Life Lessons As Told By Your Favorite On-Screen Moms

Moms are the most important beings on Earth. This is a fact.
So this Mother’s Day, let’s honor our cherished life-bringers by reflecting on the lessons they’ve taught us over the years.
Related: Prince Harry Opens Up About Missing Princess Diana
To help, here’s some of our favorite messages brought to you by on-screen moms of legend:

Rebecca Pearson (Mandy Moore), This Is Us

Lesson: A person’s character does not have to be determined by their worst flaw. (Also, one parent can be strong enough to bear the weight of two.)
“My children lost their father when they were 17. They didn’t have their father at their high school graduation. Randall did not have his father when his children were born. Kate will not have her father at her wedding. So they have seventeen years of memories. And that’s it. There won’t be any new ones for the rest of their lives. So no, no I did not sit them down and color their memories of their father by talking about the one part of him that wasn’t perfect. And you really do a disservice by calling my husband an addict, because he was so much more than that.”

Frigga (Rene Russo), Avengers: Endgame

Lesson: Play the hand you’re dealt as best you can.
“Everyone fails at who they’re ‘supposed’ to be. The measure of a person, a hero, is how they succeed at being who they are.”

Emily Spier (Jennifer Garner) in Love, Simon.

Lesson: What we like does not change or define who we are.
“You get to exhale now, Simon. You get to be more you than you have been in… in a very long time. You deserve everything you want.”

Marion McPherson (Laurie Metcalf) in Lady Bird

Lesson: Money can’t buy happiness.
“Money is not life’s report card. Being successful doesn’t mean anything in and of itself. It just means that you’re successful. But that doesn’t mean that you’re happy.”

Sheila Hammond (Drew Barrymore) in Santa Clarita Diet (RIP…)

Lesson: Don’t fight life! Embrace how it’s changing you into the person (or zombie) you’re supposed to be!
“Everyone is afraid of change, but when life is screaming, ‘This is your new truth,’ you need to accept it. Be bold, be brave, and live your new truth, no matter what it is.”

Beth Pearson (Susan Kelechi Watson), This Is Us

Lesson: Be prepared to face your ghosts.
“Life feels like Pac-Man sometimes. It’s the same game over and over again. Same board. Same ghosts. Sometimes, you get a bunch of cherries but eventually and inevitably, those ghosts catch up with you.”

Xiomara (Andrea Navedo), Jane The Virgin

Lesson: Don’t waste time romanticizing an ex and the past.
“The best way to get over a man, is to get under a new man.”

Mrs. George (Amy Poehler), In Mean Girls

Lesson: Look, every now and then you just gotta relax.
“There are no rules in this house; I’m not a regular mom. I’m a cool mom.”

Leigh Anne Tuey (Sandra Bullock), The Blind Side

 

Lesson: You can rely on a good mom to always back you up.
“You threaten my son, you threaten me.”

Kerry Chu (Tan Kheng Hua), Crazy Rich Asians

 
 
 
Lesson: Don’t underestimate single moms!
“I’m not leaving because I’m scared, or because I think I’m not enough. Because maybe for the first time in my life, I know I am. I just love Nick so much. I don’t want him to lose his mom again. So I just wanted you to know that one day, when he marries another lucky girl, who is enough for you, and you’re playing with your grandkids while the tan huas are blooming, or the birds are chirping, that it was because of me. A poor, raised by a single mother, low class, immigrant nobody.” — this quote is actually from Kerry’s daughter, Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), but it really shows how badass of a woman a single mother can raise!
 
 

Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham), Gilmore Girls

Lesson: Initial attraction can be deceiving. Don’t fall for a jerk! Get to know a person.
“I’m attracted to pie. It doesn’t mean I feel a need to date pie.”

Adele August (Susan Sarandon), Anywhere But Here

Lesson: Moms know best.
“You are a beautiful girl with great potential. I’m not going to see your future as some nothing girl in a nothing factory in a nothing town! You are 14 years old. You have always had enough to eat. You have always had a roof over your head and if you stick with me, you always will because I am your mother. I know what is best for you because that is my job.”
What’s your favorite mom quote out there, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments (below)! And HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!
[Image via Warner Bros.]