That’s when you know for sure somebody loves you. They figure out what you need and they give it to you — without you asking.
I used to believe my art had to be about the things that brought me joy and gave me hope. But I learned that art can be found in all of life, even in pain. –Valentine, while in Italy (pg 267)
This is where men and women are different, we can put aside petty competition for relationships – they can’t. It interferes.
People have often told me that one of their strongest childhood memories is the scent of their grandmother’s house. I never knew my grandmothers, but I could always count of the Bookmobile.
My mother was an avid reader…She loved books about romance. Books that took place in faraway places and times. Stories with costumes…
When a girl is beautiful, she gets to pick – she never has to wait for someone to choose her.
Having a purpose is the little secret of the nonpretties. Something to do always beats something to look at.
Art makes the spirit soar. And when the spirit is lifted, life follows.
Whatever it is that you’re feeling, whatever it is you have a question about, whatever it is that you long to know, there is some book, somewhere, with the key. You just have to search for it.
Relief is a wonderful emotion, highly underrated. In fact, I prefer it to elation or joy. Relief lets the air out of the Tire of Pain.
He said a man should always have to work hard to win a woman’s heart, because when he gets it, it’s worth it, and he’ll never take it for granted.
We hang out, we help one another, we tell one another our worst fears and biggest secrets, and then just like real sisters, we listen and don’t judge.
But what Mom never told me is that along the way, you find sisters, and they find you. Girls are cool that way.
Romy had never done a budget, Marisol had never designed costumes and sets, and Suzanne had never acted, but when I asked them to help, they didn’t hesitate
If only men came made to order. It’s so hard to find a decent fellow.
Ciro carried himself like a general in full regalia, when in fact he wore secondhand clothes from the donation bin.
This is one of those times when explaining a feeling cannot measure up to actually having the feeling
I loved him more than he loved me, and that is a bad place for a woman to be.
I don’t use a crap camera, I don’t eat junk, and I’m not going to a dance where the boys are bores
As a matter of habit, I stop and pick up seashells that interest me, and I always put the ones I really like in a lovely Baccarat bowl in my living room. It’s my way of remembering that I once was young and carefree.
I like it when my mother smiles. And I especially like it when I make her smile.
There’s nothing an artist needs more – even more than excellent tools and stamina – than a deadline.
Isn’t this the truth of any good mother? That in all of our lives. We worry only about those we brought into this world, regardless of whether they loved us back or treated us fairly or understood our shortcomings.
Energy has to be fed from a source. If you don’t feed the source, it dissipates entirely.Same is true of liking a boy. If you cut off the thoughts, if you stop pinning, you’re free to find a boy who is attainable.
… but that’s the beauty of boarding school. I make all my own decisions, small and medium, while the big ones are left up to the Prefect Academy – and as far as boys go, to the only expert I know – Suzanne Santry
This should tell you everything you need to know about guys. They only go after what they know they can get. We girls, on the other hand, aim really high. We take a leap…
I don’t settle in any other area of my life when it comes to excellence, so why should I lower my standards when it comes to boys?
Really? We are being herded on a bus to drive across town to an all-boy academy where we disembark and join our lonely counterparts on a dance floor. Sounds like a scorecard situation to me.
The dance that I wasn’t going to attend in about a jillion years just turned into a make-out session with random boys we have never met.
He just likes to have fun, Papa.””That’s not a quality that gets you far in life.
You never know when some small thing will lead to a big idea. Travel is very inspirational – but it’s in the ordinary that I find my themes of love and work and family.
The ‘Story of Silent Night’, which was given to me one Christmas when I was six – it was the story of a down and out composer who had no ideas left, and it was Christmas, and he came up with the hymn ‘Silent Night.’
I come from hardworking, determined people on both sides of my family… the kind who live with a hard reality from which much strength comes.