49 Maternity Quotes To Boost Your Parental Instincts

By Clifton Sankofa | Published December 30, 2022

Boost your parental instincts with these thoughtful maternity quotes.

Maternity is a special time.

It is a time when magic occurs.

It is the time when a woman is pregnant with a child.

Share your favorite maternity quote with us in the comment section below.

What are the benefits of reading these maternity quotes?

Maternal health refers to the well-being of a woman during pregnancy.

Even with advances in birthing and maternity practices, in 2017, approximately 295,000 women died during or following pregnancy and childbirth.

The resources exist to ensure that every pregnancy is a positive experience where mother and baby can reach their full health potential.

Common causes of maternity injury or death come from:

blood loss
infection
high blood pressure
obstructed labor

Most of these causes of maternity challenges are preventable.

Surviving pregnancy is often used as a marker of successful maternal care.

However, if we want a healthier environment, it is not wise to use this as a measuring stick of success.

Maternity quotes for parents

1. “I’m a full-time mom. I’ve never felt as prepared, as before maternity.” — Vera Farmiga

2. “But somehow, in the imagination, there’s something different about maternity.” — Rumaan Alam

3. “During my maternity leave, I haven’t used many words of more than one syllable.” — Jane Pauley

4. “I like to stay in the rhythm of things. My maternity leave will be a few weeks long, and I’ll work throughout it.” — Marissa Mayer

5. “I had to learn how to not be a micro-manager. Maternity leave made me do that. I just couldn’t anymore.” — Reshma Saujani

6. “As an expectant mom who is currently self-employed, I’m amazed at just how tied to the workplace maternity benefits are.” — Rachel Sklar

7. “You don’t have to just shop in the maternity section when you are pregnant – you can shop anywhere, just be shape and size savvy!” — Holly Madison

8. “Hospitals are very extreme places – you can be in a maternity room one minute, and by someone’s bedside as they’re dying the next.” — James Purefoy

9. “I’m not taking maternity leave from ‘Big Brother.’ I e-mailed my boss over there this weekend and I said, ‘Don’t worry. I can still do the show!’” — Julie Chen

Maternity quotes for couples

10. “Bureaucracy gives birth to itself and then expects maternity benefits.” — Dale Dauten

11. “The point of launching a maternity line, for me, was to do something different.” — Jessica Simpson

12. “I wanted a maternity dress, but I couldn’t find anything I liked. Everything was abominable. So I made one.” — Sonia Rykiel

13. “Maternity is a cosmic thing and once it has come to pass, our conversation must not be permitted to blaspheme it.” — Ben Lindsey

14. “Maternity leave and parental leave is absolutely vital for strengthening families. It’s an issue for men and women.” — Quentin Bryce

15. “Because women get more labor rights than men, meaning they get maternity leave, the employer prefers to hire men.” — Jair Bolsonaro

16. “I don’t feel the need to write about maternity. I grew up thinking that the talented people in comedy were hard-joke writers.” — Mindy Kaling

17. “We know taking care of an infant isn’t just women’s work – so why should maternity leave be the norm when paternity leave is the exception?.” — Randi Weingarten

18. “As for critics, one mediocre writer is more valuable than ten good critics. They are like haughty, barren spinsters lodged in a maternity ward.” — Peter Greenaway

19. “I took so many different things away from my maternity leave. It taught me to have more compassion for other people and to see every individual as someone’s child.” — Ainsley Earhardt

Maternity quotes for baby boys

20. “Maternity is a glorious thing, since all mankind has been conceived, born, and nourished of women.” — Martin Luther

21. “Maternity is a cosmic thing and once it has come to pass, our conversation must not be permitted to blaspheme it.” — Ben Lindsey

22. “I would love to design a maternity clothing line. It is so hard to find stylish clothes for pregnant people.” — Kourtney Kardashian

23. “War is to man what maternity is to a woman. From a philosophical and doctrinal viewpoint, I do not believe in perpetual peace.” — Benito Mussolini

24. “But there is no such thing as maternity leave in an election. You can’t tell the voters, ‘Sorry, I am looking after my baby.’ It’s part of the deal.” — Kemi Badenoch

25. “If salary is your most important consideration, make sure you don’t take too much time off beyond the allotted 12-14 weeks of maternity leave – and certainly don’t leave altogether.” — Jean Chatzky

26. “When I was first pregnant, I Googled a maternity website, and there was nothing that spoke to a girl with my lifestyle who had kids – everything was very boring and very pinky.” —Julia Restoin Roitfeld

27. “There are disparities in accessing quality maternity health care in most every country, and most all health systems could and must be improved upon if we want to create healthy families who will thrive.” — Christy Turlington

28. “I got hyperemesis and was only supposed to go away for maternity leave, but then it ended up being three or four years, and by that time, it was hard to get back into the music world, so when Drake called, it was the perfect opportunity.” — Kyla Reid

Maternity quotes for photography

29. “I do still go to our local department store to buy things like maternity jeans that no one else can really do for me.” — Jacinda Ardern

30. “Three pregnant women in a maternity ward and their misery – I love that. That is what I want to show at my funeral.” — John Waters

31. “The respect and protection of woman and of maternity should be raised to the position of an inalienable social duty and should become one of the principles of human morality.” — Maria Montessori

32. “People always say: ‘Well, that sculpture could have paid for a cot in a maternity ward.’ But if the world had been run on those lines, there’d only be about four books, and they’d be seed-drill manuals.” — Sean Lock

33. “I was so intent as a young lawyer on beating the men at their own game that I didn’t take any real maternity leave with my three younger children. It is only looking back that I realise I wasn’t beating the system but reinforcing it.” — Cherie Blair

34. “Every time a woman leaves the workforce because she can’t find or afford childcare, or she can’t work out a flexible arrangement with her boss, or she has no paid maternity leave, her family’s income falls down a notch.” — Madeleine M. Kunin

Maternity quotes for Instagram

35. “Paternity is more distant and less direct than maternity; it’s a claim we accept as children, one inscribed in our legitimate, that is, legal, names.” — Siri Hustvedt

36. “Mary found again in the adorable Host the adorable fruit of her womb… and began in the Cenacle her new maternity at the feet of Jesus in the Eucharist.” — Peter Julian Eymard

37. “While we tend to equate motherhood solely with maternity, in the Lord’s language, the word ‘mother’ has layers of meaning… Motherhood is more than bearing children.” — Sheri L. Dew

38. “A woman by her very nature is maternal – for every woman, whether… married or unmarried, is called upon to be a biological, psychological or spiritual mother.” — Alice von Hildebrand

39. “While I am a pro-life woman, I am also a woman who is concerned about rights for the disabled, maternity leave, the death penalty, health care, domestic violence, breastfeeding rights, etc.” — Abby Johnson

40. “My daughter, Jemma, was born in the Simpson Memorial Maternity Hospital in Edinburgh, and it always tickled me that she was so vexed she didn’t have a Scottish accent even though she was brought up down south.” — Rick Wakeman

41. “If women take their bodies seriously and ideally we should then its full expression, in terms of pleasure, maternity, and physical strength, seems to fare better when women control the means of production and reproduction.” — Phyllis Chesler

42. “For years my wedding ring has done its job. It has led me not into temptation. It has reminded my husband numerous times at parties that it’s time to go home. It has been a source of relief to a dinner companion. It has been a status symbol in the maternity ward.” — Erma Bombeck

Maternity leave quotes

43. “I sold my first short story while I was home on maternity leave, then began working on novels.” — Tess Gerritsen

44. “I have two pairs of stretchy maternity leggings and jeans, which I will never give up, because once you experience an elastic band for a waist, you will never go back.” — Daphne Oz

45. “Look at Gwyneth Paltrow and my favourite, Kate Winslet. No one ever says, ‘Oh, she’s making a comeback.’ To my mind, I just went on maternity leave and reported back to work.” — Karisma Kapoor

46. “Working from home or going on maternity leave is no excuse to let go of your look. The more you schlep around in drawstring pants and tees, the less you’re going to be able to pull yourself together when necessary.” — Nina Garcia

47. “The system in Sweden is great because you get free healthcare and free education; someone who doesn’t have a lot of money can become a doctor or lawyer. There’s good paternity and maternity leave.” — Alexander Skarsgard

48. “One reason the United States is one of three countries in the world that do not have any form of paid maternity leave is that many American business leaders, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, oppose any family-friendly policies.” — Madeleine M. Kunin

49. “In German science, we have a special problem. We lose talented women at the time they get pregnant. Some of it occurs because they are encouraged – by their husbands, bosses and the government – to take long maternity leaves.” — Christiane Nusslein-Volhard

Maternal healthcare matters

Inspired healthcare professionals, doulas, and mothers across the globe continue to advocate to expand better maternal health for the world’s largest population: women.

Experts suggest that ending preventable maternal death must be on every country’s agenda moving forward.

Each birth and pregnancy is unique.

There is no broad-stroke, quick-fix solution to improving maternal care.

Addressing the inequalities that impact health outcomes for various people will require multiple solutions.

Pregnancy and maternity customs vary from culture to culture.

Everyone might not always see eye to eye on how that looks.

In some places, resources and rights are more expansive.

Location will influence pregnancy.

Where a person lives will determine the level of care available to them.

People are still coming to terms with these conditions.

However, ensuring all women have access to high-quality maternity care is one thing we can all agree with.

Tell us which maternity quotes resonated most with you in the comment section below.