With Mother’s Day coming this weekend, and being a mother and grandmother myself, I figured that was the best topic for today’s Wednesday Whimsy. Oddly enough, I don’t have that many Victorian trade (advertising) cards featuring Mothers. I guess I haven’t been looking for them specifically. I did find a number of historical mothers and children on cards in my collection, so here they are for your enjoyment!

My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her. George Washington

The love of a mother is the veil of a softer light between the heart and the heavenly Father. Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness. Honore de Balzac

My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it. Mark Twain

Children are the anchors that hold a mother to life. Sophocles

When your mother asks, ‘Do you want a piece of advice?’ it is a mere formality. It doesn’t matter if you answer yes or no. You’re going to get it anyway. Erma Bombeck

I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.  Eleanor Roosevelt

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child. Sophia Loren

My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent. Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I’m a mama’s boy because everything I do is with respect to my mother. I won’t do a movie or a video that would bring disrespect to my mother. Mr. T

Sweater, n.: garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly. Ambrose Bierce

There are only two things a child will share willingly; communicable diseases and its mother’s age. Benjamin Spock

I always tell people that I became a writer not because I went to school but because my mother took me to the library. I wanted to become a writer so I could see my name in the card catalog. Sandra Cisneros

And of course here are three of my favorite mothers from the works of Beatrix Potter!