Anna Quindlen quotes

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself. (Anna Quindlen)
Here is the real domino theory - gay man to gay man, bisexual man to straight woman, addict mother to newborn baby, they all fall down and someday it will come to you. View quote
Anna Quindlen
I read and walked for miles at night along the beach, writing bad blank verse and searching endlessly for someone wonderful who would step out of the darkness and change my life. It never crossed my mind that that person could be me. View quote
Anna Quindlen
A finished person is a boring person. View quote
Anna Quindlen
People always blame the girl; she should have said no. A monosyllable, but conventional wisdom has always been that boys can't manage it. View quote
Anna Quindlen
I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. View quote
Anna Quindlen
Look back, to slavery, to suffrage, to integration and one thing is clear. Fashions in bigotry come and go. The right thing lasts. View quote
Anna Quindlen
Life is not so much about beginnings and endings as it is about going on and on and on. It is about muddling through the middle. View quote
Anna Quindlen
After all those years as a woman hearing 'not thin enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough, not this enough, not that enough,' almost overnight I woke up one morning and thought, 'I'm enough.' View quote
Anna Quindlen
Ideas are like pizza dough, made to be tossed around. View quote
Anna Quindlen
The greatest public health threat for many American women is the men they live with. (Anna Quindlen)
Our love of lockstep is our greatest curse, the source of all that bedevils us. It is the source of homophobia, xenophobia, racism, sexism, terrorism, bigotry of every variety and hue, because it tells us there is one right way to do things, to look, to behave, to feel, when the only right way is to feel your heart hammering inside you and to listen to what its timpani is saying. View quote
Anna Quindlen
But it's important, while we are supporting lessons in respecting others, to remember that many of our youngest kids need to learn to respect themselves. You learn your worth from the way you are treated. View quote
Anna Quindlen
Ignorant free speech often works against the speaker. That is one of several reasons why it must be given rein instead of suppressed. View quote
Anna Quindlen
If you want something, it will elude you. If you do not want something, you will get ten of it in the mail. View quote
Anna Quindlen
You cannot be really first-rate at your work if your work is all you are. View quote
Anna Quindlen
All parents should be aware that when they mock or curse gay people, they may be mocking or cursing their own child. View quote
Anna Quindlen
I will never understand people who think that the way to show their righteous opposition to sexual freedom is to write letters full of filthy words. View quote
Anna Quindlen
Even as we enumerate their shortcomings, the rigor of raising children ourselves makes clear to us our mothers' incredible strength. We fear both. If they are not strong, who will protect us? If they are not imperfect, how can we equal them? View quote
Anna Quindlen
Women who marry early are often overly enamored of the kind of man who looks great in wedding pictures and passes the maid of honor his telephone number. View quote
Anna Quindlen
There is a lot of talk now about metal detectors and gun control. Both are good things. But they are no more a solution than forks and spoons are a solution to world hunger. (Anna Quindlen)
I once wanted to be a personage. Now I am comfortable being a person. View quote
Anna Quindlen
The victim mentality may be the last uncomplicated thing about life in America. View quote
Anna Quindlen
There is only room in the lifeboat of your life for one, and you always choose yourself, and turn your parents into whatever it takes to keep you afloat. View quote
Anna Quindlen
I'm sure not afraid of success and I've learned not to be afraid of failure. The only thing I'm afraid of now is of being someone I don't like much. View quote
Anna Quindlen