Mother’s Day is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world. Many countries and cultures choose to celebrate Mother’s Day in March, April or May. Though the Mother’s Day many people know today dates back a little more than a century, historians note that ancient Romans kept a festival to Cybele, a great mother of the Gods. In addition, Europe has several traditions aimed at honoring mothers that date back quite a while.
One of the traditions associated with the current Mother’s Day is to give Mom a gift. Some people only give their own mothers and wives gifts, while others extend their generosity to sisters with children, mothers-in-law and even grandmothers. Chances are, over the years Mom’s gifts have run the gamut, from a homemade treasure kids made in elementary school to jewelry from hubby to breakfast in bed. For those who want to add a literary tilt to their Mother’s Day gift this year, consider including any of the following motherly quotes when preparing a gift Mom won’t soon forget.
“Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother.”
– Lin Yutang, Chinese writer
“I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.”
– Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States of America
“Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; A mother’s secret hope outlives them all.”
– Oliver Wendell Holmes, American author
“A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest.”
– Irish proverb
“All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy.
No man does. That’s his.”
– Oscar Wilde, Irish poet
“If I was damned of body and soul, I know whose prayers would make me whole, Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine.”
– Rudyard Kipling, in his poem “Mother O’ Mine”
“The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.”
– Honoré de Balzac, French playwright
“The future destiny of a child is always the work of the mother.”
– Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France
“The God to whom little boys say their prayers has a face very like their mothers’.”
– James Matthew Barrie, Scottish author