Joyce Maynard Quotes

I Have No Doubt That Over The Years My Children Will Find Plenty Of Things About Me To Criticize. But Something Tells Me That Twenty Years From Now Not One Of Them Will Sit On Some Therapist's Couch Complaining Because Their Mother Didn't Spend Enough Time Vacuuming Up Glitter.

As For Me, I've Chosen To Follow A Simple Course: Come Clean. And Wherever Possible, Live Your Life In A Way That Won't Leave You Tempted To Lie. Failing That, I'd Rather Be Disliked For Who I Truly Am Than Loved For Who I Am Not. So, I Tell My Story. I Write It Down. I Even Publish It. Sometimes This Is A Humbling Experience. Sometimes It's Embarrassing. But I Haul Around No Terrible Secrets.

It's A Great Thing When A Man Knows How To Dance, She Said. When A Man Can Dance, The World Is His Oyster." Adele, Henry's Mother

Growing Up In The Fifties And Sixties, I Can Only Remember Knowing One Child, Ever, Whose Parents Got A Divorce, And Hardly Any Whose Mother "worked" At Anything Besides Raising Her Children.

More Than Any Other Setting - More Than Battlefields Or Boardrooms Or A Spaceship Headed For Intergalactic Travel - I'll Put My Money On The Family To Provide An Endless Source Of Comedy, Tragedy And Intrigue.

The Big Dramas That Fascinate Me Are The Quiet Ones That Happen Behind Closed Doors In So-called Ordinary Families.

I Think Of Myself As A Realistic Writer, Not A Creator Of Soap Opera Or Melodrama.

I Had Known There Had Been A Serial Killer On Mount Tamalpais, And It Felt So Incongruous In Such A Beautiful, Peaceful Spot.

I Compromised My Ability To Tell My Story, At The Most Basic Level.

For 25 Years, I Did Take My Responsibilities As A Pleaser Of Others Sufficiently Seriously.

Not Only Did I Avoid Speaking Of Salinger; I Resisted Thinking About Him. I Did Not Reread His Letters To Me. The Experience Had Been Too Painful.

No, I Said. I Didn't Remember That. There Was So Much To Remember, Sometimes The Best Thing Was To Forget.