Jeannette Walls Quotes

53 Sourced Quotes

I hadn't been paying much attention to things like the sunrise, but that old sun had been coming up anyway. It didn't really care how I felt, it was going to rise and set regardless of whether I noticed it, and if I was going to enjoy it, that was up to me.

Jeannette Walls
You should never hate anyone, even your worst enemies. Everyone has something good about them. You have to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that.

Jeannette Walls
Sometimes after I finished a particularly good book, I had the urge to get the library card, find out who else had read the book, and track them down to talk about it

Jeannette Walls
I hate Erma," I told Mom... "You have to show compassion for her..." She added that you should never hate anyone, even your worst enemies. "Everyone has something good about them," she said. "You have to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that." "Oh yeah?" I said. "How about Hitler? What was his redeeming quality?" "Hitler loved dogs," Mom said without hesitation.

Jeannette Walls
Things usually work out in the end." "What if they don't?" "That just means you haven't come to the end yet.

Jeannette Walls
I lived in a world that at any moment could erupt into fire. It was the sort of knowledge that kept you on your toes.

Jeannette Walls
The women I know with strong personalities, the ones who might have become generals or the heads of companies if they were men, become teachers. Teaching is a calling, too. And I've always thought that teachers in their way are holy—angles leading their flocks out of the darkness.

Jeannette Walls
I feel like I failed," I said. "Don't beat yourself up," Jim said. "She might not have turned out like you planned, but that don't mean she turned out wrong.

Jeannette Walls
Since Mom wasn't exactly the most useful person in the world, one lesson I learned at an early age was how to get things done, and this was a source of both amazement and concern for Mom, who considered my behavior unladylike but also counted on me. "I never knew a girl to have such gumption," she'd say. "But I'm not too sure it's a good thing.

Jeannette Walls
You West Virginia girls are one tough breed," he said. You got that right," I told him.

Jeannette Walls
It was good work, the kind of work that let you sleep soundly at night and, when you awoke, look forward to the day.

Jeannette Walls
Look at the way you live. You've sold out. Next thing I know you'll become a Republican." She shook her head. "Where are the values I raised you with?

Jeannette Walls
Mom always said people worried too much about their children. Suffering when you are young is good for you, she said. It immunized your body and your soul.

Jeannette Walls
If I owned hell and west Texas, he said, I do believe I'd sell west Texas and live in hell.

Jeannette Walls
But no matter how much planning you do, one tiny miscalculation, one moment of distraction, can end it all in an instant.

Jeannette Walls
Anyone who thinks he's too small to make a difference has never been bit by a mosquito.

Jeannette Walls
You can't cling to the side your whole life, that one lesson every parent needs to teach a child is "If you don't want to sink, you better figure out how to swim

Jeannette Walls
Sometimes you need a little crisis to get your adrenaline flowing and help you realize your potential.

Jeannette Walls
I could see why Archimedes got all excited. There was nothing finer than the feeling that came rushing through you when it clicked and you suddenly understood something that had puzzled you. It made you think it just might be possible to get a handle on this old world after all.

Jeannette Walls
Why spend the afternoon making a meal that will be gone in an hour," she'd ask us, "when in the same amount of time, I can do a painting that will last forever?

Jeannette Walls
She wore tight corsets to give her a teeny waist - I helped her lace them up - but they had the effect of causing her to faint. Mom called it the vapors and said it was a sign of her high breeding and delicate nature. I thought it was a sign that the corset made it hard to breathe.

Jeannette Walls
I wanted to let the world know that no one had a perfect life, that even the people who seemed to have it all had their secrets.

Jeannette Walls
If you want to be reminded of the love of the Lord, just watch the sunrise.

Jeannette Walls
I became known as Lily Casey, the mustang-breaking, poker-playing, horse-race-winning schoolmarm of Coconino County, and it wasn't half bad to be in place where no one had a problem with a woman having a moniker like that.

Jeannette Walls
It's really not that hard to put food on the table if that's what you decide to do.

Jeannette Walls
What I do know is that wondering why you survived don't help you survive.

Jeannette Walls
Mom also hinted a couple of times that it was good I was going to college, since with one failed marriage behind me, I 'd have trouble landing a good husband and would need something to fall back on. "A package that's been opened once doesn't have the same appeal".

Jeannette Walls
He said it was interesting. He used the word 'textured'. He said 'smooth' is boring but 'textured' was interesting, and the scar meant that I was stronger than whatever had tried to hurt me.

Jeannette Walls
Life is a drama full of tragedy and comedy. You should learn to enjoy the comic episodes a little more.

Jeannette Walls
One benefit of Summer was that each day we had more light to read by.

Jeannette Walls