#motherhood

She [my mother] was the force around which our world turned. My mother was propelled through the universe by the brute force of reason. She was the judge in all our arguments. One disapproving word from her was enough to send us off to hide in a corner, where we would cry and fantasize our own martyrdom. And yet. One kiss could restore us to princedom. Without her, our lives would dissolve into chaos. ↗

— Nicole Krauss

#love

There is eternal influence and power in motherhood. ↗

— Julie B. Beck

#influence

No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother. ↗

— Margaret Sanger

#motherhood #women #consciousness

Every woman is a gift when she becomes a daughter, Every woman is beautiful when she becomes a lover, Every woman is special when she becomes a wife, Every woman is a god when she becomes a Mother ↗

— Vivek Thangaswamy

#motherhood #women #beauty

Breasts are a scandal because they shatter the border between motherhood and sexuality. ↗

— Iris Marion Young

#breastfeeding #breasts #children #feminism #motherhood

Intensive mothering is the ultimate female Olympics: We are all in powerful competition with each other, in constant danger of being trumped by the mom down the street, or in the magazine we're reading. The competition isn't just over who's a good mother--it's over who's the best. We compete with each other; we compete with ourselves. The best mothers always put their kids' needs before their own, period. The best mothers are the main caregivers. For the best mothers, their kids are the center of the universe. The best mothers always smile. They always understand. They are never tired. They never lose their temper. They never say, "Go to the neighbor's house and play while Mommy has a beer." Their love for their children is boundless, unflagging, flawless, total. Mothers today cannot just respond to their kids' needs, they must predict them--and with the telepathic accuracy of Houdini. They must memorize verbatim the books of all the child-care experts and know which approaches are developmentally appropriate at different ages. They are supposed to treat their two-year-olds with "respect." If mothers screw up and fail to do this on any given day, they should apologize to their kids, because any misstep leads to permanent psychological and/or physical damage. Anyone who questions whether this is the best and the necessary way to raise kids is an insensitive, ignorant brute. This is just common sense, right? ↗

— Susan J. Douglas

#parenting #age

These girls probably use double negatives and watch "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila" with their babies instead of reading Eric Carle. ↗

— Natalie Taylor

#sign-of-life #single-parenting #love

Why not wear a scar of Motherhood? Better than a tattoo or a mark of Honor. Let the world know what you've achieved. ↗

— Richelle Mead

#eugenie #motherhood

She had had her momentary flowering, a year, perhaps, of wildrose beauty, and then she had suddenly swollen like a fertilized fruit and grown hard and red and coarse, and then her life had been laundering, scrubbing, laundering, first for children, then for grandchildren, over thirty years. At the end of it she was still singing. ↗

— George Orwell

#joy #motherhood #singing #beauty

I value mothers and motherhood enormously. For every inattentive or abusive mother in my fiction I think you'll find a dozen or so who are neither. ↗

— William Trevor

#enormously #every #fiction #find #i