Wars and elections are both too big and too small to matter in the long run. The daily work - that goes on, it adds up.

The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.

I can count all the ways in which being a mother has enriched my understanding of the world, of character, my sense of the future and my attachment to it. I can't imagine what kind of writer I'd be if I didn't have my kids.

Everything you're sure is right can be wrong in another place.

You could love your crazy people, even admire them, instead of resenting that they're not self-sufficient.

I used to think religion was just more of the same thing. Dump responsibility on the big guy. Now I see an importance in that. It's a relief to accept that not everything is under your control.

Mother could go for one year without food, but not one day without her lip sticks.