Whenever my mother talks to me, she begins the conversation as if we were already in the middle of an argument.

Now they seemed to be in a contest over who could irritate her more, and she sometimes had to remind herself that teenagers had souls

You don't care what people think. You don't see your beloved's faults, the slight stinginess, the bit of carelessness, the occasional streak of meanness. You don't mind that he is beneath you socially, educationally, financially, and morally--that's the worst, I think, deficient morals. (Saving Fish From Drowning)

So this is what I will do. I will gather together my past and look. I will see a thing that has already happened. the pain that cut my spirit loose. I will hold that pain in my hand until it becomes hard and shiny, more clear. And then my fierceness can come back, my golden side, my black side. I will use this sharp pain to penetrate my daughter's tough skin and cut her tiger spirit loose. She will fight me, because this is the nature of two tigers. But I will win and giver her my spirit, because this is the way a mother loves her daughter.

Libraries are the pride of the city.

It means we're looking one way, while following another. We're for one side and also the other. We mean what we say, but our intentions are different.

Hardships can harden even the best person.