Motherhood cannot finally be delegated. Breast-feeding may succumb to the bottle; cuddling, fondling, and paediatric visits may also be done by fathers...but when a child needs a mother to talk to, nobody else but a mother will do.

Unhappiness is our element. We come to believe we can't function without it.

O what is it about having one's own Babe upon one's Hip that makes a Woman wish to go home to her Mother? A Desire to say: 'Look, the Circle is compleat'? A Desire to say: 'Look, I have cross'd the Divide and now am more like you'? A Desire to say: 'Look, this Babe I offer you is my most precious Gift'?

At times it is strangely sedative to know the extent of your own powerlessness.

Don't ye know that ev'ry Soul on Earth feels itself to be an Orphan?

People are terrified. A lot of them are in relationships that aren't satisfying, and if you tell them they can change their life, they get really scared.

I prefer to work in the morning. I get up now at five in the morning. In the morning is when I feel freshest.