80+ Best Mother-Daughter Quotes and Messages

The mother-daughter relationship is one of life’s most moving, meaningful, and complicated. As a girl is growing up, her life is filled with tea parties and sleepovers and even tomboy things, like gocarts and climbing trees, and through it all, she finds strength, love, and courage in the arms of her mom. But this most complex of relationships never stays the same. While it looks the same day by day, it slowly morphs into something completely new and different in just a few years. These mother-daughter quotes capture all the shades of the relationship in its beauty, complexity, and depth.

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The 80+ Best Mother-Daughter Quotes

Famous Mother-Daughter Quotes

These famous mother-daughter quotes come from the greatest minds and talents of our time, like Taylor Swift and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. They remind us that even the most famous among us begin their lives in the same way we do: with our moms. There is something satisfying and equalizing about that thought. It encourages us to look at our moms and ourselves in a different way and reminds us that we’re all made of the same stuff in the end, even if it doesn’t look like it on the surface.

“Mothers of daughters are daughters of mothers and have remained so, in circles joined to circles, since time began.” – Signe Hammer
“When someone asks you where you come from, the answer is your mother…When your mother’s gone, you’ve lost your past. It’s so much more than love. Even when there’s no love, it’s so much more than anything else in your life. I did love my mother, but I didn’t know how much until she was gone.” ― Anna Quindlen, One True Thing
“A daughter is someone you laugh with, dream with, and love with all your heart.” – Anonymous
“There were times when…I didn’t have a lot of friends. But my mom was always my friend. Always.” – Taylor Swift
“Mothers, look after your daughters, keep them near you, keep their confidence – that they may be true and faithful.” – Elmina S. Taylor
“Mother was comfort. Mother was home. A girl who lost her mother was suddenly a tiny boat on an angry ocean. Some boats eventually floated ashore. And some boats, like me, seemed to float farther and farther from land” ― Ruta Sepetys, Salt to the Sea
“The more a daughter knows the details of her mother’s life the stronger the daughter.” – Anita Diamant, The Red Tent
“My mother told me two things constantly. One was to be a lady, and the other was to be independent.” — Ruth Bader Ginsburg
“The relationship between parents and children, but especially between mothers and daughters, is tremendously powerful, scarcely to be comprehended in any rational way.” – Joyce Carol Oates

Funny Mother-Daughter Quotes

The Judds once said: We put the “fun” in dysfunctional, and these quotes embody the fun, the quirks, and the sometimes dysfunction of the mother-daughter relationship. But they do so in the best way. After all, no relationship is perfect, because humans are not perfect. Yet, they are perfect in their imperfections and often, oh, so funny in the process. These funny mother-daughter quotes will tickle your funny bone and remind you to laugh when the dysfunction runs high.

“A daughter is a treasure and a cause of sleeplessness.”—Ben Sirach
“The first lesson every child of Athena learned: Mom was the best at everything, and you should never, ever suggest otherwise.” — Rick Riordan, The Mark of Athena
“My mother taught me that reading is a kind of work, and that every paragraph merits exertion, and in this way, I learned how to absorb difficult books.” – Hope Jahren
“Of all the haunting moments of motherhood, few rank with hearing your own words come out of your daughter’s mouth.” – Victoria Secunda
“Some women pray for their daughters to marry good husbands. I pray that my girls will find girlfriends half as loyal and true as the Ya-Yas.” ― Rebecca Wells, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
“I’m going to see my mom. She’s a big mucky-muck in the county school system. She’s my hero. How do I explain her? She is as respected as Mother Theresa, as powerful as Stalin, and as beautiful as Margaret Thatcher.”—Leslie Knope, Parks and Recreation
“When your mother asks, ‘Do you want a piece of advice?’ it is a mere formality. It doesn’t matter if you answer yes or no. You’re going to get it anyway.”—Erma Bombeck
“By the time you realize your mother was right, you have a daughter who thinks that you’re wrong.”—Sada Malhotra
“It’s quite possible my daughter will disagree with this version altogether. She might say that I’ve put words into her mouth. Show me a mother who hasn’t.” ― Kimberly King Parsons, Black Light
“All I know is that I carried you for nine months. I fed you, I clothed you, I paid for your college education. Friending me on Facebook seems like a small thing to ask in return.” ― Jodi Picoult, Sing You Home
“Mother-daughter disagreements were, in hindsight, basically mother stating the truth and daughter taking her own sweet time coming around.”–Barbara Delinsky
“I smile because I’m your daughter. I laugh because there’s nothing you can do about it.” — Anonymous

Deep and Meaningful Mother-Daughter Quotes

Having a mom is the most ordinary thing in the world, and yet, it’s also the most profound. These quotes capture the essence and the depth and the triumph that comes from the mother-daughter relationship.

“My daughter is my biggest achievement. She is a little star and my life has changed so much for the better since she came along.” – Denise Van Outen
“A daughter is just a little girl who grows up to be your best friend.” — Anonymous
“A mother is not a person to lean on but a person to make leaning unnecessary.” — Dorothy Canfield Fisher
“Mothering is a mysterious task. First, you create an intimate, all-consuming attachment with your daughter. Then you spend the rest of your life learning to let her go.” – Judy Ford
“A mother who radiates self-love and self-acceptance actually vaccinates her daughter against low self-esteem.” – Naomi Wolf
“Maybe I stepped into the skin my mother left behind and became the girl my mother had been, the one she still wanted to be.”—Laura Kasischke, in White Bird in a Blizzard
“Someday when the pages of my life end, I know that you will be one of the most beautiful chapters.” – Anonymous

Inspirational Mother-Daughter Quotes

Few people have the potential to inspire us the way our mothers do. Between the cooking and the cleaning and the soccer mom’s driving duties, we see love and personal power in action. A mom can be a girl’s greatest teacher, biggest champion, and best friend, always pushing her daughter forward when quitting would be so much easier. These quotes celebrate the courage that our moms display each day, inspiring us to go after our own life’s goals with vigor and grace.

“Mothers and daughters are closest when daughters become mothers.” – Anonymous
“A mother teaches her daughter how to feel about herself, about handling pressure, about relishing life’s joys and conquering fears.” – Melissa Harrison
“I tell my daughter every morning, ‘Now, what are the two most important parts of you?’ And she says, ‘My head and my heart.’”—Viola Davis
“In my life, you are the sun that never fades and the moon that never wanes.” – Anonymous
“The only love between a mother and a daughter can’t be changed, and only this love has no limits. It grows with every single day and never fades.” – Anonymous
“The older I get, the more I see the power of that young woman, my mother.” – Sharon Olds
“It was easy for me to not feel beautiful in a world of prom queens, yet my mother was always reminding me of how worthy I was. I was a lucky daughter.” — Brittainy C. Cherry, Eleanor & Grey
“My mother shed her protective love down around me and without knowing why people sensed that I had value.” — Maya Angelou
“My mother wanted me to be her wings, to fly as she never quite had the courage to do. I love her for that. I love the fact that she wanted to give birth to her own wings.” – Erica Jong
“We mothers are learning to mark our mothering success by our daughters’ lengthening flight.” – Letty Cottin Pogrebin
“Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, talent, guts. That’s what little girls are made of.” – Bethany Hamilton
“My mother, who had accomplished so many important and noteworthy things in her life, was telling her students that the thing she was proudest of was me! Over the years I heard her lecture many times but I have never been more proud to be her daughter than I was that day when she introduced me to the class.” – Barbara LoMonaco, Chicken Soup for the Soul
“My mother was a force. She had little tolerance for fools, she kept her hair short and wore practical non-fussy clothes. Everything about her radiated confidence and calm.” – Michelle Obama
“It may be that loving children, radically and beyond reason, expands our capacity to love others, particularly our own mothers.” ― Kelly Corrigan, Glitter and Glue

Poignant Mother-Daughter Quotes

A mother-daughter bond is one of love, power, strength, and beauty that is difficult to capture in just a few quotes. It’s a relationship that, in some ways, remains the same throughout life. A daughter will always be her mom’s baby, and yet, it also changes more than any other relationship. By life’s end, many mothers and daughters also become friends, business partners, confidants, and even rivals at times. They are incredibly complex and incredibly simple at the same time. Explore the relationship between mothers and daughters with these quotes.

“Having a little girl has been like following an old treasure map with the important paths torn away.” ― Heather Gudenkauf, The Weight of Silence
“When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.”—Sophia Loren, in Women & Beauty
“I am not a perfect mother and I will never be. You are not a perfect daughter and you will never be. But put us together and we will be the best mother and daughter we would ever be.” – Zoraida Pesante
“A mother is the only person in the world, who can turn daughter’s worries and fears into happiness.” – Anonymous
“My mother, she is beautiful, softened at the edges, and tempered with a spine of steel. I want to grow old and be like her.” – Jodi Picoult
“A daughter is the happy memories of the past, the joyful moments of the present, and the hope and promise of the future.” – Anonymous
“A mother and a daughter have one soul for two, which can’t be broken by time, obstacles, distance and insults.” — Anonymous
“A mother is someone who dreams great dreams for you, but then she lets you chase the dreams you have for yourself and loves you just the same.” – Anonymous
“To my beautiful daughter, always remember, you are brave, you are capable, you are pretty, and you can accomplish anything your heart desires! I know this because I am your mother.” – Anonymous
“The lives of a mother and a daughter are connected. A mother is the daughter’s spine, she always supports her, and a daughter is the mother’s blood, which makes her strong.” – Anonymous

Like Mother Like Daughter Quotes

The apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree, so the saying goes and nowhere is this more obvious than in the mother-daughter relationship. It’s hard for a daughter not to take on a mother’s traits; a daughter lives with them for years on end, slowly seeping them in like the ground soaks up water after a storm. But it’s those storm waters that give us the apples and grow the trees, as these quotes demonstrate.

“No daughter and mother ever live apart, no matter what the distance between them.” – Christie Watson
“The living mother–daughter relationship, you learn over and over again, is a constant choice between adaptation and acceptance.” – Kelly Corrigan
“Being a mother and grandmother is the best of the best in my life. My grandchildren multiply the joy my daughters bring me.” — Alexandra Stoddard
“Mothers and daughters together are a powerful force to be reckoned with.” – Melia Keeton-Digby
“All mother’s characteristics are absorbed by the daughter’s personality so that it’s not clear where the mother ends and the daughter begins. It’s pure magic.” – Anonymous
“My mother’s right. Home for us doesn’t have to be a fixed place. I find it in slots of time, in slants of light. I feel it closest at dawn when night and day meld and mingle awhile before they drift apart.” ― Karen Runge, Doll Crimes
“Girls migrate from the age of four – the first time they disown you at the school gate – and only truly return when they become mothers themselves.” – Joyce Wilby
“My mom is literally a part of me. You can’t say that about many people except relatives and organ donors.”―Carrie Latet
“I keep seeing myself in my daughter, and I see my mother in me and in her. Bloody hell.”—Julie Walters

Double-Edged Mother-Daughter Quotes

The closer the relationship, the more potential there is for conflict and misunderstanding. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the mother-daughter relationship that has gone off the rails a bit. These quotes remind us of both the strength and the fragility of this bond; it’s both stronger than steel and more breakable than glass.

“What the daughter does, the mother did.” — Jewish Proverb
“My mother belonged to that group of low IQ individuals who find everything alarming and believe that raising your voice is the most effective form of communication.” ― Dr Annabelle RC
“Coming home seemed to have started the healing process. No longer vivid and garish, the memories seemed to be covered in gossemer, fading behind a curtain of time and forgiveness.” ― Karen Fowler, Memories For Sale
“My brother and I only had each other and it was our job to protect Mum from well-meaning adults who saw her as an adult-child incapable of performing her parental responsibilities.”― Amra Pajalic, Things Nobody Knows But Me
“If you want to understand any woman, you must first ask about her mother and then listen carefully.”—Anita Diamant, in The Red Tent
“A daughter without her mother is a woman broken. It is a loss that turns to arthritis and settles deep into her bones.” – Letty Cottin Pogrebin
“Mothers are the most dynamic and influential force on the development of a young woman’s journey to being herself.” — Hillary L. McBride, Mothers, Daughters, and Body Image

Short and Concise Mother-Daughter Quotes

Short and concise quotes about the mother-daughter relationship encapsulate the depths of a relationship that’s difficult to describe in a million words. The following quotes encourage readers to read and then reread them again, pondering their meanings. What they lack in length, they make up in depth.

“My mom smiled at me. Her smile kind of hugged me.” – R.J. Palacio
“The woman who is my best friend, my teacher, my everything: Mom.” – Sandra Vischer
“As is the mother, so is her daughter.” – The Bible
“The mother-daughter relationship is the most complex.” – Wynonna Judd
“I am in a long distance relationship. It’s been six months since I met my mom.” ― Leena Duwadi
“No daughter and mother ever live apart, no matter what the distance between them.” –Christie Watson
“Sisters, mothers, and daughters share a special bond that lasts a lifetime.” – Catherine Pulsifer
“Good daughters make good mothers.” – Abigail G. Whittlesey
“A mother-daughter bond is the perfect blessing, so that makes me one blessed mom, because I have YOU.” – Stephanie Lahart
“Maybe motherhood means honoring one’s mother.” ― Sheila Heti, Motherhood
“Behind every young child who believes in himself is a parent who believed first.” – Matthew L. Jacobson
“The best place to cry is on a mother’s arms.” – Jodi Picoult
“Children are the anchors that hold a mother to life.”—Sophocles
“My daughters are the bouquet of my life.” – Barbara W Bansley

Final Words on the Best Mother-Daughter Quotes

No relationship is as strong as the bond between mom and daughter, and yet, no relationship has more potential for conflict and misunderstanding, and even strife than the mother-daughter relationship. Yet through it all, it’s the depth and the love that a daughter gets from her mom that makes the relationship satisfying and beautiful and one of life’s greatest gifts. Share one of these beautiful mother-daughter quotes to celebrate your special relationship.

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