how many times had I begged Mom to divorce him already?

Getting lost is just another way of saying 'going exploring.

What would it be like to look in the mirror and actually accept what you see? Not loathe the reflection, or despise it, or be resigned to it? But to like it?

When the creative impulse sweeps over you, grab it. You grab it and honor it and use it, because momentum is a rare gift.

To dream is to starve doubt, feed hope.

Flawed, we're truly interesting, truly memorable, and yes, truly beautiful.

Hey, if it's a good philosophy, it works. Death is imminent. Live every day like it's your last.

My confidence was of the hothouse variety, carefully cultivated under highly regulated conditions. One wrong look, one mean comment, and my facade would wither.

Silence, too, can be torture.

I wondered about her chicken-and-egg relationship with Dad. Which came first? Her helplessness or his controlling?

Safe, I decided, didn't leave much room for fun.

It's no fun to be a bluestocking in a family of jockstraps.

What once were two, are one

I feel like every day, every minute I have to make the most of.

I have made lots of mistakes in terms of contracts and spending money when I shouldn't have spent money.

They say that there are moments that open up your life like a walnut cracked, that change your point of view so that you never look at things the same way again.

Reading the [The Verso Book of Dissent] is like encountering the best version of our angry selves.

We are to love our enemies that they might be returned to their right minds.

The public is a bad guesser.

I feel like today we always glorify the young, just-plucked-from-college writer. But it's much harder to start writing later, in middle age, struggling on a book around a full-time job and family.

I'm business savvy and my will is only to win. I can't hit rock bottom any lower. It's only up from here. The weight is off the shoulders with that.