"[On home births:] In a house where there had been three people, there were now four, although no one had come in the door."
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Quote collection
Joyce Maynard quotes (page 3 of 3)
56 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"I continued to protect him with my silence."
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"When people ask what I write about, that's what I tell them: 'The drama of human relationships.' I'm not even close to running out of material."
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"For a parent, it's hard to recognize the significance of your work when you're immersed in the mundane details. Few of us, as we run the bath water or spread the peanut butter on the bread, proclaim proudly, "I'm making my contribution to the future of the planet." But with the exception of global hunger, few jobs in the world of paychecks and promotions compare in significance to the job of parent."
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"Nothing like being visible, publishing one's work, and speaking openly about one's life, to disabuse the world of the illusion of one's perfection and purity."
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"As for me, I've chosen to follow a simple course: Come clean. And wherever possible, live your life in a way that won't leave you tempted to lie. Failing that, I'd rather be disliked for who I truly am than loved for who I am not. So, I tell my story. I write it down. I even publish it. Sometimes this is a humbling experience. Sometimes it's embarrassing. But I haul around no terrible secrets."
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"Not only did I avoid speaking of Salinger; I resisted thinking about him. I did not reread his letters to me. The experience had been too painful."
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"No, I said. I didn't remember that. There was so much to remember, sometimes the best thing was to forget."
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"The real drug, I came to believe, was love."
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"You lay your hand against his skin and just rib his back. Blow into his ear. Press that baby up against your own skin and walk outside with him, where the night air will sourround him, and moonlight fall on his face. Whistle, maybe. Dance. Hum. Pray. (how to calm a crying baby)"
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"I have long observed that the act of writing is viewed, by some, as an elite and otherworldly act, all the more so if a person isn't paid for what she writes."
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"Wherever it is you make your home, there is always this other place, this other person, calling to you. Come to me. Come back."
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"Imagine if you succeeded in making the world perfect for your children what a shock the rest of life would be for them."
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"If a man wishes to truly not be written about, he would do well not to write letters to 18-year-old girls, inviting them into his life."
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"It troubles me that people speak about writing for money as ugly and distasteful."
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"I do not outline. There are writers I know and count as my friends who certainly do it the other way but for me part of the adventure is not knowing how it's going to turn out."
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