Quote collection
56 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"The vehemence with which certain critics have chosen not simply to criticize what I've written, but to challenge my writing this story at all, speaks of what the book is about: fear of disapproval."
"Some literary types subscribe to the notion that being a writer like Salinger entitles a person to remain free of the standards that might apply to mere mortals."
"I was giving a speech one time, and the woman who introduced me said, 'Well, she used to be J. D. Salinger's girlfriend. I thought, 'God, is that all I've been?' I didn't want to be reduced to that."
"Many women my age have known the experience of giving up crucial parts of themselves to please the man they love."
"I believe every one of us possesses a fundamental right to tell our own story."
"The word NO, carries a lot more meaning when spoken by a parent who also knows how to say yes."
"A good home must be made, not bought."
"In the event of an oxygen shortage on airplanes, mothers of young children are always reminded to put on their own oxygen mask first, to better assist the children with theirs. The same tactic is necessary on terra firma. There's no way of sustaining our children if we don't first rescue ourselves. I don't call that selfish behavior. I call it love."
"A good home must be made, not bought. In the end, it's not track lighting or a sun room that brings light into a kitchen."
"Every child, woman, and man should possess license to speak or sing in his or her true voice."
"More than any other setting - more than battlefields or boardrooms or a spaceship headed for intergalactic travel - I'll put my money on the family to provide an endless source of comedy, tragedy and intrigue."
"One of the sad realities of being a parent is that the same stuff you know is exciting, educational, and enriching in your child'slife is often messy, smelly and exhausting to deal with."
"The silence was part of the story I wanted to tell."
"It's a great thing when a man knows how to dance, she said. When a man can dance, the world is his oyster." Adele, Henry's Mother"
"Growing up in the fifties and sixties, I can only remember knowing one child, ever, whose parents got a divorce, and hardly any whose mother "worked" at anything besides raising her children."
"I have no doubt that over the years my children will find plenty of things about me to criticize. But something tells me that twenty years from now not one of them will sit on some therapist's couch complaining because their mother didn't spend enough time vacuuming up glitter."
"For 25 years, I did take my responsibilities as a pleaser of others sufficiently seriously."
"I compromised my ability to tell my story, at the most basic level."
"I had known there had been a serial killer on Mount Tamalpais, and it felt so incongruous in such a beautiful, peaceful spot."
"I think of myself as a realistic writer, not a creator of soap opera or melodrama."