A housewife deserves to be honored as much as a woman who earns her living in the marketplace. I consider bringing up children a responsible job. In fact, being a good housewife seems to me a much tougher job than going to the office and getting paid for it.

I'll never forget the day that I was told I would have to have a mastectomy. My reaction to the words was total denial.

Friends aren't any more important than breath or blood to a high school senior.

It's always been my feeling that God lends you your children until they're about eighteen years old. If you haven't made your points with them by then, it's too late.

I think it wasn't so much that the White House altered me in any essential way as that I found the resources with which to respond to a series of challenges. You never know what you can do until you have to do it. In the beginning, it was like going to a party you're terrified of, and finding out to your amazement that you're having a good time.

I have an independent streak. You know, it's kind of hard to tell a independent woman what to do.

Having babies is a blessing, not a duty.