55 uplifting and powerful working mom quotes to rock your world
Every mom is a working mom! If you’re a Mama looking for uplifting and powerful mom quotes to feel seen and brighten up your day, or have ever wondered what to say to another hard working mom, check out these 55 inspirational working mom quotes to help rock your world.
Written by Nadine Stille, who coaches moms with careers to ditch their daily grind and bring more joy into their lives.
55 uplifting and powerful working mom quotes to rock your world
“The phrase ‘working mother’ is redundant.” – Donna Reed
“Being a working mom is not easy. You have to be willing to screw up at every level.” – Jami Gertz
3. “Working moms are guinea pigs in a science experiment to show that sleep is not necessary to human life.” - Unknown
4. “Trying to do it all and expecting that it all can be done exactly right is a recipe for disappointment. Perfection is the enemy.” – Sheryl Sandberg
5. “I’m tough, ambitious and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, Okay.” –Madonna
6. “It’s all about finding the calm in the chaos.” – Donna Karan
Mama, take a moment - just for yourself with free, calming meditations for working moms.
7. “Never limit yourself. You can be a mom and pursue your dream simultaneously.” - unknown
8. “When you have children, you have to be fiercely organized to get anything done. I learned that if I don’t put myself up on the priority list, somehow my kids will eventually get knocked down on that list.” - Michelle Obama
9. “A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform.” – Diane Mariechild
10. “I think every working mom probably feels the same thing. You go through big chunks of time where you’re just thinking, ‘This is impossible—oh, this is impossible.’ And then you just keep going and keep going, and you sort of do the impossible.” -Tina Fey
11. “This struggle is real. The juggle is real. That’s why everyone should hire working mothers. They are put in crazy situations all the time and are forced to problem-solve. They are some of my most resourceful employees.” – Sara Blakely
12 “You are not a bad mom because you go to work each day. Similarly, you are not a failure because you left your career altogether. Choices regarding work and family are personal ”“ there is no one-size-fits-all method. Anyone who tells you otherwise is wrong.” – Candace Alnaji
13. “A beautiful woman is a beautiful woman, but a beautiful woman with a brain is an absolutely lethal combination.” –Prabal Gurung
14. “There is no force more powerful than a woman determined to rise.” – Bosa Sebele
15. “The fastest way to break the cycle of perfectionism and become a fearless mother is to give up the idea of doing it ‘perfectly’. Indeed to embrace uncertainty and imperfection.” – Arianna Huffington
16. “Instead of perfection, we should aim for sustainable and fulfilling.” – Sheryl Sandberg
17. “When I first became a mother I suffered from serious 'half-ass’ shame. I felt like I was mediocre at everything. I felt so stretched and so distracted (and exhausted), I said 'Yes’ way too often in an effort to prove that I could do it all. I’ve worked so hard over the past decade to move from 'What will people think' to 'I am enough.'” - Brené Brown
18. “I’m learning to feel better about asking for help, whether it’s from family or hiring help. It’s not profound but I love my career and I don’t want to make myself feel bad about pursuing both. Just cutting myself some slack has been very helpful for me.” – Mindy Kaling
19. “I want to show the example that you can be a single mother and work and handle a lot of other things at the same time.” - Christina Milian
20. “It’s important for everyone - working moms especially - to find moments to ground themselves and connect with their own breath.” - Alicia Keys
Grounding meditations for working moms? Take your moment of calm - just for yourself.
21. “I never dreamt of success. I worked for it.” – Estée Lauder
22. “Being a mom is hard. I think a lot of working moms feel that way.” - Gwen Stefani
23. “The balancing act of motherhood and a career, and being a wife, is something that I don’t think I’ll ever perfect, but I love the challenge of it.” – Kerri Walsh Jennings
24. “I’ve never wanted to be a lady who lunches. I always wanted to be a woman who works.” - Meghan Markle
25. “Being a working mother instills in you a sense of determination” – Felicity Jones
26. “There is no such thing as a mom who has it all together. And that’s ok.” – unknown
27. “For all working mothers it’s important to remember that we don’t get to be with our kids all the time, but it’s also important for them to see us as leaders and there is value in that.” - Olivia Wilde
28. “Being a working mother and a single parent instills in you a sense of determination.” - Felicity Jones
29. “Being a mother has been a master class in letting go. Try as we might, there’s only so much we can control. And, boy, have I tried — especially at first. As mothers, we just don’t want anything or anyone to hurt our babies. But life has other plans. Bruised knees, bumpy roads and broken hearts are part of the deal. What’s both humbled and heartened me is seeing the resiliency of my daughters.” - Michelle Obama
Get your ‘Mama’s Moments of Calm’ - 3 pocket-sized, calming meditations for moms who are trying to doing it all.
30. "I have chosen to no longer be apologetic for my femaleness and my femininity. And I want to be respected in all of my femaleness because I deserve to be." – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
31. “I think one of the coolest things for my daughters is that they get to see their mom as a working mother. It’s one of the things I’ll be most proud of.” - John Krasinksi
32. “Knowing I've got this beautiful baby to go home to makes me feel like I don't have to play another match. I don't need the money or the titles or the prestige. I want them, but I don't need them. That's a different feeling for me." – Serena Williams
33. “A happy mother is a good mother, and if work makes you hum, your whole family sings along.” – Sharon Meers and Joanna Strober
34. “I think moms put a lot of pressure on ourselves trying to balance it all. It’s never going to be perfectly balanced. The sooner you know this, the sooner you can relieve some of the pressure you put on yourself.” – Denise Richards
35. “I think while all mothers deal with guilt, working mothers are plagued by guilt on steroids.” – Arianna Huffington
36. “You can quit a job. I can’t quit being a mother. I’m a mother forever. Mothers are never off the clock, mothers are never on vacation. Being a mother redefines us, reinvents us, destroys and rebuilds us. Being a mother brings us face-to-face with ourselves as children, with our mothers as human beings, with our darkest fears of who we really are. Being a mother requires us to get it together or risk messing up another person forever.” – Shonda Rhimes
37. “As a working mother, I know that women can be both professionally ambitious and deeply committed to their family.” - Tory Burch
38. “I always give my title as ‘working mother’ because my children and my work are the two most important things in my life. Finding that balance is very important. Your career lasts a lifetime… stop and have your children whenever you’re ready, not when your job ‘allows’.” – Karren Brady
39. “If you want me to do the job, you’ve got to pay me to do the job and you’ve got to give me flexibility, and flexibility means that I will work my tail off for you, but you better pay me and value my family.” – Michelle Obama
40. “Working moms are teaching their kids a solid work ethic. You’re teaching them that we don’t just have things handed to us, and we have to work for the things we want.” - unknown
41. “There is something really empowering about saying, “I can do it all!” That’s the wonderful thing about mothers. You can because you must, so you just do.” - Kate Winslet
42. “Get rid of the guilt. When you’re at one place, don’t feel bad that you’re not at work; when you’re at work, don’t feel bad that you’re not at home.” – Katie Couric
43. “Guilt management can be just as important as time management for mothers.” – Sheryl Sandberg
44. “If you are a mom, you are a superhero. Period.” – Rosie Pope
45. “It’s not about what we can do but what we must do as working moms and working dads. Anything is possible. If it means warming up and stretching while holding my baby then that’s what this mama will do.” - Serena Williams
46. “No mom can do it all on her own. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness! When you need help, ask for it! When you are asked for help, give it ”“ and offer it, too. In asking for help we can get past these too-hard-on-ourselves moments and instead build community with family, friends, and neighbors. Help ”“ given and received ”“ can help you achieve that acceptance of non-perfection ”“ and the outcome may be even better than your initial vision of ”˜perfect.’” – Jen Klein
47. “If I’m pursuing my goals, my kids are seeing me at my best. I am filled up, I am happy, I am not feeling empty, depleted, and therefore resentful about the fact that I’m missing out. I don’t want them to feel like I’ve sacrificed, I don’t want them to feel that burden, I always remember that a happy working woman is a happy mother.” – Shonda Rhimes
48. “It’s not wrong to be passionate about your career. When you love what you do, you bring that stimulation back to your family.” – Allison Pearson
49. “Sometimes, when I want to take on the world, I try to remember that it’s just as important to sit down and ask my son how he’s feeling or talk to him about life.” – Angelina Jolie
50. “I want her to know something that I feel is important. I love work. I love her and I love work, and I want her to know work’s a good thing. It’s not something you’re dragged off to.” - Hoda Kotb
51. My mom is a hard worker. She puts her head down, and she gets it done. And she finds a way to have fun. She always says, “Happiness is your own responsibility.” That’s probably what I quote from her and live by the most. - Jennifer Garner
52. “For me, being a mother made me a better professional, because coming home every night to my girls reminded me of what I was working for. And being a professional made me a better mother, because by pursuing my dreams, I was modeling for my girls how to pursue their dreams.” - Michelle Obama
53. “Being a working mom doesn’t mean my family isn’t my first priority.” – Anonymous
54. “Being a mother is learning about strengths you didn’t know you had.” - Linda Wooten
55. “We should go after our dreams and not be apologetic about it, but it’s scary. Whether you want to work or not, you have to do what makes you a fuller person. You have to love yourself.” – Catherine Reitman
Moms rock!
P.S. If you found these quotes inspiring, would you be open to sharing it with a mom friend or two so they get to enjoy it too? Thank you!