150 Mother’s Day Quotes and Card Messages

Not sure what to write in a Mother's Day card? Below are 150 Mother's Day quotes and card messages: short and sweet, funny, heartfelt and famous, for your mum, grandma, wife, mother-in-law and every mother figure in your life. Pick one, add a line of your own, and sign it with love.

Shop Mother's Day gifts

• Personalised Mother's Day cards: your photo and your message on the front.
• All About Mom photo book: her best moments, all in one book.
• Best Mom Ever photo mug: a card message she'll see every morning.
• All gifts for mum: photo books, canvas prints, cushions and more.

Jump to: Short · For mum · Funny · Famous quotes · Grandma · Wife · Mother-in-law · New mums · Step-mums · Single mums · Sister or friend · How to write the card · FAQs

Mother's Day card messages for mum

Short Mother's Day messages

1. Happy Mother's Day to the best mum in the world.
2. Mum, you're my favourite person.
3. Thank you for everything, Mum.
4. Love you more than words can say.
5. To my first best friend: happy Mother's Day.
6. You make every day better.
7. Lucky to be yours.
8. Happy Mother's Day to my forever home.
9. The best things in me came from you.
10. Today is all about you.
11. Mum, you're simply the best.
12. Thank you for always being there.
13. Wishing you a day as lovely as you are.
14. My hero, my mum.
15. Sending you all my love, today and every day.

Found the perfect line? Put it on the front of a personalised Mother's Day card with your favourite photo of the two of you.

Heartfelt messages for mum

From a son or daughter, for the card or a note inside her gift.

16. To the world you are a mother, but to our family you are the world.
17. Thank you for the packed lunches, the late-night talks and the endless love. Happy Mother's Day.
18. Everything I am today started with you. Thank you, Mum.
19. You taught me how to be kind, brave and strong. I'm still learning from you.
20. I don't say it enough, but I'm so grateful for everything you do.
21. You've been my biggest cheerleader since day one. Today I'm cheering for you.
22. Mum, you're the reason I believe in a love that never gives up.
23. Thank you for loving me at my best, my worst and everything in between.
24. Growing up, I didn't realise how much you gave for us. Now I do, and I'm so thankful.
25. Wherever I go, home is wherever you are.
26. You make the hard things look easy and the ordinary things feel special.
27. Thank you for always picking up the phone, even when I only call to ask for a recipe.
28. The older I get, the more I see you in me, and I couldn't be prouder.
29. For every hug, every lesson and every second chance: thank you, Mum.
30. Happy Mother's Day to the woman who still knows what I need before I do.

Want to say more than a card can hold? Fill an All About Mom photo book with your photos together and write one of these messages on the first page.

Funny Mother's Day messages

31. Happy Mother's Day from your favourite child. (Don't tell the others.)
32. Thanks for not selling me when I was a teenager.
33. Mum, you're the only person I'd share my last chocolate with. Probably.
34. I've finally realised you were right about everything. Please don't make me say it again.
35. Thank you for teaching me everything I know, except how to fold a fitted sheet.
36. Happy Mother's Day to the woman who can find anything I've lost in under ten seconds.
37. Sorry about all the grey hairs. Happy Mother's Day!
38. You're the reason I can't leave the house without a jacket.
39. Mum, thank you for raising such an amazing child. You're welcome.
40. I'm turning into you, and I'm completely fine with that.
41. Happy Mother's Day! I got you this card instead of tidying my room.
42. Thanks for all the "I told you so" moments. You were annoyingly right.
43. You deserve a medal for putting up with me. This card will have to do.
44. Behind every great kid is a mum who's had very little sleep.
45. Thanks for always answering my calls, even the ones about what to cook for dinner.

Famous Mother's Day quotes

Well-known lines about mothers. Where a quote's origin is disputed, we've said so.

46. "Life began with waking up and loving my mother's face." – George Eliot
47. "Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children." – William Makepeace Thackeray
48. "The influence of a mother in the lives of her children is beyond calculation." – James E. Faust
49. "A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place no one else can take." – Cardinal Mermillod
50. "All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother." – attributed to Abraham Lincoln
51. "God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers." – often attributed to Rudyard Kipling
52. "Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; a mother's secret hope outlives them all." – Oliver Wendell Holmes
53. "A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world." – Agatha Christie
54. "There is no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one." – Jill Churchill
55. "My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother." – often attributed to George Washington

Mother's Day messages for the family

For grandma

56. Happy Mother's Day to the best grandma in the world.
57. Grandma, your hugs still fix everything.
58. Thank you for the stories, the recipes and all the love in between.
59. You raised the woman who raised me, so really, this is all thanks to you.
60. Grandmas hold our tiny hands for a little while, but our hearts forever.
61. Your kitchen will always be my favourite place in the world.
62. Thank you for spoiling us when Mum said no.
63. Grandma, you make every family get-together feel like home.
64. Our family tree has strong roots because of you.
65. Thank you for your wisdom, your patience and your endless supply of snacks.
66. Every happy childhood memory I have has you in it somewhere.
67. You're proof that love only grows with time.
68. Thank you for always having time for us, Grandma.
69. To my grandma: my first babysitter, my best storyteller and my forever friend.
70. Happy Mother's Day to the heart of our family.

Grandmas love seeing the grandchildren every day. Give her a photo calendar with a new family photo for every month.

For your wife

71. Happy Mother's Day to the most amazing mum our kids could ask for.
72. Watching you with our children makes me fall in love with you all over again.
73. Thank you for the love, patience and strength you give our family every day.
74. You're the heart of our home, and we'd be lost without you.
75. Our kids are so lucky to have you. So am I.
76. You make being a mum look easy, even though I know it isn't.
77. Thank you for every early morning, late night and everything in between.
78. Happy Mother's Day to my partner, my best friend and the best mum I know.
79. Our children will grow up knowing what real love looks like, because of you.
80. Today, the kids and I want you to put your feet up. You've earned it.
81. You give so much to everyone else. Today is all about you.
82. I love the life we've built together, and the mum you've become.
83. Thank you for making our house a home.
84. Every day I see the love you pour into our family. Thank you, my love.
85. Happy Mother's Day to the woman who holds it all together.

Breakfast in bed, then a gift she'll use every day: a Best Mom Ever photo mug with the kids on it.

For your mother-in-law

86. Thank you for raising the person I love. Happy Mother's Day.
87. I didn't just gain a partner, I gained a second mum.
88. Happy Mother's Day to the best mother-in-law anyone could ask for.
89. Thank you for welcoming me into your family with open arms.
90. Now I know where [name] gets their kindness from. Happy Mother's Day.
91. Thank you for all your love, advice and support.
92. I'm so lucky to call you family.
93. Our kids adore you, and so do we.
94. Thank you for treating me like one of your own.
95. Wishing a wonderful Mother's Day to a wonderful mother-in-law.

For a sister or friend who's a mum

96. Happy Mother's Day to my sister, the best mum I know (after ours!).
97. Watching you be a mum makes me so proud to be your sister.
98. Your kids are lucky to have you, and I'm lucky to have you too.
99. To my friend: you're an amazing mum. Take today off, you've earned it.
100. Happy Mother's Day to my fellow mum and partner in survival.
101. You make motherhood look fun, even on the messy days.
102. Thank you for being the auntie our kids adore.
103. From sleepovers to school runs: I love watching you do this.
104. You were born to be a mum.
105. Sending love to one of the best mums I know.

Mother's Day messages for every kind of mum

For a new mum's first Mother's Day

106. Happy first Mother's Day! You're already a natural.
107. Your little one is so lucky to have you.
108. Welcome to the best club in the world. Happy first Mother's Day.
109. The sleepless nights are worth it for every tiny smile.
110. You're doing an amazing job, even on the hardest days.
111. Wishing you a first Mother's Day full of cuddles.
112. Watching you become a mum has been the most beautiful thing.
113. Here's to your first Mother's Day, and many more to come.
114. Tired eyes, full heart. Happy first Mother's Day.
115. Your baby already thinks you're the whole world, and they're right.
116. Motherhood looks wonderful on you.
117. You loved this little one before you even met. Happy Mother's Day.
118. A new chapter, a new love. Happy first Mother's Day.
119. Remember to rest today. You've earned every minute.
120. To the newest mum I know: you're already doing everything right.

A first Mother's Day only happens once. Keep the newborn photos in a baby's first year photo book.

For a step-mum or mother figure

121. Thank you for choosing to love us as your own.
122. You didn't have to be there for me, but you always were.
123. Not every mum is there from the start. Some are a gift that arrives later.
124. Thank you for being my bonus mum. Happy Mother's Day.
125. Family isn't always about blood. Thank you for proving it.
126. You've been a mother to me in every way that counts.
127. Thank you for your patience, your kindness and your love.
128. Happy Mother's Day to someone who's like a mum to me.
129. I'm so grateful you came into our lives.
130. Our family is complete because of you.

For a single mum

131. You do the work of two and give the love of a hundred. Happy Mother's Day.
132. Thank you for being my mum, my hero and my home.
133. I don't know how you did it all, but I'll be thankful forever.
134. Your strength amazes me every single day.
135. You never let us feel like anything was missing.
136. Thank you for every sacrifice you made so we didn't have to.
137. You showed me what a strong woman looks like.
138. Happy Mother's Day to the hardest-working woman I know.
139. Everything we have, we have because of you.
140. You're proof that one person's love can be more than enough.

For pet mums and mums-to-be

141. Happy Mother's Day to the best fur mum around.
142. Your pet doesn't know it's Mother's Day, but they know they're loved.
143. Thank you for every walk, cuddle and belly rub.
144. Happy Mother's Day from your favourite four-legged child.
145. Some kids have fur. You're still a brilliant mum.
146. Happy Mother's Day to the mum-to-be. Your little one is lucky already.
147. You're already a mum in every way that matters.
148. We can't wait to see you meet your little one. Happy Mother's Day.
149. Wishing you a calm, happy pregnancy and a lovely Mother's Day.
150. Next year, there'll be tiny hands helping with your card. Happy Mother's Day.

How to write a Mother's Day card

Start with her name. "Dear Mum" or the nickname only you use makes it personal from the first word.

Pick one message, then add one line of your own. A quote says it beautifully, but a specific memory ("thank you for driving me to every swimming lesson") is what she'll reread.

Match the tone to her. If she laughs at everything, go funny. If she keeps every card in a drawer, go heartfelt.

Keep it short. Two to four sentences is plenty. Sign off with love, then add a photo of the two of you on the front of a personalised card.

Frequently asked questions

What should I write in a Mother's Day card?

Thank her for something specific, tell her what she means to you, and wish her a happy Mother's Day. For example: "Thank you for always being there. Everything I am today started with you. Happy Mother's Day."

What is a short Mother's Day message?

"Thank you for everything, Mum", "Lucky to be yours" and "My hero, my mum" are short enough for a card, a cake or a text.

What is a funny Mother's Day message?

"Happy Mother's Day from your favourite child (don't tell the others)" and "Sorry about all the grey hairs" are both safe bets for a mum with a sense of humour.

What do you write in a Mother's Day card for your wife?

Tell her what you see in her as a mum, and thank her for something she does every day: "Watching you with our children makes me fall in love with you all over again."

When is Mother's Day?

In Malaysia, Singapore, the US and India, Mother's Day is the second Sunday of May. In the UK, Mothering Sunday falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent, in March or early April. Thailand celebrates on 12 August.

Make your message last

The right words make her smile. A card she can keep makes her smile every time she finds it. Put your message and a favourite photo on a personalised Mother's Day card, or pair it with a gift from our gifts for mum.