The mother's yearning, that completest type of the life in another life which is the essence of real human love, feels the presence of the cherished child even in the debased, degraded man.

George Eliot 1819-80:Adam Bede (1859)

If I were damned of body and soul, I know whose prayers would make me whole, Mother O' mine, O mother o' mine.

Rudyard Kipling 1865-1936: The light That Failed (1891)

Here's the happiest years of our lives spent in the arms of other men' s wives.Gentlemen! _ Our mothers!

proposing a toast
Edwin Lutyens 1869-1944: Clough Williams-Ellis Architect Earrant (1971)

No matter how old a mother is she watches her middle-age children for signs of improvement.

Florida Scott-Maxwell: Measure of my Days (1968)

It is a dead-end job. You've no sooner learned the skills than you are redundant.

on motherhood
Claire Rayner 1931 - :in Guardian 15 December 1960