List of Mary Pipher Quotes

True Freedom Has More To Do With Following The North Star Than Going Whichever Way The Wind Blows. Sometimes It Seems Like Freedom Is Blowing With The Winds Of The Day, But That Kind Of Freedom Is Really An Illusion. It Turns Your Boat In Circles. Freedom Is Sailing Toward Your Dreams.

In All The Years I've Been A Therapist, I've Yet To Meet One Girl Who Likes Her Body.

Teenage Girls Are Extremists Who See The World In Black-and- White Terms, Missing Shades Of Gray. Life Is Either Marvelous Or Notworth Living. School Is Either Pure Torment Or Is Going Fantastically. Other People Are Either Great Or Horrible, And They Themselves Are Wonderful Or Pathetic Failures. One Day A Girl Will Refer To Herself As "the Goddess Of Social Life" And The Next Day She'll Regret That She's The "ultimate In Nerdosity.

Adolescence Is A Time When Children Are Supposed To Move Away From Parents Who Are Holding Firm And Protective Behind Them. When The Parents Disconnect, The Children Have No Base To Move Away From Or Return To. They Aren't Ready To Face The World Alone. With Divorce, Adolescents Feel Abandoned, And They Are Outraged At That Abandonment. They Are Angry At Both Parents For Letting Them Down. Often They Feel That Their Parents Broke The Rules And So Now They Can Too.

Prayer Is Vastly Superior To Worry. With Worry, We Are Helpless; With Prayer, We Are Interceding. When I Hear Sad News, I Try To Say A Prayer For The Victims. When I Am Troubled, I Will Say A Prayer That Asks For Relief For Myself And For All Those Who Suffer As I Do. When I Am Concerned About My Relatives Or Friends I Say A Short Prayer To Myself - "may They Be Happy And Free Of Suffering."

Telling Stories Never Fails To Produce Good In The Universe.

It's Important For Parents To Watch For Trouble And Convey To Their Daughters That, If It Comes, They Are Strong Enough To Deal With It. Parents Who Send Their [adolescent] Daughters The Message That They'll Be Overwhelmed By Problems Aren't Likely To Hear What's Really Happening.

Many Young Women Are Less Whole And Androgynous Than They Were At Age Ten. They Are More Appearance-conscious And Sex-conscious. They Are Quieter, More Fearful Of Holding Strong Opinions, More Careful What They Say And Less Honest. They Are More Likely To Second-guess Themselves And To Be Self-critical. They Are Bigger Worriers And More Effective People Pleasers. They Are Less Likely To Play Sports, Love Math And Science And Plan On Being President. They Hide Their Intelligence. Many Must Fight For Years To Regain All The Territory They Lost.

Parents Wrongly Assume That Their Daughters Live In A World Similar To The One They Experienced As Adolescents. They Are Dead Wrong. Their Daughters Live In A Media-drenched World Floded With Junk Values. As Girls Turn From Their Parents, They Turn To This World For Guidance About How To Be An Adult.

With Meditation I Found A Ledge Above The Waterfall Of My Thoughts.

Adolescents' Immature Thinking Makes It Difficult For Them To Process The Divorce. They Tend To See Things In Black-and-white Terms And Have Trouble Putting Events Into Perspective. They Are Absolute In Their Judgments And Expect Perfection In Parents. They Are Likely To Be Self-conscious About Their Parent's Failures And Critical Of Their Every Move. They Have The Expectations That Parents Will Keep Them Safe And Happy And Are Shocked By The Broken Covenant. Adolescents Are Unforgiving.

All Feelings Are Acceptable, But All Behavior Isn't.