Jeannette Walls Quotes
I sit down at my desk pretty early in the morning and write all day until about 4 or 5 p.m.
No one expected you to amount to much," she told me. "Lori was the smart one, Maureen the pretty one, and Brian the brave one. You never had much going for you except that you always worked hard.
Mom always said people worried too much about their children. Suffering when you are young is good for you, she said. It immunized your body and your soul.
I feel like I failed," I said. "Don't beat yourself up," Jim said. "She might not have turned out like you planned, but that don't mean she turned out wrong.
Why spend the afternoon making a meal that will be gone in an hour," she'd ask us, "when in the same amount of time, I can do a painting that will last forever?
Books are my very favorite gift to give. If you give a book to someone and they really respond to it, you feel you've actually changed their life in some way.
Whenever I'm reading a book I enjoy, I always develop a mental list of the people I want to share it with.
She never felt sorry for herself, and that was something I decided I admired most in people.
Look at the way you live. You've sold out. Next thing I know you'll become a Republican." She shook her head. "Where are the values I raised you with?
You West Virginia girls are one tough breed," he said. You got that right," I told him.
When I asked my mother, ‘how do I tell people about you’ her answer was ‘tell the truth’. But of course, the truth is never simple.
I believe that everyone has some huge talent in them; the really lucky ones discover what it is.
I find books that have a moral and spiritual center, that speak to what is really important and lasting, hugely appealing.
It was good work, the kind of work that let you sleep soundly at night and, when you awoke, look forward to the day.
I'm a fairly fast, but sloppy writer, so I'm a big fan of re-writing, and re-writing again.
My older sister achieved her dream of being an artist. She's an illustrator living in Manhattan.
When I got a little older, I started writing for the high school newspaper, The Maroon Wave, and that's when I fell in love with journalism.
I found out that people are incredibly compassionate and kind. It really changed my view of the world.
Don't worry, God understands,' Mom said. 'He knows that your father is a cross we must bear.
That was the thing to remember about all monsters, They love to frighten people, but the minute you stare them down, they turn tail and run.
The dangerous falls were the ones that happened so fast you didn't have time to react
Unlike diamonds, watches were practical. They were for people on the run, people with appointments to keep and schedules to meet.
Whoever coined the phrase 'a man's got to play the hand that was dealt him' was most certainly one piss-poor bluffer.
It's so much of what art and creativity are, being able to confront your own demons. If you can do that, you can get through just about everything.
Mom could say that in hindsight, but it seemed to me that when you were in the middle of something, it was awful hard to figure out what part of it was God's will and what wasn't.
One of the most challenging aspects of writing a memoir is finding your own voice, and you should be very careful about being influenced by someone else's voice.
Submitting seemed to me a lot like giving up. If God gave us the strength to bail- the gumption to try and save ourselves- isn't that what he wanted us to do?
Everything in life had a purpose, and unless it achieved that purpose, it was just taking up space on the planet and wasting everybody's time.
That was the thing to remember about all monsters, They love to frightenpeople, but the minute you stare them down, they turn tail and run.
People worried too much about their children. Suffering when you're young is good for you. It immunized your body and soul...
It (the sun) didn't really care how I felt, it was going to rise and set regardless of whether I noticed it, and if I was going to enjoy it, that was up to me.
You should never hate anyone, not even your worst enemies. Everyone has something good about them. You had to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that.
As awful as he could be, I always knew he loved me in a way no one else ever had.
I feel like I failed, " I said. "Don't beat yourself up, " Jim said. "She might not have turned out like you planned, but that don't mean she turned out wrong.
Most times when folks ask for advice, they already know what they should do. They just want to hear it from someone else.
I'm none too big on giving advice, ' Aunt Al said. 'Most times when folks ask for advice, they already know what they should do. They just want to hear it from someone else.
