Joyce Maynard quotes

It's not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can't tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself. (Joyce Maynard)
A person who deserves my loyalty receives it. View quote
Joyce Maynard
She felt everything too deeply, it was like the world was too much for her. View quote
Joyce Maynard
A good home must be made, not bought. View quote
Joyce Maynard
The portrait of my parents is a complicated one, but lovingly drawn. View quote
Joyce Maynard
If I told you about all the stories I don't tell, I would be violating the very boundaries I set for myself. View quote
Joyce Maynard
The real drug, I came to believe, was love. View quote
Joyce Maynard
I believe every one of us possesses a fundamental right to tell our own story. View quote
Joyce Maynard
To share our stories is not only a worthwhile endeavor for the storyteller, but for those who hear our stories and feel less alone because of it. View quote
Joyce Maynard
It troubles me that people speak about writing for money as ugly and distasteful. View quote
Joyce Maynard
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. (Joyce Maynard)
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. View quote
Joyce Maynard
The painter who feels obligated to depict his subjects as uniformly beautiful or handsome and without flaws will fall short of making art. View quote
Joyce Maynard
Many women my age have known the experience of giving up crucial parts of themselves to please the man they love. View quote
Joyce Maynard
The silence was part of the story I wanted to tell. View quote
Joyce Maynard
My job is writing. I get paid to do it. When was the last time you heard someone challenge a doctor for making money off of cancer? View quote
Joyce Maynard
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. View quote
Joyce Maynard
Long after Salinger sent me away, I continued to believe his standards and expectations were the best ones. View quote
Joyce Maynard
When I was 12 years old, I read 'Nancy Drew' mysteries and biographies of Madame Curie and Florence Nightingale and books about girls who love horses or go to nursing school. I belonged to the Girl Scouts and got A's in school and rarely disobeyed my parents. I still kept a collection of Barbie dolls in my room, and I almost never spoke to boys. View quote
Joyce Maynard
I had known there had been a serial killer on Mount Tamalpais, and it felt so incongruous in such a beautiful, peaceful spot. View quote
Joyce Maynard
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. (Joyce Maynard)
At Home in the World is the story of a young woman, raised in some difficult circumstances, and how she survives. It tells a story of redemption, not victimhood. View quote
Joyce Maynard
For 25 years, I did take my responsibilities as a pleaser of others sufficiently seriously. View quote
Joyce Maynard
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. View quote
Joyce Maynard
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. View quote
Joyce Maynard