Character Quote by Charles Perrault

Once upon a time – for that is how all stories should begin – there was a boy who lost his mother.

— John Connolly

The son of an old man is an orphan, and his wife is a widow.

— Ali Bassam

“Reunion with the mother is a siren call haunting our imagination. Once there was bliss, and now there is struggle. Dim memories of life…

— Camille Paglia

Once upon a time there was a woman who was just like all women. And she married a man who was just like all…

— Elizabeth Smart

Dad's mother and aunt were actresses.

— Freddie Fox

“CHAPTER I—ONE MOTHER MEETS ANOTHER MOTHER”

— Victor Hugo

“In olden days people said, ‘The father knows his son, the mother, her daughter.”

— Shin Jae

“In the modern Oedipal story, it's the mother who kills the father and then takes the son.”

— Chuck Palahniuk

“[From Old Mortality ] The woman in the picture. . . was only a ghost in a frame, and a sad, pretty story from old times.”

— Katherine Anne Porter

Once upon a time, a little girl was raised by monsters. But angels burned the doorways to their world, and she was all alone.

— Laini Taylor

“Second daughter walks outside where everything smells like a ghost. She leaves without her red cloak, without her father's ax, without breadcrumbs for the…

— Tina May Hall

A mother's treasure is her daughter.

— Anonymous