Real friends require honesty, openness, and even vulnerability. They also require attention and simple acts of kindness.

It's important for parents to watch for trouble and convey to their daughters that, if it comes, they are strong enough to deal with it. Parents who send their [adolescent] daughters the message that they'll be overwhelmed by problems aren't likely to hear what's really happening.

When one of us tells the truth, he makes it easier for all of us to open our hearts to our pain and that of others.

Girls developed eating disorders when our culture developed a standard of beauty that they couldn't obtain by being healthy. When unnatural thinness became attractive, girls did unnatural things to be thin.

The two most radical things you can do in America are to slow down, and to talk to each other. If you do these things, you will improve your country.

Adolescence is when girls experience social pressure to put aside their authentic selves and to display only a small portion of their gifts.

Language imparts identity, meaning, and perspective to our human condition. Writers are either polluters or part of the cleanup.