Quotes by Vanessa Diffenbaugh - Page 1

Anyone can grow into something beautiful.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Beautiful
Grows
Something Beautiful
Copy Quote
Every second I have spare, I'm with my kids.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Every Second
Spare
Copy Quote
Your behavior is a choice; it isn’t who you are.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Behavior
Choices
Who You Are
Copy Quote
I traveled a full two years with 'Language of Flowers.'
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Traveled
Flowers
Copy Quote
First drafts are never any good - at least, mine aren't.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Drafts
Copy Quote
I never really considered writing something that was nonfiction.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Nonfiction
Copy Quote
The problem is foster youth don't really have this network that other kids have.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Foster
Network
Other Kids
Copy Quote
I love Toni Morrison and Jeanette Winterson. 'The Passion' is my favourite book.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Favourite
Copy Quote
Hate can be passionate or disengaged; it can come from dislike but also from fear.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Dislike
Hate
Passionate
Copy Quote
I don't think there is anything magical about the language of flowers in real life or in my book.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Real Life
Flowers
Magical
Copy Quote
The most violent and troubling stories become part of our national consciousness about foster care.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Consciousness
Foster
Troubling
Copy Quote
Perhaps the unattached, the unwanted, the unloved, could grow to give love as lushly as anyone else.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Giving
Grows
Maternal Love
Copy Quote
I've worked with homeless kids, kids in foster care, and I've never met a kid who couldn't be reached.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Homeless
Foster
Reached
Copy Quote
My last book, 'The Language of Flowers,' I wrote completely on naptime, when my little kids were asleep.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Asleep
Flowers
Little Kids
Copy Quote
I did a minor in creative writing in college, but I didn't start writing until I stayed at home with my own children.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Creative Writing
Minor
Stayed
Copy Quote
I have spent a lot of time with foster children over the years - kids for whom I have not necessarily acted as a foster parent.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Foster Children
Parent
Acted
Foster
Copy Quote
It is stories - both real and fictional - that can captivate hearts, change minds and, in the most powerful examples, spur action.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Most Powerful
Examples
Fictional
Hearts
Spur
Copy Quote
As a college student, I worked as a mentor, and that got me involved in working with young people long before I became a foster parent.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Parent
Me Long People
Long Me People
College Student
Student
Foster
Copy Quote
Though politics is by nature divisive, surely we all can agree that foster children need stability, safety, education, opportunity - and love.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Agree
Foster Children
Safety
Stability
Divisive
Foster
Surely
Copy Quote
We were pressured to accept kids we were not qualified to handle. And we do that to people all the time, which is why we don't have enough foster parents.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Handle
Pressured
Qualified
Accept
Time Enough People
Time People Accept
Foster
Parents
Copy Quote
My husband and I vowed that after we married and settled down, we would become foster parents - a vow we kept and one that has enriched our lives greatly.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Vow
Enriched
Foster
Greatly
Settled
Copy Quote
Writing has always been an interest of mine, and 'The Language of Flowers' combined my experience with foster care with something I've always wanted to do.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Flowers
Combined
Foster
Copy Quote
We have been trained to broadcast our successes and hide our failures. But the truth is this: our failures humanise us, and they connect us to one another.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Truth Is
Broadcast
Connect
Hide
Successes
Trained
Copy Quote
I was a screenwriting and studio art major in college, so even though I don't have any training as a floral designer, I have a very particular visual aesthetic.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Aesthetic
Designer
Screenwriting
Visual
Copy Quote
The names of common flowers change from decade to decade, so I spent a lot of time with old outdated dictionaries, with awful flower names like 'mouse-eared chickweed.'
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Flower
Outdated
Flowers
Decade
Dictionaries
Copy Quote
My husband and I have been involved with foster youth since our early 20s. Right out of college and not yet married, we spent weekends mentoring a family of young girls.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Early 20s
Mentoring
Foster
Weekends
Young Girls
Copy Quote
I'm missing work. We didn't have enough money for preschool. I had a panic attack. I couldn't do it. I became one of those horrible foster parents who give the kids back.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Horrible
Missing
Panic
Preschool
Work Money Enough
Attack
Enough Money
Foster
Copy Quote
Our standards for motherhood are so high that many of us harbor intense, secret guilt for every harsh word we speak to our children, every negative thought that enters our minds.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Guilt
Harsh
Intense
Motherhood
Negative
Secret
Standards
Harbor
Minds
Copy Quote
We are more and more into technology. Everything is texting, and everything is instant. Flowers are completely impractical as a method of communication when you could just send a text.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Communication
Instant
Method
Flowers
Impractical
More And More
Send
Text
Copy Quote
I'm very interested in getting inside the heads of people society discards, people on the fringe, especially immigrant kids. We dismiss them without getting into details of who they are.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Details
Fringe
Society People Who
Dismiss
Heads
Immigrant
Copy Quote
We can become anyone we want to become. It takes focusing on the aspect of ourselves we want to change and reflecting on the beliefs that cause us to act in ways that are counter to the change we seek.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Aspect
Reflecting
Counter
Beliefs
Focusing
Seek
Copy Quote
We all make mistakes, and we all need second chances. For youth in foster care, these mistakes are often purposeful - if not consciously so; a way to test the strength of a bond and establish trust in a new parent.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Parent
Bond
Chances
Establish
Foster
Purposeful
Second Chances
Test
Copy Quote
You have to really prove yourself to young people, and if your answer is clear and consistent and loving - even if it's angry and disappointed - what's important is that you're being real and honest and not going anywhere.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Angry
Being Real
Clear
Consistent
Disappointed
Honest
Prove
Yourself Your Important
Anywhere
Young People
Copy Quote
I've always loved the language of flowers. I discovered Kate Greenaway's 'Language of Flowers' in a used bookstore when I was 16 and couldn't believe it was such a well-kept secret. How could something so beautiful and romantic be virtually unknown?
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Secret
Unknown
Bookstore
Flowers
Discovered
Virtually
Copy Quote
There's still something so pure and heartfelt and emotional and genuine about a bouquet of flowers that, even with all the advances of technology and the millions of ways we have to communicate with each other, flowers are still relevant in my opinion.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Technology
Communicate
Emotional
Genuine
Heartfelt
Millions
Opinion
Pure
Relevant
Advances
Bouquet
Flowers
Each
Even
Still
In My Opinion
Other
Something
Ways
Copy Quote
I wanted to write with emotional honesty and tell a story people could connect with. And I wanted people to know how the foster system in America fails children; and how, at 18, they fall through the cracks. Then we can all work together and give support.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Cracks
Honesty
Connect
Fails
Foster
Work Together
Copy Quote
There aren't always, especially in low-income communities, the arts and the dance and the drama and the things that can really show a kid, 'Look, even if I'm three years behind in math, there's something I'm good at that can help me be successful in life.'
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Low Income
Math
Life Good Always
Life Good Look
Communities
Copy Quote
My husband was working as principal of an urban transformation high school - the kind of public charter school determined to do whatever it takes to give its mostly minority, low-income student body the education they need and deserve to be successful in life.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Charter
Deserve
Determined
Low Income
Principal
Transformation
Urban
Student
Minority
Student Body
Copy Quote
I founded Camellia Network with my dear friend Isis Dallis Keigwin. The mission of our organization is to create a national network that connects every youth aging out of foster care to the critical resources, opportunities, and support they need to thrive in adulthood.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Adulthood
Aging
Critical
Dear
Dear Friend
Organization
Resources
Support
Thrive
Youth
Friend
Connects
Foster
Mission
National
Network
Opportunities
Copy Quote
I am not only the person who wrote and sold a novel while raising a houseful of biological and foster children; I am also the person who wrote a horrific young adult novel that never sold and gave up on a foster child I couldn't handle - an experience that still haunts me.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Foster Children
Handle
Horrific
Young Adult
Experience I Am Me
Biological
Experience Me I Am
Foster
Haunts
Raising
Sold
Copy Quote
At Camellia Network, we believe if we can create a way of identifying every young person aging out of foster care, defining what they need, and giving a community of supporters a simple and clear way to fulfill those needs, we can produce radically improved outcomes for youth.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Aging
Defining
Identifying
Outcomes
Foster
Fulfill
Improved
Network
Radically
Supporters
Young Person
Copy Quote
If it was true that moss did not have roots, and maternal love could grow spontaneously, as if from nothing, perhaps I had been wrong to believe myself unfit to raise my daughter. Perhaps the unattached, the unwanted, the unloved, could grow to give love as lushly as anyone else.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Daughter
Believe
Roots
Copy Quote
I think that the hardest thing about working with young people in foster care who've been through this kind of neglect and abuse is really to convince them that they are worthy of being loved. And I think because often they don't feel worthy of it, that's why they push people away.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Abuse
Convince
Hardest Thing
Neglect
Worthy
People Care Feel
Foster
Care People Feel
The Hardest Thing
Copy Quote
The Victorian language of flowers began with the publication of 'Le Language des Fleurs,' written by Charlotte de Latour and printed in Paris in 1819. To create the book - which was a list of flowers and their meanings - de Latour gathered references to flower symbolism throughout poetry, ancient mythology, and even medicine.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Ancient
Book
Charlotte
Flower
Language
Mythology
Paris
Printed
Publication
Symbolism
Victorian
Written
Began
Flowers
Create
Gathered
List
Meanings
References
Throughout
Copy Quote
She was perfect. I knew this the moment she emerged from my body, white and wet and wailing. Beyond the requisite ten fingers and ten toes, the beating heart, the lungs inhaling and exhaling oxygen, my daughter knew how to scream. She knew how to make herself heard. She knew how to reach out and latch on. She knew what she needed to do to survive. I didn’t know how it was possible that such perfection could have developed within a body as flawed as my own, but when I looked into her face, I saw that it clearly was.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh / Author Of Novels
Daughter
Heart
Oxygen
Copy Quote

Top Authors

Martin Luther
Monk
Saturday, Nov 10, 1483
Monday, Feb 18, 1546
Michael Jordan
Basketball Player
Sunday, Feb 17, 1963
Thomas Sowell
Economist
Monday, Jun 30, 1930
Aristotle
Philosopher
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Mahatma Gandhi
Civil Rights Leader
Saturday, Oct 02, 1869
Friday, Jan 30, 1948
Francis Of Assisi
Saint
Thursday, Jun 24, 1182
Saturday, Oct 03, 1226
Winston Churchill
Former Prime Minister Of The United Kingdom
Monday, Nov 30, 1874
Sunday, Jan 24, 1965
Napoleon Bonaparte
Military Commander
Tuesday, Aug 15, 1769
Saturday, May 05, 1821
Dwight D. Eisenhower
34Th U.s. President
Tuesday, Oct 14, 1890
Friday, Mar 28, 1969
Walt Disney
Animator
Thursday, Dec 05, 1901
Thursday, Dec 15, 1966
Heraclitus
Philosopher
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
George Carlin
Comedian
Wednesday, May 12, 1937
Sunday, Jun 22, 2008
Lucy Larcom
Poet
Friday, Mar 05, 1824
Monday, Apr 17, 1893
Saint Augustine
Saint
Saturday, Nov 13, 0354
Wednesday, Aug 28, 0430
Niccolo Machiavelli
Historian
Monday, May 03, 1469
Tuesday, Jun 21, 1527

View All Authors

Vanessa Diffenbaugh Quotes - Page 1

App & Tools

Related Author Of Novels Authors

Popular Topic Tags

Top Authors

Share This Page

Stay Connected

App & Tools

Related Author Of Novels Authors

Popular Topic Tags

Top Authors

Share This Page