“Together we notice not only each mountain shadow and each stone on the beach but, especially, we notice the beautiful faces and complex natures of each other.”

“It's as if, in the mother's eyes, her smile, her stroking touch, the child first reads the message: 'You are there!'”

“[My mother] had handed down respect for the possibilities—and the will to grasp them.”

“Sometimes the laughter in mothering is the recognition of the ironies and absurdities. Sometimes, though, it's just pure, unthinking delight.”

“A mother is not a person to lean on but a person to make leaning unnecessary.”

“The art of mothering is to teach the art of living to children.”

“We mothers are learning to mark out mothering success by our daughters' lengthening flight.”

“I believe the choice to become a mother is the choice to become one of the greatest spiritual teachers there is.”

“Some are kissing mothers and some are scolding mothers, but it is love just the same.”

“What children take from us, they give...We become people who feel more deeply, question more deeply, hurt more deeply, and love more deeply.”

“More than in any other human relationship, overwhelmingly more, motherhood means being instantly interruptible, responsive, and responsible.”