"The wind shows us how close to the edge we are."
"I lost the conviction that lights would always turn green for me, the pleasant certainty that those rather passive virtues which had won me approval as a child automatically guaranteed me not only Phi Beta Kappa keys but happiness, honor, and the love of a good man; lost a certain touching faith in the totem power of good manners, clean hair, and a proven competence on the Stanford-Binet scale. To such doubtful amulets had my self-respect been pinned, and I faced myself that day with the non-plused apprehension of someone who has come across a vampire and has no crucifix at hand."
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More quotes by Joan Didion
"The willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life is the source from which self-respect springs."
"To cure jealousy is to see it for what it is, a dissatisfaction with self."
"We are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not."
"I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear."
"Memory fades, memory adjusts, memory conforms to what we think we remember."