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A mother's hardest to forgive.
Life is the fruit she longs to hand you
Ripe on a plate. And while you live,
Relentlessly she understands you.

— Phyllis McGinley

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Mother

More quotes by Phyllis McGinley

Men may be allowed romanticism; women, who can create life in their own bodies, dare not indulge in it.

God knows that a mother needs fortitude and courage and tolerance and flexibility and patience and firmness and nearly every other brave aspect of the human soul.

Gossip isn’t scandal and it’s not merely malicious. It’s chatter about the human race by lovers of the same.

Meek-eyed parents hasten down the ramps
To greet their offspring, terrible from camps.

Prince, I warn you, under the rose,
Time is the thief you cannot banish.
These are my daughters, I suppose.
But where in the world did the children vanish?

All Phyllis McGinley quotes →

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The long sleep of Mother Goddess is ended. May She awaken in each of our hearts — Merry meet, merry part, and blessed be.

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The real religion of the world comes from women much more than from men, — from mothers most of all, who carry the key of our souls in their bosoms.

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Mother and poetess do not rhyme, but they go together rather well.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Phyllis McGinley (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.