Quotes by Ayelet Waldman - Page 2 | QuoteForever

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

I am an adamant feminist. It never occurred to me to take my husband's name when we married. I am a supporter of abortion rights, of equal pay for equal work, of the rights of women prisoners, of all the time-honored feminist causes, and then some.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Abortion
Adamant
Causes
Equal
Equal Pay
Supporter
Work Women I Am
Work Women Me
Equal Work
Occurred
Prisoners
Copy Quote
The capacity for extravagant emotion that my husband finds so attractive in me can be exhausting, especially to a child. My moods are mercurial, and this can be terrifying. I know, because I was a daughter of a mother with a changeable temperament.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Daughter
Attractive
Capacity
Emotion
Exhausting
Extravagant
Temperament
Mother Me Know
Changeable
Finds
Moods
Terrifying
Copy Quote
Everyone knows now how early a fetus becomes a baby. Women who have been pregnant have seen their babies on ultrasounds. They know that there is a terrible truth to those horrific pictures the anti-choice fanatics hold up in front of abortion clinics.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Abortion
Fanatics
Fetus
Horrific
Pregnant
Babies
Clinics
Copy Quote
Look, if you ask a child, 'Would you rather have a fulfilled mother or a stay-at-home Sylvia Plath,' they'll pick Sylvia Plath every time. But I think it's really important that children don't feel their parents' emotional lives depend on their success.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Fulfilled
Stay At Home
Success Time Look
Depend
Copy Quote
There are times as a parent when you realize that your job is not to be the parent you always imagined you'd be, the parent you always wished you had. Your job is to be the parent your child needs, given the particulars of his or her own life and nature.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Parenting
Given
Needs
Parent
Job
Life Nature Always
Child
Times
Her
Imagined
Realize
Wished
Your Child
Copy Quote
I was born in Israel, to Canadian parents. My father immigrated in 1948, part of a wave of young men and women who came as pioneers, to fight for a Jewish homeland. Their motive was in large part a reaction to the Holocaust, and their slogan was 'Never Again.'
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Holocaust
Homeland
Men And Women
Motive
Pioneers
Wave
Jewish
Slogan
Women Men Fight
Large Part
Reaction
Young Men
Copy Quote
As a novelist, I mined my history, my family and my memory, but in a very specific way. Writing fiction, I never made use of experiences immediately as they happened. I needed to let things fester in my memory, mature and transmogrify into something meaningful.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Mature
Meaningful
Fester
Immediately
Memory
Novelist
Specific
Copy Quote
I pity the young woman who will attempt to insinuate herself between my mama's boy and me. I sympathize with the monumental nature of her task. It will take a crowbar, two bulldozers and half a dozen Molotov cocktails to pry my Oedipus and me loose from one another.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Cocktails
Dozen
Mama
Pity
Attempt
Herself
Loose
Monumental
Pry
Sympathize
Task
Young Woman
Copy Quote
I love the novel of 'The English Patient'; I think it's a profoundly beautiful novel. I love the movie of 'The English Patient'; I think it's a profoundly beautiful movie. And they're totally different. You accept each on its own terms, and that's kind of the ideal.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Patient
Ideal
Profoundly
Copy Quote
I used to refer to myself as a 'theoretical anorexic,' just as crazy when it came to body image, but saved by a lack of self-discipline. My daughters do everything better than I do - they're smarter, more beautiful, happier. What if they end up better at anorexia, too?
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Anorexia
Body
Body Image
Saved
Self Discipline
Smarter
Theoretical
Used
What If
Daughters
Anorexic
Came
Happier
Image
Refer
Copy Quote
I had a second trimester abortion. I was pregnant with a much-wanted child who was diagnosed with a genetic abnormality. I made a choice to terminate the pregnancy. It was my third pregnancy, and I was very obviously showing. More important, I could feel the baby move.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Abortion
Pregnancy
Diagnosed
Showing
Terminate
Third
Copy Quote
Yes, I have four children. Four children with whom I spend a good part of every day: bathing them, combing their hair, sitting with them while they do their homework, holding them while they weep their tragic tears. But I'm not in love with any of them. I am in love with my husband.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Bathing
Homework
Tears
Tragic
Love Good I Am
Holding
Weep
Whom
Copy Quote
Where would the memoir be without bipolar writers? I mean, that's what - that whole oversharing thing is really a very clear symptom of bipolar disorder. And I'm not saying that every, you know, I'm not accusing every memoirist of being bipolar. But I think in a way it's kind of a gift.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Accusing
Bipolar
Disorder
Memoir
Symptom
Copy Quote
During the periods in my marriage when I chose to stay home with my kids rather than work as an attorney, it caused me no end of anxiety. Despite the fact that I knew I was contributing to our family by caring for our children, I still felt that my worth was less because I wasn't earning.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Kids
Home
Attorney
Caring
Children
Contributing
Earning
Periods
Caused
Family Work Home
Chose
Copy Quote
I learned that I suffered from bipolar II disorder, a less serious variant of bipolar I, which was once known as manic depression. The information was naturally frightening; up to 1 in 5 people with bipolar disorder will commit suicide, and rates may even be higher for those suffering from bipolar II.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Depression
Bipolar
Commit
Disorder
Frightening
Manic
Naturally
Suffered
Rates
Variant
Copy Quote
I wish I could view the belly that oozes over the top of my pants as a badge of maternal honor. I do try. I make sure that the women whose looks I admire all have sufficient fat reserves to survive a famine, and I make a lot of snide comments about the skeletal likes of Lara Flynn Boyle and Paris Hilton.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Belly
Famine
Honor
Likes
Pants
Reserves
Sufficient
Fat
Badge
Comments
Hilton
Maternal
Paris Hilton
Survive
To Survive
Copy Quote
I tend to approach giving interviews with the same sense of circumspection and restraint as I approach my writing. That is to say, virtually none. When asked what I made of blogs like my own, blogs written by parents about their children, I said, 'A blog like this is narcissism in its most obscene flowering.'
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Flowering
Interviews
Narcissism
Obscene
Restraint
Blog
None
Virtually
Copy Quote
When my first daughter was born, my husband held her in his hands and said, 'My God, she's so beautiful.' I unwrapped the baby from her blankets. She was average size, with long thin fingers and a random assortment of toes. Her eyes were close set, and she had her father's hooked nose. It looked better on him.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Daughter
Average
Fingers
Hooked
Size
Toes
Blankets
Held
Nose
Thin
Copy Quote
I believe that mothers should tell the truth, even - no, especially - when the truth is difficult. It's always easier, and in the short term can even feel right, to pretend everything is okay, and to encourage your children to do the same. But concealment leads to shame, and of all hurts shame is the most painful.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Inspiring
Children
Concealment
Easier
Hurt
Mothers Day
Okay
Painful
Term
Truth Is
Truth Believe I Believe
Pretend
Hurts
Leads
Mothers
Copy Quote
I hate homework. I hate it more now than I did when I was the one lugging textbooks and binders back and forth from school. The hour my children are seated at the kitchen table, their books spread out before them, the crumbs of their after-school snack littering the table, is without a doubt the worst hour of my day.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
After School
Crumbs
Doubt
Homework
Spread
Textbooks
Worst
Books
Forth
Hour
Seated
Snack
Table
Copy Quote
The thing about youthful offenders is that no one seems to care about them. Most people don't like adolescents - even the good ones can be snarky and unpleasant. Combine the antipathy we feel toward the average teenager with the fear inspired by youth violence, and you have a population that no one wants to deal with.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Antipathy
Average
Offenders
Population
Youth
Adolescent
Combine
Good Ones
Unpleasant
Copy Quote
Despite the fact that in America we incarcerate more juveniles for life terms than in any other country in the world, the truth is that the vast majority of youth offenders will one day be released. The question is simple and stark. Do we want to help them change or do we want to help them become even more violent and dangerous?
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Majority
Offenders
Truth Is
Youth
Life Change Truth
Any Other Country
Vast
Released
Stark
Vast Majority
Copy Quote
I certainly don't think it's inevitable that we don't love children who don't carry our own DNA. If that were true we wouldn't have millions of successful adoptions to consider. I do think that it's harder to love a child when you come into that child's life after the unrequited passion of infancy and early childhood has passed.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Dna
Early Childhood
Harder
Inevitable
Infancy
Millions
Unrequited
Life Love Childhood
Carry
Passed
To Love
Copy Quote
A good mother remembers to serve fruit at breakfast, is always cheerful and never yells, manages not to project her own neuroses and inadequacies onto her children, is an active and beloved community volunteer. She remembers to make play dates, her children's clothes fit, she does art projects with them and enjoys all their games.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Active
Beloved
Breakfast
Cheerful
Clothes
Fruit
Games
Good Mother
Volunteer
Dates
Project
Neuroses
Onto
Remembers
Serve
Copy Quote
Another parent's different approach raises the possibility that you've made a mistake with your child. We simply can't tolerate that because we fear that any mistake, no matter how minor, could have devastating consequences. So we proclaim the superiority of our own choices. We've lost sight of the fact that people have preferences.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Choices
Different Approach
Mistake
Parent
Possibility
Raises
Sight
Superiority
Tolerate
Devastating
Minor
Preferences
Proclaim
Your Child
Copy Quote
Gym class was, of course, where the strongest, best-looking kids were made captains and chose us spazzes last. More important, it was where the figures of supposed authority allowed them to do so. Forget the work our parents did molding our minds and values. Everything fell apart as soon as we put on those maroon polyester gym suits.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Authority
Figures
Gym
Molding
Strongest
Suits
Apart
Chose
Minds
Polyester
Copy Quote
I think I wish I had never spanked my children, but I have. And they remember every instance like they tattooed it on their palms. I think it's a terrible lesson, to use physical punishment to make a point about not behaving, not being kind to their siblings, to other people. I mean that's just absurd. But I've lost it, I understand it.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Absurd
Instance
Punishment
Sibling
Tattooed
Behaving
Lesson
Copy Quote
I did not want to raise a genetically compromised child. I did not want my children to have to contend with the massive diversion of parental attention, and the consequences of being compelled to care for their brother after I died. I wanted a genetically perfect baby, and because that was something I could control, I chose to end his life.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Compelled
Died
Diversion
Massive
Parental
Chose
Compromised
Contend
Genetically
Raise
Copy Quote
Before I was married, I didn't consider my failure to manage even basic hand tools a feminist inadequacy. I thought it had more to do with being Jewish. The Jews I knew growing up didn't do 'do-it-yourself.' When my father needed to hammer something he generally used his shoe, and the only real tool he owned was a pair of needle-nose pliers.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Do It Yourself
Inadequacy
Manage
Jewish
Basic
Hammer
Jews
Owned
Pair
Shoe
Tool
Copy Quote
Perhaps my children will one day pledge their loyalty to the Republican Party. Or perhaps they'll dismiss my liberalism as mild pap, and become anarchists. Either way may well be a reaction to my manipulation, my values. We are all the product of the indoctrination we received at the hands of our parents, even when we are repudiating that ideology.
Ayelet Waldman / Novelist
Loyalty
Children
Hands
Party
Copy Quote

Related Novelist Authors

Zoran Drvenkar
Novelist
Wednesday, Jul 19, 1967
Zia Haider Rahman
Novelist
Zelda Fitzgerald
Novelist
Tuesday, Jul 24, 1900
Wednesday, Mar 10, 1948
Zakes Mda
Novelist
Zadie Smith
Novelist
Saturday, Oct 25, 1975
Zachary Lazar
Novelist
Yxta Maya Murray
Novelist
Yury Olesha
Novelist
Friday, Mar 03, 1899
Tuesday, May 10, 1960
Yasutaka Tsutsui
Novelist
Monday, Sep 24, 1934
Yasmine Galenorn
Novelist
Xiaolu Guo
Novelist
Wu Cheng'en
Novelist
Wright Morris
Novelist
Thursday, Jan 06, 1910
Saturday, Apr 25, 1998
Wladyslaw Stanislaw Reymont
Novelist
Tuesday, May 07, 1867
Saturday, Dec 05, 1925
Witold Gombrowicz
Novelist
Thursday, Aug 04, 1904
Thursday, Jul 24, 1969

View All Novelist Quotes

Top Authors

Barack Obama
44Th U.s. President
Friday, Aug 04, 1961
H. L. Mencken
Journalist
Sunday, Sep 12, 1880
Sunday, Jan 29, 1956
Elon Musk
Investor
Monday, Jun 28, 1971
Dr. Seuss
Writer
Wednesday, Mar 02, 1904
Tuesday, Sep 24, 1991
George Carlin
Comedian
Wednesday, May 12, 1937
Sunday, Jun 22, 2008
Heraclitus
Philosopher
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
John Muir
Author
Saturday, Apr 21, 1838
Thursday, Dec 24, 1914
W. Edwards Deming
Statistician
Sunday, Oct 14, 1900
Monday, Dec 20, 1993
Albert Camus
Author
Friday, Nov 07, 1913
Monday, Jan 04, 1960
Dolly Parton
Singer-Songwriter
Saturday, Jan 19, 1946
William Blake
Poet
Monday, Nov 28, 1757
Sunday, Aug 12, 1827
John C. Maxwell
Author
Thursday, Feb 20, 1947
Mahatma Gandhi
Civil Rights Leader
Saturday, Oct 02, 1869
Friday, Jan 30, 1948
Napoleon Hill
Author
Friday, Oct 26, 1883
Sunday, Nov 08, 1970
Friedrich Nietzsche
Philologist
Tuesday, Oct 15, 1844
Saturday, Aug 25, 1900

View All Authors

Share This Page