mama was my greatest teacher, a teacher of compassion, love and fearlessness. If love is sweet as a flower, then my mother is that sweet flower of love.” Stevie Wonder, American musician

 

“My mother said to me, “If you become a soldier you’ll be a general; if you become a monk you’ll end up as the pope.” Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso.”Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish artist

 

“I want a girl, just like the girl that married dear old Dad.”   Harry Von Tilzer, 1872-1946, song writer, composed the tune in 1911

 

“Yesterday morning after our weekly visit to the library, my daughter, now two and a half, spotted a group of three-and-four year olds lining up outside the building across the street and asked to follow them. Kate has been talking of nothing but nursery school ever since. Already I miss her.” Barbara Hustedt Crook, former editor of Cosmopolitan Magazine, radio announcer, co-writer of a musical

 

Mother tells me “Happy Dreams!” and takes away the light,

An’ leaves me lying all alone an’ seeing’ things at night.

Eugene Field, 1850-1895, American poet, known as “The Children’s Poet”

 

Now in my memory comes my mother,

As she used to in years agone,

To regard the daring dreamers

Ere she left them till the dawn.

Coates Kinney, 1826-1904, American lawyer, journalist, poet

 

“My mother had a great deal of trouble with me but I think she enjoyed it.” Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain), 1835-1910, American author and humorist

 

“People have asked me if I ever spanked Jack when he was a boy. I suppose it is part of the mystique surrounding the presidency that anyone who occupies the office is endowed with qualities that are extraordinary and he must have passed through childhood in a glow of virtue. I can state that this was not the case with Jack, nor was it with Bobby or Teddy or any of the others, and whenever they needed it they got a good old-fashioned spanking, which I believe is one of the most effective means of instruction.” Rose Kennedy, 1890-1995

 

“Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president but they don’t want them to become politicians in the process!” John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963, 35th U. S. President

 

“It is better to bind your children to you by respect and gentleness, than by fear.” Author Unknown

 

“As Mother has said so often, “Remember, wherever you are and whatever you do, someone always sees you.” Marian Anderson, 1897-1993, African-American contralto, one of most celebrated 20th century singers.

 

“Train up a child in the way that he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

 

“The bearing and training of a child is woman’s wisdom.” Alfred Lord Tennyson, 1809-1892, English Poet Laureate

 

“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 who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken 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, 1783—1859, American writer, historian, essayist

 

“My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. 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, 1731/32—1799

 

“The mothers of brave men must themselves be brave.”  Mary Ball Washington, (1708—1789), mother of George Washington

 

“All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” Abraham Lincoln, 1809—1865, 16th U. S. President

 

“She was to me all that a mother could be, and I yield to none in admiration for her character, love of her virtues, and veneration for her memory.” Robert E. Lee, 1807—1870, on his mother-in-law, Mary Custis, 1788—1853; Mary Custis was  a great granddaughter of Martha Washington.

 

“As I approached the door about nine O’clock in the evening, I heard my mother engaged in prayer. During her prayer she referred to me, her son away God only knew where, and asked that he might be preserved in health to return and comfort her in her old age. At the conclusion of the prayer I quietly raised the latch and entered. I will not attempt to describe the scene that followed….” President James Garfield, describing his return from a youthful job as a canal bargeman. 1831—1881, 20th U. S. President

 

“Start over”.   Response of the mother in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, to daughter Francie’s question as the book ends.   Francie – in 1912 is age 11. She and her younger brother, are dutifully taking turns reading from the Bible each evening at the kitchen table – an on going activity throughout the book. In the last paragraph of the last page, Francie reads the last verse of the last book of the New Testament. She looks up at her mother and says; “we’ve finished, Mama. Now what shall we read?” Mama says, “start over!”

 

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a wonderful book to read, especially to your children. Skip this book ─ gyp yourself and your kids. The movie of same title, made in 1945, surely must have pleased author, Jean Smith, for it was well done.  As usual, for a first book, Smith relied upon her experiences of growing up in Brooklyn, N. Y.  The book was a huge hit when published in 1943, especially in the Brooklyn neighborhood where many still lived who knew Smith during her growing up years.

 

This concludes other people’s quotes on mothers. It’s not hard for me to see that times have really changed a lot since prayer was banned in public school by the Supreme Court in 1962. Even though Godless public schools continue moving our country away from prayer ─ prayer will always be a POWERFUL way of making positive affirmations.  Prayer is the ultimate success principle for the subconscious, but that’s not something the secular mind wants us to know.  Doesn’t it makes better sense to form positive thoughts in our minds than to form the devil’s words of resentments and other negative thoughts?  Forming the habit to squelch bad thinking is a gift we give ourselves.

 

I could not end this Mother’s Day post without tacking on my own experiences of having a mother who read to her children. As farm children in the still great depression era, seldom were we further than a mile from home. Through her stories our mother took us around the world, at times, to ancient inhabitants like those in The Odyssey and The Illiad by Homer. With  help of  marvelous characters that marched out of those pages and into our lives, she made us want to be good.

 

Then, the country was in a long, slow recovery and like other farm families, we lived frugally. But mother’s stories made us feel rich as kings  ─ as so adroitly conveyed by Strickland Gillilan in, “richer than I you can never be, I had a mother who read to me”.

 

Princess Di and new bride Kate have been moved to later in the week.