Anna Quindlen Quotes

After all those years as a woman hearing 'not thin enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough, not this enough, not that enough,' almost overnight I woke up one morning and thought, 'I'm enough.'
Anna Quindlen

Women, Morning, Smart

I read and walked for miles at night along the beach, writing bad blank verse and searching endlessly for someone wonderful who would step out of the darkness and change my life. It never crossed my mind that that person could be me.
Anna Quindlen

Life, Change, Mind

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.
Anna Quindlen

Amazing, Work, Yourself

There is a lot of talk now about metal detectors and gun control. Both are good things. But they are no more a solution than forks and spoons are a solution to world hunger.
Anna Quindlen

Good, Control, Talk

All parents should be aware that when they mock or curse gay people, they may be mocking or cursing their own child.
Anna Quindlen

Gay, Parents, May

I would be the most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.
Anna Quindlen

Children, Enough, Content

Life is not so much about beginnings and endings as it is about going on and on and on. It is about muddling through the middle.
Anna Quindlen

Life, Through, Middle

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.
Anna Quindlen

Design, Children, Enough

Women who marry early are often overly enamored of the kind of man who looks great in wedding pictures and passes the maid of honor his telephone number.
Anna Quindlen

Wedding, Women, Great

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

Strength, Fear, Strong

The victim mentality may be the last uncomplicated thing about life in America.
Anna Quindlen

Life, May, America

Ignorant free speech often works against the speaker. That is one of several reasons why it must be given rein instead of suppressed.
Anna Quindlen

Why, Free, Often

People always blame the girl; she should have said no. A monosyllable, but conventional wisdom has always been that boys can't manage it.
Anna Quindlen

Wisdom, Girl, Blame

Ideas are like pizza dough, made to be tossed around.
Anna Quindlen

Made, Around, Ideas

Children should have enough freedom to be themselves - once they've learned the rules.
Anna Quindlen

Freedom, Children, Enough

Here is the real domino theory - gay man to gay man, bisexual man to straight woman, addict mother to newborn baby, they all fall down and someday it will come to you.
Anna Quindlen

Mother, Gay, Woman

If there is anyone who's living the work of the New Testament, it's the nuns of the Catholic church and not the Catholic hierarchy.
Anna Quindlen

Work, Living, Anyone

A finished person is a boring person.
Anna Quindlen

Person, Boring, Finished

The future is built on brains, not prom court, as most people can tell you after attending their high school reunion. But you'd never know it by talking to kids or listening to the messages they get from the culture and even from their schools.
Anna Quindlen

Future, School, After

But it's important, while we are supporting lessons in respecting others, to remember that many of our youngest kids need to learn to respect themselves. You learn your worth from the way you are treated.
Anna Quindlen

Respect, Important, Remember

I don't have to listen to the Gospel on Sunday to know the stories of the New Testament. They inform so much of what I write that they're practically like a news scrim that goes through my brain 24/7.
Anna Quindlen

Sunday, Brain, Through

Ideas are only lethal if you suppress and don't discuss them. Ignorance is not bliss, it's stupid. Banning books shows you don't trust your kids to think and you don't trust yourself to be able to talk to them.
Anna Quindlen

Trust, Stupid, Yourself

Look back, to slavery, to suffrage, to integration and one thing is clear. Fashions in bigotry come and go. The right thing lasts.
Anna Quindlen

Clear, Slavery, Lasts

The clearest explanation for the failure of any marriage is that the two people are incompatible; that is, that one is male and the other female.
Anna Quindlen

Marriage, Failure, Two

The problem... is emblematic of what hasn't changed during the equal opportunity revolution of the last 20 years. Doors opened; opportunities evolved. Law, institutions, corporations moved forward. But many minds did not.
Anna Quindlen

Forward, Revolution, Law

Share with your Friends

Everyone likes a good quote - don't forget to share.

Biography

Nationality: American

Type: Journalist

Born: July 8, 1953

Links

Find on Amazon: Anna Quindlen

Cite this Page: Citation

Popular Topics

Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

Related Authors

Erma Bombeck
Hunter S. Thompson
Ambrose Bierce
Andy Rooney
Mignon McLaughlin
Fran Lebowitz
Kin Hubbard
Franklin P. Adams
More

Get Social with BrainyQuote

BrainyQuote Desktop

BrainyQuote Mobile

Site

Quote of the Day

Social

BQ on Pinterest

Syndication

Funny Quote Feed

Love Quote Feed

Nature Quote Feed

About Us