Quotes from Dorothea Benton Frank

Makes you grow up quick. Hard work makes you strong. I work hard every day; that's where I get my strength. That and knowing who I am.

We were an imperfect family. I knew that. But at last we were on each other's side, dug in with a new and more profound commitment. Our happiness was hard won, it was ours and I was determined to keep us whole.

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.

She says that on the day you stop believing in love you may as will lie down and die. I think she may be right.

the Devil danced all over the place in his beautiful eyes. You never knew what kind of surprise he had for you, just to make you laugh.

Say your prayers, girl. Prayers work miracles; don't you see that much yet?

Miss Trudie said, "Well, like my momma used to say, butter my butt and call me a biscuit. This takes the cake.

Words matter . . . They really do.

Give the ones you love wings to fly, roots to come back to, and reasons to stay.

Please. Don't use the Lord's name, unless you're in prayer. It's a hundred years in purgatory.

David Harper was Hollywood handsome but he had a Conan the Barbarian temper to go with his looks.

because a book lets your imagination soar and a movie makes all the decisions for you. A book is almost always, but not always, a far richer experience than a book turned into a movie.

Dreams made your eyes sparkle over the possibilities of doing something new and exciting. Reality made the rest of you break a sweat in panic. I was terrified.

Funny how something that seemed so insignificant, just an old bowl with faded glazed stripes, could trigger so many memories.

When you start running from trouble? It confers with the devil on how to find you twice as fast.

Reaching for his toothbrush, I looked at it and realized he'd been brushing his teeth for somebody else for a long time. I don't know what possessed me to do it but I dunked it in the toilet. That pleased me so much that I rubbed it around the inside rim. That seemed so pleasant I then scrubbed up under the rim, good and hard, where no toilet brush could've reached in weeks.

I took his aftershave and cologne out of the medicine cabinet. It occurred to me that he'd been wearing these for Karen. I peed in the bathroom glass, drained the Aramis and poured urine into two of his cologne bottles. "Up yours," I said quietly. I dropped the bottles in his bag and zipped it closed.

And if you want to know why great editors scare the pants off of writers everywhere, read 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' by Lynne Truss. The punctuation police are everywhere!

My family always comes first. My world revolves around my husband, Peter, our daughter, Victoria, and our son, William, but not necessarily in that order. Then, it's this fascinating world of publishing that devours most of my days and many nights.

Anyway, stories bring us together to find common ground, to find our way through life together, or just to entertain us, and I am just thrilled to be a part of that process.

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.

As authentic as it is riveting and ultimately unforgettable. Your past will find you-and it can change your life. I think it's the most soulful book Patti Callahan has ever written.

I love to cook, my husband and I collect wine, and in my head, I am always on Sullivan's Island, walking the beach listening to the song of the ocean.

I think I've learned that if you want to be successful, you have to tell your story honestly and from your heart - and I think a healthy sense of humor doesn't hurt either.