Obedience, you know, is Good Luck's mother, wedded to Salvation, they say.

-Aeschylus
Septem contra Thebas, l.224^5 (translated by C M Dawson).

Once in royal David's city Stood a lowly cattle-shed, Where a mother laid her baby In a manger for his bed. Mary was that mother mild, Jesus Christ her little child.

-Alexander, Cecil Frances
  'Once in Royal David's City'.

   My mother thinks Vietnam is somewhere near Panama.

-Anonymous
c.1968  The last words of a US soldier fatally woundedduring the Vietnam War, quotedby Australianfilm-maker JohnPilger in his 1978 film Do you remember Vietnam?

His father was self-made, but his mother was constructed by others, and such edifices are notoriously fragile.

-Atwood, Margaret Eleanor
  Alias Grace.

Wemet†Dr Hall insuchverydeep mourning that either his mother, his wife, or himself must be dead.

-Austen,Jane
  Letter to Cassandra  Austen,17 May.

From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents.öYourmother will never seeyouagainif youdo not marry Mr Collins,and Iwill never seeyouagainif you do.

-Austen,Jane
  Pride and Prejudice, ch.20.

'Oh, mother, mother, mak my bed, And mak it saft and narrow; My love has died for me to-day, I'll die for him tomorrow.'

-Ballads
'Barbara  Allen'.

Le coeur d'une me'  re est un ab|"me au fond duquel se trouve toujours un pardon. A mother'sheart isanabyss atthebottomof whichthere is always forgiveness.

-Balzac, Honore¤   de
  La Femme de trente ans.

France, me'  re des arts, des armes et des lois. France, mother of arts, of weapons and of laws.

-Bellay,Joachim du
  Les Regrets, no.9.

Land of Hope and Glory, Mother of the Free, How shall we extol thee who are born of thee? Wider still and wider shall thy bounds be set; God who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet.

-Benson, A(rthur) C(hristopher)
  'Land of Hope and Glory'.

And moreover my mother taught me as a boy (repeatingly) 'Ever to confess you're bored means you have no Inner Resources.' I conclude now I have no inner resources, because I am heavy bored.

-Berryman,John originally John Allyn Smith
  'Dream Song No.14'.

And God spake all these words, saying,Iamthe L thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that isinheaven above, or that isin the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the L thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Thoushalt nottakethename of the L thy God invain; for the L will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember thesabbath day, to keep it holy. Six daysthou shalt labour and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the L thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the L made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the L blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long uponthelandwhichtheL thy Godgiveththee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

-Bible (Old Testament)
ORDORDORDORDORDORDORDORDExodus 20:1^17.

Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the L gave, and the L hath taken away; blessed be the name of the L.

-Bible (Old Testament)
ORDORDORDJob1:21.

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

-Bible (NewTestament)
St Matthew10:37^9.

And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said,Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

-Bible (NewTestament)
St Matthew12:49^50.

When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

-Bible (NewTestament)
St  John19:26^7.

And upon her forehead was a name written,.

-Bible (NewTestament)
MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHEROF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTHRevelation17:5.

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children, England mourns for her dead across the sea. Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit, Fallen in the cause of the free.

-Binyon, (Robert) Laurence
  'For the Fallen', in The Times, 21 Sep.

My mother bore me in the southern wild, And I am black, but O! my soul is white; White as an angel is the English child, But I am black as if bereaved of light.

-Blake,William
  Songs of Innocence,'The Little Black Boy'.

When my mother died I was very young, And my father sold me while yet my tongue Could scarcely cry weep weep weep weep. So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.

-Blake,William
  Songs of Innocence,'The Chimney Sweep'.