At the same time that you've got to open yourself up to the fact that experience is going to teach you year after year, decade after decade. I remember I very badly wanted to write a newspaper column when I was only 21 years old, and I went to my editor and told him that, and he said, "You're a really good writer, but you haven't lived long enough to be qualified to live out loud."
Anna QuindlenI'm very optimistic. I think if you would describe me, my pretty consistent affect is that I'm a pretty happy person.
Anna QuindlenDown time is where we become ourselves... a hiatus that passes for boredom but is really the quiet moving of the wheels inside that fuel creativity.
Anna QuindlenWe read in bed because reading is halfway between life and dreaming, our own consciousness in someone else's mind.
Anna QuindlenSo you're getting squeezed at both sides. You're taking care of your mom and dad and you're still doing caregiving with your kids, which is not easy. But I think overall, there's a level of satisfaction that might be unparalleled.
Anna Quindlen