Quotes from Ruth Reichl

I just can't imagine somebody else in the White House. I'm sure President Truman is a good man, but even the words feel peculiar in my mouth. A world without President Roosevelt seems like a strange and scary place.

chasing a lie smaller than her dreams.... from: Save Me the Plums

Change works both ways. You must accept those moments, experience them, and let them go. Because if you allow yourself to get stuck in that minute, nothing will ever change." "What are you saying?" "I am telling you that if things can change for the worse, the opposite is also true. But only if you open yourself to the possibilities. As Lulu did. It is what one finds so appealing about her." It

I decided that it wasn't pretty that I felt, but confident.

I wish you could have seen the kitchen when I was done: It looked like a hurricane had blown right in the door! But I cleaned it all up, and when Mother came home the whole house smelled warm and spicy, Bing Crosby was singing White Christmas on the radio, I was wearing a clean apron, and she called me her little homemaker. What would you think about tomato mincemeat cookies? I bet no one else will think of that!

The weather was gray, the streets filled with that Sunday morning silence that makes you feel like everybody else is home with people that they love.

It was Mac who first made me think about the way food brought people together — and kept them apart.

I was slowly discovering that if you watched people as they ate, you could find out who they were.

We're in a transient state - why hate our present selves? Let's save the energy for when we are eighty, when we are perhaps above, or beyond, changing. Then we can hate, if hate we must.

were unaware that the room was crowded with ghosts who were about to propel us into the present and force us to face the future.

had the awful feeling I was about to get one of those stinging assessments your children are uniquely equipped to deliver. "I

Don't you just love the idea of cooking flowers? I imagine them bursting into bloom, right in the pan.

Hermione was back, holding out a gossamer dress of rainbow chiffon so airy I thought of fireflies on a moonlight night.

That's what I like so much about old libraries - they smell the way we'd like to imagine the past.

We slid along water reds and greens, the changing lights captured in the canvas of wet tar.

Nothing is sexier than a competent man: I was in love.

but when I told her they didn't cost one penny and were very nutritious (I made that part up, but I'm sure it must be true), she ate them up. She packed them into her lunch pail this morning, and when I looked

Reminded us how exciting it was to abandon security and run toward the life that is waiting.

The more stars in your itinerary, the less likely you are to find the real life of another country.

When something frightens me, it is definitely worth doing.

I was the cheerleader, the instigator, creating chaos, insisting we make changes right up to the last minute when someone came up with a better idea.

Everything here is true, but it might not be entirely factual.

Laurie was the nurturer, mopping up behind me, always calm, always available, always ready to talk. And Larry was the disciplinarian who kept us all in line.

I love all these people; they have so much passion. They're a little bit crazy, but they use their craziness for their business. They live right.