80 Mother and Son Quotes That Perfectly Capture Your Special Bond With Your Little (or Big!) Boy

My son was my firstborn child, the one who made me a mother. In just a few short months, he’ll be a teenager, and I marvel every day at how our relationship has changed in recent years. He’s become a young man with whom I can joke and have serious conversations. I can rely on him to help with his younger sister and our family dog. And I know I can always, always depend on my son to give me the best, biggest hug at the end of the day.

The bond between a mom and son is a special one. (So is that between mother and daughter, but we are all about celebrating our boys today—on Son's Day!) As mothers, we teach our sons how to be kind, gentle, and respectful. We want to make sure they know it’s just as okay to feel upset and shed tears as it is to be angry and mad.

We searched high and low for a collection of parenting quotes that specifically celebrate the special bond between a mom and her son. These quotes about mothers and sons include adages from famous writers, old proverbs that have stood the test of time, sentimental statements shared by famous men about their own moms, and words of wisdom from the tribe of #boymoms. Read on and think about how lucky you are to have that special bond between a mother and her son.

80 Mother and Son Quotes

1. “There has never been, nor will there ever be, anything quite so special as the love between the mother and a son.” — Unknown

2. “Sons are the anchors of a mother’s life.” — Sophocles

3. “What greater aspiration and challenge are there for a mother than the hope of raising a great son or daughter?” — Rose Kennedy

4. “You will be his first kiss, his first love, his first friend. You’re his momma and he is your whole world. He is your little boy.” — Unknown

5. “When you look into your mother’s eyes, you know that is the purest love you can find on this Earth.” — Mitch Albom

6. “Even more than the time when she gave birth, a mother feels her greatest joy when she hears others refer to her son as a wise learned one.” — Thiruvalluvar

7. “And she loved a little boy very, very much—even more than she loved herself.” — Shel Silverstein, The Giving Tree

8. “A boy needs his mother’s respect. Not only her love but also her respect.” — Emerson Eggerichs

9. “A woman is not able to re-educate any man. But she is able to bring up her son to be a real man.” — Unknown

10. “If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?” — Milton Berle

11. “So there’s this boy. He kind of stole my heart. He calls me ‘Mom.’” — Unknown

12. “If a man has been his mother’s undisputed darling, he retains throughout life the triumphant feeling, the confidence in success, which not seldom brings actual success along with it.” — Sigmund Freud

13. “More than mother and son, they were accomplices in solitude.” — Gabriel Garcia Marquez

14. “Bringing up a daughter, a mother pours a part of her soul. Bringing up a son, she gives him her whole soul.” — Unknown

15. “Happy is the son whose faith in his mother remains unchallenged.” — Louisa May Alcott

16. “A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place no one else can take.” — Cardinal Mermillod

17. “Being a mother to a little boy and helping him discover the world is one of the greatest experiences in a woman’s life, which makes objective goals dull in comparison. The connection between a mother and her son opens the gate to a new world of wonder and love.” — Unknown

Related: 125 Quotes About Mothers & Daughters

18. “Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws.” — Barbara Kingsolver, Homeland and Other Stories

19. “Sons worship their mothers, seeing them as flawless, almighty beings who spread love and who are able to do anything. That is why the most important lesson that a mother can teach her son is to respect, love, and understand women.” — Unknown

20. “It doesn’t matter how old a son is. Even when he is big and strong, he is always a small boy for his mother.” — Unknown

21. “Happy the boy whose mother is tired of talking nonsense to him before he is old enough to know the sense of it.” — Augustus Hare

22.  “A man who treats his woman like a princess is proof that he has been born and raised in the arms of a queen.” — Unknown

23. “There is an enduring tenderness in the love of a mother to a son that transcends all other affections of the heart.” — Washington Irving

24. “No man succeeds without a good woman behind him. Wife or mother, if it is both, he is twice blessed indeed.” — Godfrey Winn

25. “Son, you will outgrow my lap, but never my heart.” — Unknown

26. “A man never sees all that his mother has been to him until it’s too late to let her know that he sees it.” — W.D. Howells

27. “Mother is her son’s first god; she must teach him the most important lesson of all—how to love.” — T.F. Hodge, From Within I Rise

28. “I cannot be more grateful for the things that I have because I love my son and I have him.” — Unknown

29. “Men are what their mothers made them.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

30. “Sometimes a mother wonders if her son could have a better mother, but she knows for sure that she knows that there doesn’t exist a better son.” — Unknown

31. “Mothers are inscrutable beings to their sons, always.” ― A.E. Coppard, Dusky Ruth

32. “A mother’s love doesn’t make her son more dependent and timid; it actually makes him stronger and more independent.” — Cheri Fuller, What a Son Needs From His Mom

33. “His little hands stole my heart, and his little feet ran away with it.” — Unknown

34. “A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest.” — Irish Proverb

35. “Sometimes when I need a miracle, I look into my son’s eyes, and realize I’ve already created one.” — Unknown

36. “You don’t raise heroes, you raise sons, and if you treat them like sons, they’ll turn out to be heroes, even if it’s just in your eyes.” — Walter M. Schirra, Jr.

37. “Being a mother to a little boy and helping him discover the world is one of the greatest experiences in a woman’s life, which makes objective goals dull in comparison. The connection between a mother and her son opens the gate to a new world of wonder and love.” — Unknown

38. “Every mother hopes that her daughter will marry a better man than she did and is convinced that her son will never find a wife as good as his father did.” — Martin Andersen-Nexo

39. “A dad for his son is always caring, while Mommy is always loving.” — Unknown

40. “Let your boys test their wings. They may not be eagles, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t soar free.” — C.J. Milbrandt, On Your Marks: The Adventure Begins

41. “If you would have your son to walk honorably through the world, you must not attempt to clear the stones from his path but teach him to walk firmly over them—not insist upon leading him by the hand but let him learn to go alone.” — Anne Bronte, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

42. “You are loved for the boy you are, the man you will become, and the precious son you will always be.” — Unknown

Quotes From Famous Men About Their Moms

43. “If love is as sweet as a flower, then my mother is that sweet flower of love.” — Stevie Wonder

44. “My mother is my root, my foundation. She planted the seed that I base my life on, and that is the belief that the ability to achieve starts in your mind.” — Michael Jordan

45. “A boy’s best friend is his mother.” — Joseph Stefano

46. “They used to say, ‘Oh, he’s just his mother’s son,’ as a way of dismissing me. And every time I’d say, ‘Oh, yes, thank you! I’m so proud of that.'” — Justin Trudeau

47. “I listen to my mother, and that keeps me out of trouble. I’m a good son.” — Mr. T

Related: 100 Inspirational Single Mom Quotes

48. “Ain’t a woman alive who could take my mama’s place.” — Tupac Shakur

49. “I wouldn’t be doing any of this if it weren’t for her, both my parents. She supported this little kid who said, ‘I want to be an actor,’ at 12 years old, which is ridiculous, and she drove me to all these auditions. She’s the only reason I’m able to do what I do.” — Leonardo DiCaprio

50. “My mother never gave up on me. I messed up in school so much they were sending me home, but my mother sent me right back.” — Denzel Washington

51. “Moms are as relentless as the tides. They just don’t drive us to practice, they drive us to greatness.” — Steve Rushin

52. “All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” — Abraham Lincoln

53. “If you try singling me out to my mother, she’ll be down your throat. She has three sons, and she’s equally proud of us all.” — Lee Pearson

54. “My mother said to me, ‘If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.’ Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso.” — Pablo Picasso

55. “My mom was the person that I most looked up to for her point of view, her humor.” — Ben Stiller

56. “Twenty years on I still feel the love she gave us and that is testament to her massive heart and her amazing ability to be a great mother.” — Prince William

57. “My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me; and I felt I had something to live for, someone I must not disappoint.” — Thomas Edison

58. “My mother carried me for ten months. I asked her ‘Mother, you had an extra month, why you didn’t make me a beautiful face?’ And mother told me, ‘My son, I was busy making your beautiful hands and heart.’” — Mstislav Rostropovich

59. “My mother is not a CIA agent, but she’s an Italian mother, and she’d do anything for her son.” — Adriano Giannini

60. “My father died when I was seven, leaving a widow and five sons, ranging in age from five to seventeen. My mother was the most highly disciplined and hardest working person I have ever known, and this, combined with her love and gentleness, enabled her to make a success of each of her children.” — Arthur Lewis

Quotes About Sons From #Boymoms

61. “A mother’s arms are more comforting than anyone else’s.” — Princess Diana

62. “I am a boy mom, and I keep my eyes on the goal: raising the boy I love into a man who will make this world a better place.” — Monica Swanson

63. “Motherhood is the greatest thing and the hardest thing.” — Ricki Lake

64. “Heaven on Earth is looking at my little boy. The minute he was born, I knew if I never did anything other than being a mom, I’d be fine.” — Jenny McCarthy

65. “Raising boys has made me a more generous woman than I really am.” — Mary Kay Blakely

66. “The best love in the world is the love of a man. The love of a man who came from your womb, the love of your son! I don’t have a daughter, but maybe the love of a daughter is the best, too. I am first and foremost me, but right after that, I am a mother. The best thing that I can ever be, is me. But the best gift that I will ever have, is being a mother.” — C. JoyBell C

67. “To wake up to the sound of my son saying ‘Mama, mama!’ It’s the best sound ever.” — Miranda Kerr

68. “The only man who has stolen my heart is my son.” — Sandra Bullock

69. “To be a mother of a son is one of the most important things you can do to change the world. Raise them to respect women, raise them to stand up for others, raise them to be kind.” — Shannon L. Alder

70. “The most important mark I will leave on this world is my son.” — Sarah Shahi

Related: 150 Quotes About Being a New Mom

71. “Yet now in my arms, I was holding a helpless baby boy who would grow into a man—I cannot imagine that soft little face one day having whiskers.” — Rhonda Stoppe

72. “When you were a toddler you made me smile. When you were a teenager you made me worry. But now you are a man and my son, I am so proud of you and all your accomplishments!” — Catherine Pulsifer

73. “Son, you remind me how so much depends on days made of now.” — Alison McGhee

74. “I want my son to become aware that he is in charge of the choices he makes, and it’s good to make thoughtful, good choices.” — Karen Salmansohn

75. “I spent a lifetime being small for those closest to me, but this is not the woman my son will know.” — Jewel

76. “The moment that little bundle of pink, squirming flesh slips into our arms, love touches us. We feel it, not just in our hearts, but also on our skin. He is there. Our son.” — Meg Meeker

77. “Be strong out there, my son. Look for the love and kindness in others. Forgive yourself when you make mistakes and enjoy the journey.” — Kirsten Wreggitt

78. “As the mother of a son, I do not accept that alienation from me is necessary for his discovery of himself. As a woman, I will not cooperate in demeaning womanly things so that he can be proud to be a man. I like to think the women in my son’s future are counting on me.” — Letty Cottin Pogrebin

79. “My greatest blessing has been the birth of my son. My next greatest blessing has been my ability to turn people into children of mine.” — Maya Angelou

80. “Little boys can test your patience, run you ragged, and make you want to pull your hair out. But they will also melt your heart with just one look, and make you wonder how you ever existed before them.” — Katie Bingham Smith

Next, check out these sweet Mother’s Day messages to share with your mom!