Harry Emerson Fosdick Quotes

Love and honesty are the things that make a good wife and mother.

Women are aristocrats, and it is always the mother who makes us feel that we belong to the better sort.

That you, sister. May you be the mother of a bishop.

I grew up with the word "volunteer" as a very powerful word in my family. I was inspired by my mother and by how selfless our family was toward others who didn't have enough.

the best compliment to a mother is to appreciate her little one.

A mother's role is God-ordained. Mothers are to conceive, bear, nourish, love, and train. They are to be helpmates and are to counsel with their husbands.

I think because I was a mother, it helped me feel comfortable that really my primary goal there was to save my kids.

I'm proud of being a mother, a wife, a daughter, and a sister, and a lover and a friend We're all God's children.

The amazing thing about becoming a parent is that you will never again be your own first priority. The gift of motherhood is the selflessness that it introduces you to, and I think that's really freeing... I think it allows you to put yourself in other people's shoes...the empathy that it slugs you with, being a mother. And I think it makes you a better storyteller.

I think that being a mom has made me a better person. I'm much more patient and much more chill than I was before.

I beg of you, you who could and should be bearing and rearing a family: Wives, come home from the typewriter, the laundry, the nursing, come home from the factory, the cafe. No career approaches in importance that of wife, homemaker, mother -- cooking meals, washing dishes, making beds for one's precious husband and children. Come home, wives, to your husbands. Make home a heaven for them. Come home, wives, to your children, born and unborn. Wrap the motherly cloak about you and, unembarrassed, help in a major role to create the bodies for the immortal souls who anxiously await.

I taught school in the early days of my manhood and I think I know something about mothers. There is a thread of aspiration that runs strong in them. It is the fiber that has formed the most unselfish creatures who inhabit this earth. They want three things only; for their children to be fed, to be healthy, and to make the most of themselves.

My mother taught that if anyone needs you, you should be available to them.

Family has always been the most important thing in my life. The only real goal that I ever had was to be a good mother.

My mom missed meals on several occasions because there was only enough food to feed all of us. My mom didn't have a bed until I was 15 years old. She slept on a couch... I remember laying with her, like I used to sleep with my mom until I was like 12. I was a big baby; I'm a momma's boy. But my mom is my best friend, and never let me down, ever.

A father may turn his back on his child, … . but a mother's love endures through all.

Children are our future, and their mothers are its guardians.

You have nothing in this world more precious than your children. When you grow old, when your hair turns white and your body grows weary, when you are prone to sit in a rocker and meditate on the things of your life, nothing will be so important as the question of how your children have turned out... Do not trade your birthright as a mother for some bauble of passing value... The baby you hold in your arms will grow as quickly as the sunrise and the sunset of the rushing days.

This tug-of-war often obscures what's also happening between us. I am your mother, the first mile of your road. Me and all my obvious and hidden limitations. That means that in addition to possibly wrecking you, I have the chance to give to you what was given to me: a decent childhood, more good memories than bad, some values, a sense of tribe, a run at happiness. You can't imagine how seriously I take that - even as I fail you. Mothering you is the first thing of consequence that I have ever done.

In a world often marked by selfishness, a large family is a school of solidarity and sharing; and this attitude is to the benefit of society as a whole.... I always thank the Lord in seeing mothers and fathers of large families, together with their children, committed to the life of the Church and of society.

Few fathers care much for their sons, or at least, most of them care more for their money. Of those who really love their sons, few know how to do it.

In my private circle I am a mother, grandmother, wife, friend, daughter... the success means nothing to my small tribe.

My mother used to tell me that when push comes to shove, you always know who to turn to. That being a family isn't a social construct but an instinct.

So thank you for reminding me about the importance of being a good mom and a great volunteer as well.