Here is a compilation list of childbirth related quotes and sayings that I find powerful, interesting, affirming, or simply thoughtful.  Please feel free to respond with your own favorites.  The author of the quote does not need to be famous. I would be happy to expand the list. Enjoy!

Birth may be a matter of a moment. But it is a unique one. Frederick Leboyer

If you lay down, the baby will never come out! Native American saying

In men nine out of ten abdominal tumors are malignant; in women nine out of ten abdominal swellings are the pregnant uterus.  Rutherford Morison

Birth is the sudden opening of a window, through which you look out upon a stupendous prospect. For what has happened? A miracle. You have exchanged nothing for the possibility of everything.” William MacNeile Dixon

No one who has ever brought up a child can doubt for a moment that love is literally the life-giving fluid of human existence. Smiley Blanton

On the birth of her 2nd son Owen. ‘I wanted to give birth as opposed to being delivered!’ Ricki Lake

Do it afraid. Krista Cornish Scott

Birth is not only about making babies. Birth is about making mothers ~ strong, competent, capable mothers who trust themselves and know their inner strength. Barbara Katz Rothman

Having a highly trained obstetrical surgeon attend a normal birth is analogous to having a pediatric surgeon babysit a healthy 2-year-old. M. Wagner

Water birth is one of many lovely ways to enter the world. Judy Edmunds

The parallels between making love and giving birth are clear, not only in terms of passion and love, but also because we need essentially the same conditions for both experiences: privacy and safety. Sarah Buckley

The effort to separate the physical experience of childbirth from the mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of this event has served to dis empower and violate women. Mary Rucklos Hampton

The wisdom and compassion a woman can intuitively experience in childbirth can make her a source of healing and understanding for other women. Stephen Gaskin

It is true that naturally occurring labor can feel larger and greater than the woman birthing.  This is not so as she creates from within the very hormones that increase the strength, power, and frequency of her work of labor. That is the good news, it is from her, for her, by her.  Desirre Andrews

We have a secret in our culture, it’s not that birth is painful, it’s that women are strong. Laura Stavoe Harm

The knowledge of how to give birth without outside interventions lies deep within each woman. Successful childbirth depends on an acceptance of the process. Anonymous

We try to give a birthing woman freedom to find the right position for her own needs and comfort. Unfortunately, in our society we think of birthing as something done while lying down. Michel Odent

Only with trust, faith, and support can the woman allow the birth experience to enlighten and empower her. Claudia Lowe

Natural childbirth has evolved to suit the species, and if mankind chooses to ignore her advice and interfere with her workings we must not complain about the consequences. We have only ourselves to blame. Margaret Jowitt

Never underestimate the power and determination of a pregnant woman who is told she cannot. Desirre Andrews

Birthing is the most profound initiation to spirituality a woman can have. Robin Lim

Women’s bodies have their own wisdom, and a system of birth refined over 100,000 generations is not so easily overpowered. Sarah Buckley

Babies are bits of star-dust blown from the hand of God. Lucky the woman who knows the pangs of birth for she has held a star. Larry Barretto

No other natural bodily function is painful and childbirth should not be an exception. Grantly Dick-Read

Birth is an experience that demonstrates that life is not merely function and utility, but form and beauty. Christopher Largen

Women today not only possess genetic memory of birth from a thousand generations of women, but they are also assailed from every direction by information and misinformation about birth. Valerie El Halta

One is constantly having to balance the high expectations of modern health care with the need to respect the human soul. This is especially so with birth. Benig Mauger

There is no way out of the experience except through it, because it is not really your experience at all but the baby’s. Your body is the child’s instrument of birth. Penelope Leach

“Birth is the sudden opening of a window, through which you look out upon a stupendous prospect. For what has happened? A miracle. You have exchanged nothing for the possibility of everything.” William MacNeile Dixon

A woman can only enter a hospital while not in labor for a non-medical induction by her own two feet.   Desirre Andrews

“A newborn baby has only three demands. They are warmth in the arms of its mother, food from her breasts, and security in the knowledge of her presence. Breastfeeding satisfies all three.”” Grantly Dick-Read

“Birth is powerful…..let it empower you” Anonymous

“Childbirth is more admirable than conquest, more amazing than self-defense, and as courageous as either one.” Gloria Steinem

“Deep within each woman, lies the Knowledge of how to give birth without outside interventions.” Unknown

The pains of childbirth were altogether different from the enveloping effects of other kinds of pain. These were pains one could follow with one’s mind. Margaret Mead

To enter life by way of the vagina is as good a way as any. Henry Miller

The need to pursue healthy birth options and birth rights for women and babies doesn’t end with our own births for women will always birth after us. Desirre Andrews