Quotes from Dorothea Benton Frank

If I have learned anything about raising children, it's that keeping the conversation going is so very important. Once you stop talking to each other terrible things can happen

When folks around you do crazy things, it's the devil trying to distract you from your purpose.

she could squeeze the balls off a buffalo nickel.

That's right. Old Beelzebub himself. That's how the devil works. He ain't no fool with a red suit and a tail. No, he works on your mind. When you let your mind dwell on trouble, you can't be doing what you needs to be doing. Then he wins, you see? He can't win unless you let him because he ain't got no power on his own.

Listen to Livvie, I tell you what's on my mind, not to make you feel bad. I want you to think. Gawd got His special purpose for you, just like He does for every one of us. He done give you a very good mind. The world you have when you grow up is gonna be the one you make. You use your mind and make it better.

Roni Larini. "Besides, I'll help you." They

I WILL TELL YOU THE one thing that I have learned about life in my thirty-something years that is an absolute truth: nothing and no one in this entire world matters more to a sane woman than her children. I have one

The shimmering blue water seemed to be scattered with shards of crystals and diamonds.

experts in my field have acknowledged that the need to have control over another human being was an example of abuse.

My days there utterly vibrate with excitement. The work is scintillating," I

When you didn't live in a strict corporate world, you didn't have to worry about fitting in and being politically correct all the time. You could afford the luxuries of self-expression. We took advantage of self-expression in spades.

I prayed she would haunt me forever. Just because she was dead, she had no right to desert me.

I have always thought that librarians are a little bit like doctors, travel agents and professors all rolled into one. We all know that a great story can lift spirits, take you anywhere in the world you want to go and in any time period to boot, and the lessons you learn from a good book can buoy your own convictions and even change your life.

Books were my passion and my escape from madness.

Isn't it amazing how much good people can do for each other when you give them the opportunity to help?

The first indication of menopause is a broken thermostat. It's either that or your weight. In any case, if you don't do something, you could be dead by August. God, middle age is an unending insult.

The most important thing I learned is that to be truly happy, you've got to pay attention to that stupid inner voice we all have. It knows what you need and will drive you shit crazy until you listen to it.

Daddies always listen to their little girls.

a good woman's heart knows no bounds. And love is the most powerful and wondrous gift in the world. Yes, it is.

The people you love never leave you ...

That's what I wanted for myself for even just a little while-to be unaware of the rest of the world. I needed some time.

Maybe as you aged, what you wanted from a relationship changed too.

Another maternal insight --- you always dislike about your children that which you dislike about yourself because you understand the danger about that trait. ~ Dorothea Benton Frank, The Hurricane Sisters, p. 115.

Life is a struggle, I would tell him. Some days are better than others, and every person's life is bittersweet, filled with joy and pain.