Anna Quindlen Quotes

Real friends offer both hard truths and soft landings and realize that it’s sometimes more important to be nice than to be honest.

I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned that this is not a dress rehearsal, and that today is the only guarantee you get.

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.

I am an affirmative action hire.

Keeping kids safe is sometimes a delusion. The world is a perilous place. Sometimes the kitchen is a perilous place.

Consider the lilies of the field. Look at the fuzz on a baby’s ear. Read in the backyard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a terminal illness because if you do you will live it with joy and passion, as it ought to be lived.

I’ve always had a certain facility with words.

The women of my mother’s generation had, in the main, only one decision to make about their lives: who they would marry. From that, so much else followed: where they would live, in what sort of conditions, whether they would be happy or sad or, so often, a bit of both. There were roles and there were rules.

I can’t begin to predict how news will be delivered to readers in, say, 100 years. But I do know one thing that hasn’t changed: Whatever the delivery system, whether it’s a magazine, book or blog, people like vivid writing, strong stories and credible people. So while the venue is changing rapidly, human nature isn’t, which I find soothing.

My father really, really pushed me to excel in a way that I resented for years and then realized had really worked for me.

You are the only person alive who has sole custody of your life … Your entire life … Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank account, but your soul.

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.