QuoteProject
As a mother, you're only allowed to talk about the 'good' moments - not the ones when you've had enough and want to be on your own. Or just want to be a woman, not a mother.
Leila Slimani
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote highlights the societal expectation for mothers to only share positive experiences of motherhood, neglecting their own personal needs and struggles.

In this quote, Leila Slimani reflects on the pressure placed on mothers to present a facade of constant joy and fulfillment in their parenting roles. It criticizes the stigma surrounding discussions of the challenges of motherhood, suggesting that mothers often feel isolated in their desire for personal space and identity outside of being a parent. The quote encourages a more honest dialogue about the complexities of motherhood.

Themes

MotherhoodIdentitySocietyParentingSelf-Care

In practice

Example use cases

During a parenting panel discussion, this quote can be shared to highlight the importance of honest conversations about motherhood.

More from Leila Slimani

For me, it is freedom, freedom from everything: when I write, I'm not a woman. I'm not a Muslim. I'm not a Moroccan. I can reinvent myself, and I can reinvent the world.
Leila SlimaniRead
Authorities in Rabat believe that if we create a Moroccan character, even in a work of fiction, we are responsible for the image of Moroccan women.
Leila SlimaniRead
I remember that the first time I looked at my son, of course I felt love. But I think the first feeling was not love: it was fear. Someone is needing me. If something happens to him, what am I going to do? Maybe I won't survive if something happens to him? The fear was as big as the love.
Leila SlimaniRead
One of the big mistakes of the Moroccan elite and the elite in the Muslim world was to be afraid of the conservatives. They are fighting for their ideas. Why shouldn't we fight for our ideas?
Leila SlimaniRead
I, too, am interested in identity and Islam, which is what people expect of us. But one must not write what is expected. It's important for North African writers to show they have other things to say.
Leila SlimaniRead
In Morocco, there is an insistence on authority. Children are not encouraged to speak up in front of their parents. My parents were not like this. I was the kind of girl who could tell her father, 'No, what you are saying is totally untrue, and I don't agree with you.'
Leila SlimaniRead

Similar quotes

My children give me a great sense of wonder. Just to see them develop into these extraordinary human beings.
Robin WilliamsRead
Although my family attended the same church as everyone in our town, our religion was not the same. I could stand with my family or with the gentiles... but there was no foothold in between.
Tara WestoverRead
A child who is allowed to be disrespectful to his parents will not have true respect for anyone.
Billy GrahamRead
How many a father have I seen, A sober man, among his boys, Whose youth was full of foolish noise.
Alfred Lord TennysonRead
Without a mother, one cannot love. Without a mother, one cannot die.
Hermann HesseRead
The good parent: someone who doesn't mind, for a time, being hated by their children.
Alain De BottonRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.