I feel about mothers the way I feel about dimples: because I do not have one myself, I notice everyone who does.

If the family were a boat, it would be a canoe that makes no progress unless everyone paddles.

The ultra-right would have us believe that families are in trouble because of humanism, feminism, secular education, or sexual liberation, but the consensus of Americans is that what tears families apart is unemployment, inflation, and financial worries.

We mothers are learning to mark our mothering success by our daughters' lengthening flight.

If knowledge is power, clandestine knowledge is power squared; it can be withheld, exchanged, and leveraged.

Mothers remember a child's first words, and quote them in tones usually reserved for Byron.

Illness is the proving ground of friendship.