Jeannette Walls Quotes

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

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.

Nobody's perfect. We're all just one step up from the beasts and one step down from the angels.

Horses were never wrong. They always did what they did for a reason, and it was up to you to figure it out.

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

Living there [Horse Mesa] was like living in a natural cathedral. Waking up every morning, you walked outside and looked down at the blue lake, then up at the sandstone cliffs--those awe-inspiring layers of red and yellow rock shaped over the millennia, with dozens of black-streaked crevices that temporarily became waterfalls after rainstorms.

I reached my full height at age 11, and I was clumsy as all get-out - all elbows and knees, couldn't get up a flight of stairs without falling down. I wanted to be a cute, petite blonde, but I'm a big ol' strapping thing, so I just accept it.

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

Most important thing in life is learning how to fall.

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

The fact is, you don't love me, and you haven't destroyed me. You don't have what it takes to do that.

Those shining stars, he liked to point out, were one of the special treats for people like us who lived out in the wilderness. Rich city folks, he'd say, lived in fancy apartments, but their air was so polluted they couldn't even see the stars. We'd have to be out of our minds to want to trade places with any of them.

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.

Confidence doesn't come from thinking you're perfect or flawless. That's arrogance. Confidence comes from appreciating the beauty of your texture.

When someone's wounded, the first order of business is to stop the bleeding. You can figure out later how best to help them heal.

In this world, it's not enough to have a fine education. You need a piece of paper to prove you got it.

You're in a horse race but you're thinking like a sheep. Sheep don't win horse races.

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

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.

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

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

....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.

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.

If you had weak eyes, they needed exercise to get strong. Glasses were like crutches. They prevented people with feeble eyes from seeing the world on their own.

One time I saw a tiny Joshua tree sapling growing not too far from the old tree. I wanted to dig it up and replant it near our house. I told Mom that I would protect it from the wind and water it every day so that it could grow nice and tall and straight. Mom frowned at me. "You'd be destroying what makes it special," she said. "It's the Joshua tree's struggle that gives it its beauty.

...even though I was getting better education at home than any of the kids in Toyah, I'd need to go to finishing school when I was thirteen, both to acquire social graces and to earn a diploma. Because in this world, Dad said, it's not enough to have a fine education. You need a piece of paper to prove you go it.

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.

My advice to anyone is to figure out what you're good at - what it is that you love doing the most in life - and figure out a way to make a living from it.

You have to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that.

[Optimism] acts as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

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.

God deals us all different hands. How we play 'em is up to us.

Once you'd resolved to go, there was nothing to it at all.

In my opinion, trying to guess what readers want is the wrong approach. You have to tell your story as best you can and as true to yourself as possible. You have to be honest and fair and vulnerable and foolish and brave, and not care what anyone thinks of it.

I never had any question that my parents loved me. I had a real sense of self confidence.

If you don't want to sink, you better figure out how to swim

Horses are a mirror of who you are. They're emotionally dependent on you.

The best time to tell your story is when you have to tell your story. When it's not really a choice. But then, when you get that first, messy, complicated version down, you have to read it over and be very tough on yourself and ask, 'Well what's the story here?' If you're lucky enough to have someone you trust looking over your shoulder, he or she can help you if [you] lack perspective on your own story.

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

It's the Joshua tree's struggle that gives it its beauty.

When God closes a door, he opens a window, but it's up to you to find it.

If you want to be treated like a mother, act like one.

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

You'll never make a fortune working for the boss man.

Don't be afraid of your dark places. ... If you can shine a light on them, you'll find treasure there.

I was so worried that people wouldn't like me or my story.

Teaching is a calling too. And I've always thought that teachers in their way are holy - angels leading their flocks out of the darkness.

Interesting people always have a past.

Fussing over children who cry only encourages them. That's positive reinforcement for negative behavior.

Memoir is about handing over you life to someone and saying, This is what I went through, this is who I am, and maybe you can learn something from it.