"I wanted to hold happiness in reserve, like a bottle of champagne. I postponed it because I was afraid, because I overvalued it, and then I didn't want to use it up, because what do you wish for then?"
- Curtis Sittenfeld
"There's a belief that to take care of someone else, or to let someone else take care of you - that both are inherently unfeminist. i don't agree. There's no shame in devoting yourself to another perso..."
"I heard Gillian say, with a laugh, “At this point, does anyone expect the liberals not to be total hypocrites?” She was oblivious to the possibility that perhaps not everyone present shared her views,..."
"Perhaps this is how you know you're doing the thing you're intended to: No matter how slow or how slight your progress, you never feel that it's a waste of time."
"All things being equal, why not be married to a rich man? (Somewhere, Hannah thinks, there must be a needlepoint pillow asking this very question in a cleverer way.)"
"You never know the nature of another couple's marriage, do you?"
"She has always been a bystander in family destruction, never realizing she herself possessed the capacity to inflict it."
"Mama!' Rosie tugged on my shirt. 'This broccoli is tasty and wonderful'."
"..and I thought how liking a boy was just the same as believing you wanted to know a secret - everything was better when you were denied and could feel tormented by curiousity or loneliness. But the m..."
"We have to make mistakes, it's how we learn compassion for others."