Even as we enumerate their shortcomings, the rigor of raising children ourselves makes clear to us our mothers incredible strength. We fear both. If they are not strong, who will protect us? If they are not imperfect, how can we equal them? – Anna Quindlen
Children should have enough freedom to be themselves – once theyve learned the rules. – Anna Quindlen
In the family sandwich, the older people and the younger ones can recognize one another as the bread. Those in the middle are, for a time, the meat. – Anna Quindlen
If I get the forty additional years statisticians say are likely coming to me, I could fit in at least one, maybe two new lifetimes. Sad that only one of those lifetimes can include being the mother of young children. – Anna Quindlen
Girls, like men, want to be petted, pitied, and made much of, when they are diffident, in low spirits, or in unrequited love. These are services which the weak cannot render to the strong and which the strong will not render to the weak, except when there is also a difference of sex. – George Bernard Shaw