Quotes from Jeannette Walls

I liked movers and shakers more than celebrities. I wasn't that interested in celebrities. I grew up without a TV.

My father, Rex, was one of the most charismatic human beings I've ever known, and also one of the most brilliant.

With a complicated childhood, you can either focus on the positive or the negative, and I chose to focus on the positive.

You'll never make a fortune working for the boss man.

Whoever coined the phrase 'a man's got to play the hand that was dealt him' was most certainly one piss-poor bluffer.

When God closes a door, he opens a window, but it's up to you to find it.

Don't worry, God understands,' Mom said. 'He knows that your father is a cross we must bear.

I didn't have indoor plumbing. I'd go to school dirty. I didn't have lunches.

Things usually work out in the end." "What if they don't?" "That just means you haven't come to the end yet.

When people kill themselves, they think they're ending the pain, but all they're doing is passing it on to those they leave behind.

You should never hate anyone, even your worst enemies. Everyone has something good about them. You have to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that.

One time I saw a tiny Joshua tree sapling growing not too far from the old tree. I wanted to dig it up and replant it near our house. I told Mom that I would protect it from the wind and water it every day so that it could grow nice and tall and straight. Mom frowned at me. "You'd be destroying what makes it special," she said. "It's the Joshua tree's struggle that gives it its beauty.

Most important thing in life is learning how to fall.

Life is a drama full of tragedy and comedy. You should learn to enjoy the comic episodes a little more.

One benefit of Summer was that each day we had more light to read by.

I lived in a world that at any moment could erupt into fire. It was the sort of knowledge that kept you on your toes.

Nobody's perfect. We're all just one step up from the beasts and one step down from the angels.

I wanted to let the world know that no one had a perfect life, that even the people who seemed to have it all had their secrets.

Sometimes you need a little crisis to get your adrenaline flowing and help you realize your potential.

If you don't want to sink, you better figure out how to swim

he said it was interesting. He used the word 'textured'. He said 'smooth' is boring but 'textured' was interesting, and the scar meant that I was stronger than whatever had tried to hurt me.

If you want to be reminded of the love of the Lord, just watch the sunrise.

Once you'd resolved to go, there was nothing to it at all.

She had her addictions and one of them was reading.