Empowering quotes about motherhood to celebrate the royal baby
This week, we welcomed a rather special new baby into the world, and Meghan Markle earned her newest title: mother.
Motherhood accesses every emotion – sometimes all at once – and it’s a new identity for a woman to embrace, to fight against, to evolve with. That’s the amazing thing about becoming a mother: you never feel like you’re standing still anymore, you’re always growing and changing with your baby.
Mothers are being feted across Europe, the USA and in countries around the world on Mother’s Day on May 12. In celebration of them – and of our new favourite feminist mum, Meghan Markle – we’ve rounded up some of our favourite quotes on motherhood from inspiring women.
READ MORE: Michelle Obama’s most inspiring moments
Michelle Obama
“For me, being a mother made me a better professional, because coming home every night to my girls reminded me what I was working for. And being a professional made me a better mother, because by pursuing my dreams, I was modelling for my girls how to pursue their dreams.”
READ MORE: 5 ways Meghan Markle is the feminist princess we all hoped she would be
Ali Wong
“I had to stop breastfeeding after eight and a half months. I could not take it anymore. By the end, I felt like The Giving Tree. I used to not understand what that depressing-ass book was about. And now I know it’s about breastfeeding! It’s about a mom who used to have all of these beautiful branches and apples, and then this little freeloader comes into her life, takes all of her shit, and then she just becomes a sad-ass tree stump with deflated titties! People kept on asking me, ‘Ali, how did you get so skinny after the baby?’ She sucked the life outta me!”
Keira Knightley
“I turn up on time, word perfect, with ideas and an opinion. I am up with you [her daughter] all night if you need me. Sometimes I cry I’m so tired. Up with you all night and work all day… My male colleagues can be late, can not know their lines. They can shout and scream and throw things. They can turn up drunk or not turn up at all. They don’t see their children. They’re working. They need to concentrate.”
Serena Williams
“It would be nice to recognise that women shouldn’t be treated differently because they take time to bring life into this world.”
Beyoncé
“I went into the studio and wrote the saddest song I’ve ever written in my life. And it was actually the first song I wrote for my album. And it was the best form of therapy for me, because it was the saddest thing I’ve ever been through.” (on her experience of miscarriage)
Eva Mendes
“Family. We have an amazing support group: Ryan’s mum, my mum, Ryan’s and my sisters. It’s a village that helped us. My heart goes out to women who do this alone… We’re just starting to get out of survival mode. I’m starting to feel like a person again.”
Rachel Cusk
“But it is not merely a taboo against complaint that makes the hardship of motherhood inadmissible: like all loves this one has a conflicted core, a grain of torment that buffs the pearl of pleasure; unlike other loves, this conflict has no possibility of resolution.”
Oprah Winfrey
“Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother.”
Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex
“It’s funny, I’ve actually been joking the last few weeks. I had seen this documentary on Netflix about feminism, and one of the things they said during pregnancy was ‘I feel the embryonic kicking of feminism.’ I loved that, so boy or girl, whatever it is, we hope that that’s the case with our little bump.”