Mother-in-Law Quotes: 7 Real Lines for Cards, Toasts and Mother-in-Law Day
Words My Family Quotes Editors
On 5 March 1934, a group of women in Amarillo, Texas, pinned corsages of sweet peas to their dresses for a ceremony nobody had held before. The next day the Fort Worth Press reported that "the eyes of the nation were on Amarillo," because the town had inaugurated "something new under the sun, a Mother-in-Law Day." The idea came from Gene Howe, a local publisher and columnist, and the paper felt it had to add: "Its backers are entirely serious."
Ninety-two years later, mothers-in-law still get more jokes than tributes. This page goes the other way. It collects seven mother-in-law quotes that are kind, funny or consoling, each traced to the speech, statement, book or broadcast it came from, with the year. Under every line you'll find who said it and what was going on, and a comparison table helps you pick one in seconds for a card, a toast, a text on Mother-in-Law Day (Sunday 25 October in 2026) or a few words after she has died. Further down there are short messages our editors wrote for you to adapt, and one famous joke whose credit we could not confirm.
Seven lines side by side
If you only have a minute, start here. "Fits" names the use each line suits best; the sections below give the full quote and the story behind it.
| Line (short form) | Who, when | Tone | Fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Something new under the sun, a Mother-in-Law Day" | Fort Worth Press, 1934 | Light, historical | Mother-in-Law Day text or post |
| "It helps to be a little deaf" | Ruth Bader Ginsburg, retelling her mother-in-law's advice, 2016 | Warm, funny | Wedding toast, bridal shower card |
| "I shall begin to assert the privileges of a mother-in-law" | Mrs Markleham in Dickens, David Copperfield, 1849–50 | Comic | Birthday card for a mother-in-law with a sense of humour |
| "She ended up being our rock through it all" | Obama and Robinson family, 2024 | Grateful | Thank-you card, Mother's Day |
| "Immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them" | Mark 1:31, King James Version, 1611 | Faith, quiet | Church card, get-well note |
| "There was and will be only one Marian Robinson" | Obama and Robinson family, 2024 | Grief, praise | Eulogy, sympathy card |
| "Walk on the beach every chance you get" | Laura Bush, on her in-laws, 2018 | Bittersweet | Memorial post, anniversary of her death |
How a Texas newspaperman gave her a day
Mother's Day had been a national observance in the United States since 1914, and Howe's pitch was that the other mother in a marriage deserved one too. The press treated it as a curiosity. The Fort Worth Press columnist Edith Alderman Guedry wrote up the Amarillo ceremony the next morning:
"THE eyes of the nation were on Amarillo yesterday, because it had inaugurated something new under the sun, a Mother-in-Law Day." — Edith Alderman Guedry, Fort Worth Press, 6 March 1934, page 6 (scan at the Portal to Texas History)
The same article noted that "mothers-in-law over the country have stood looking on wondering if it all isn't a joke," which tells you how the subject was usually handled in 1934. The March date did not stick. The day is now kept in the United States on the fourth Sunday in October; it is not a federal holiday and most people only hear of it from a calendar app or a florist. That works in your favour: a short message on a day she didn't know existed reads as thoughtful rather than obligatory. The sweet pea, the "official flower" in Amarillo, makes a nice small touch if you are sending flowers.
Wedding-day advice from Marty Ginsburg's mother
Ruth Bader married Martin Ginsburg in 1954, days after graduating from Cornell. She told the story of what her new mother-in-law said to her that day for the rest of her life; one recording of it aired on NPR in 2016, when her collection My Own Words came out:
"She took me aside and said dear, I want you to know the secret of a happy marriage. Every now and then, it helps to be a little deaf. And with that, she handed me a pair of earplugs." — Ruth Bader Ginsburg, interviewed by Nina Totenberg, NPR Morning Edition, 3 October 2016 (transcript)
What makes this the best-loved mother-in-law line in American public life is that the advice is the mother-in-law's, not a joke about her. She is the wise one in the story. Totenberg adds that Ginsburg said the advice served her "not only with her husband Marty Ginsburg, but with her fellow justices." It suits a wedding toast given by the groom's mother (quote it, then hand over something small of your own), or a card from a bride to her future mother-in-law, which turns the old rivalry joke on its head: you are asking her for her secret.
When she has a sense of humour about it
Victorian readers met one of fiction's most cheerfully overbearing mothers-in-law in Charles Dickens's David Copperfield (serialised 1849–50). Mrs Markleham, nicknamed "the Old Soldier" by the schoolboys, is the mother of young Annie Strong, and she never lets her son-in-law, the kindly old Doctor Strong, forget it. At his birthday party, when he tries to wave away her compliments, she answers:
"I shall begin to assert the privileges of a mother-in-law, if you go on like that, and scold you. I am perfectly honest and outspoken." — Mrs Markleham in Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, chapter 16 (serialised 1849–50; Project Gutenberg text)
Dickens is laughing at her: she is anything but disinterested, and the novel lets her talk herself into trouble. Out of context, though, the line is affectionate and very usable. It works on a birthday card to a mother-in-law who teases you first, especially if she is "perfectly honest and outspoken" herself and would be the first to say so. Skip it if things between you are tense; on a strained relationship any joke about her "privileges" will read as a dig. For those situations, our page of toxic mother-in-law quotes deals with the harder side honestly.
Thanking the woman who quietly holds things together
Marian Robinson was Michelle Obama's mother and, from 1992, Barack Obama's mother-in-law. A widow in her early seventies, she left Chicago in 2009 to live on the third floor of the White House and look after her granddaughters, Malia and Sasha. When she died on 31 May 2024, aged 86, the family statement explained why she had come:
"With a healthy nudge, she agreed to move to the White House with Michelle and Barack. We needed her. The girls needed her. And she ended up being our rock through it all." — statement from the Obama and Robinson families, 31 May 2024 (reported by NBC News)
The statement goes on to say she enforced the parents' rules on bedtime and candy while making it clear that she sided with her "grandbabies" in thinking their parents were "too darn strict." That is the part of a mother-in-law's work that rarely gets thanked: the school runs, the babysitting, the extra pair of hands. "We needed her" is the honest core of a thank-you card. Borrow the shape for your own card: name one concrete thing she did, then say plainly that you needed it.
A mother-in-law in the Gospels
People often ask what the Bible says about mothers-in-law. The best-known passage is Ruth's promise to Naomi, which we cover on our daughter-in-law quotes page. Less quoted is the first healing in the Gospel of Mark, which happens in a family home: Simon Peter's mother-in-law is ill in bed when Jesus arrives.
"But Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever, and anon they tell him of her. And he came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them." — Mark 1:30–31, King James Version (1611)
The scene is brief, but it shows that the first disciple lived with his wife's mother, and that the family went straight to Jesus about her. Luke tells the same story (Luke 4:38–39). For a church card or a get-well note, "he took her by the hand, and lifted her up" is a gentle line that doesn't preach. It also works on a card for a mother-in-law who looks after everyone else, because the passage ends with her doing exactly that.
Words for after she has died
The Robinson family statement opened with a sentence that has been quoted in many tributes since:
"There was and will be only one Marian Robinson. In our sadness, we are lifted up by the extraordinary gift of her life. And we will spend the rest of ours trying to live up to her example." — statement from the Obama and Robinson families, 31 May 2024 (NBC News)
Its structure is easy to borrow for a eulogy or a sympathy card: say she was one of a kind, say what her life gave you, and say what you will carry on. Replace the name and it stays true. If you are the son-in-law or daughter-in-law speaking at the funeral, it also quietly answers the awkward question of your place: "our sadness" and "her example" speak for the whole family, not only her children.
Laura Bush spoke about her in-laws two weeks after Barbara Bush died in April 2018, while George H. W. Bush was still alive. Opening a health and nature centre in Houston, she described how Barbara had walked her dogs on the beach in Maine every day, then used a walker, then drove a golf cart along the shore with the dogs running behind her when she could no longer walk on the sand:
"From both of them, George and I have learned is all we know we have is now. So take advantage of your life now, as it is, and walk on the beach every chance you get." — Laura Bush, remarks in Houston, 2 May 2018 (reported by KTRK ABC13)
The first sentence is quoted as transcribed, a little tangled because it was spoken, not written. The second is the one people share, and it suits a memorial post or the first anniversary of a mother-in-law's death better than most grief quotes because it is about how she lived, not about loss. For more on grief itself, our page of C. S. Lewis grief quotes traces every line to A Grief Observed.
Funny or heartfelt? Match the line to the relationship
The same quote can land well with one mother-in-law and badly with another. Before you choose, be honest about which of these describes yours:
| Your relationship | Choose | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Close, you joke with each other | Dickens or the Ginsburg earplugs, plus one sincere sentence | Only jokes, with nothing warm added |
| Polite but a little distant | The Mother-in-Law Day line or "our rock," with a specific thank-you | Teasing about "privileges"; she may not read it as affection |
| Brand new (engaged or just married) | The Ginsburg story, framed as asking for her advice | Anything that implies she'll be difficult |
| Strained | A short, true thank-you without a quote | Humour of any kind; it will be read as sarcasm |
| She has died | "Only one" or "walk on the beach," with her name | Generic grief lines that could be about anyone |
Short messages to adapt
These were written by our editors as starting points. They are not quotes from anyone; swap in her name and one real detail. Writing to a son-in-law instead? Our best son-in-law quotes come with their sources too.
- Mother-in-Law Day text: "Did you know there's a Mother-in-Law Day? A Texas newspaper started it in 1934. Happy Mother-in-Law Day, [name]. Thank you for [one real thing she did this year]."
- From a daughter-in-law, birthday card: "Happy birthday to the woman who raised the man I married, and who still makes the best [dish]. I'm glad you're my family."
- From a son-in-law, Mother's Day: "Thank you for trusting me with your daughter, and for treating me like a son from the start. Happy Mother's Day."
- Thank-you after a hard season: "We needed you these past months, and you came. Thank you for every meal, school pick-up and late-night phone call."
- Sympathy card to a spouse who lost their mother: "She was one of a kind, and she made room for me in your family. I'll miss her with you."
A joke with a famous name and no paper trail
The most shared "mother-in-law quote" online is "Behind every successful man is a proud wife and a surprised mother-in-law." Quote sites credit it to Hubert H. Humphrey, the US vice president from 1965 to 1969. We could not find it in any speech, interview or newspaper report from his lifetime; it appears only on quote sites, without a date. Treat it as a joke commonly attributed to Humphrey (no primary source found), and if you use it, leave the name off. Our running list of misattributed family quotes covers other lines like this one, with the evidence for each correction.
Questions people ask about mother-in-law quotes
When is Mother-in-Law Day in 2026?
In the United States it falls on the fourth Sunday in October, which is Sunday 25 October in 2026. The first one was held in Amarillo, Texas, on 5 March 1934.
What does the Bible say about mothers-in-law?
The two best-known passages are Ruth's promise to her mother-in-law Naomi ("whither thou goest, I will go," Ruth 1:16) and the healing of Simon Peter's mother-in-law in Mark 1:30–31, where Jesus "took her by the hand, and lifted her up."
How do you express gratitude to your mother-in-law?
Name one specific thing she did and say plainly that it mattered, as the Obama and Robinson families did with "We needed her. The girls needed her." A quote can open the card, but the specific thank-you is what she will remember.