Her mother was by turns tender and pathetic and terrifying, broken in a way that no one, in that time or place, had any idea how to fix.

And truth is malleable, something to be bent or stretched or made to disappear, but direct lies always find the path back to the one who tells them.

He was just a taker. She was a taker in her way too. They were taking each other, and they loved each other for that. -June Havoc

Mother was, ' June thought, 'a beautiful little ornament that was damaged.' Her broken edges cut her daughters in ways both emotional and physical, and only sharpened with age.

Children from all over the world have the same religion, childhood!

It is always dangerous to underestimate anybody.

By your hand the people shall live

Life in itself / Is nothing, / An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs. / It is not enough that yearly, down this hill, / April / Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.

as long as there is a lottery, we the people of the United States must believe in getting something for nothing.

Smile with instinct, then lick your wounds in the darkest of dark corners. Trace the scars back to your own fingers and remember them.

If an artist has talent, he needs no other critic.

As you stopped to say hello, oh, you wished me well, you couldn't tell that I'd been crying over you.

I am careful with my material and presentation.

The older we get, the less prone we are to putting off what we really want to do, therefore you will be able to seek out new directions later.