Quotes from Jeannette Walls

I have a joyful life, and I attribute that to both of my parents.

I was in control of what people thought of me, but I had no control over what they thought of my mother. When I asked my mother, 'How do I tell people about you?' her answer was, 'Tell the truth'. But of course, the truth is never simple.

Whenever I'm reading a book I enjoy, I always develop a mental list of the people I want to share it with.

I still dream about 'New York' mag. It's kind of weird. I dream I'm part-time, and they can't find a full-time job for me. It's usually that I can't find a lead, and I call all my great sources and say, 'Can you help me out?'

Horses are a mirror of who you are. They're emotionally dependent on you.

I find books that have a moral and spiritual center, that speak to what is really important and lasting, hugely appealing.

Too much hard luck can create a permanent meanness of spirit in any creature.

I reached my full height at age 11, and I was clumsy as all get-out - all elbows and knees, couldn't get up a flight of stairs without falling down. I wanted to be a cute, petite blonde, but I'm a big ol' strapping thing, so I just accept it.

Taking care of myself is central to my personality. I'm pathologically independent. There's no doubt that's one reason I never had children.

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

The fact is, you don't love me, and you haven't destroyed me. You don't have what it takes to do that.

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

Why spend the afternoon making a meal that will be gone in an hour, she'd ask us, when in the same amount of time, I can do a painting that will last forever?

But I also hoped that [she] had chosen California because she thought that was her true home, the place where she really belonged, where it was always warm and you could dance in the rain, pick grapes right off the vines, and sleep outside at night under the stars.

Look at the way you live. You've sold out. Next thing I know you'll become a Republican. She shook her head. Where are the values I raised you with?

Teaching is a calling too. And I've always thought that teachers in their way are holy - angels leading their flocks out of the darkness.

I hate Erma, I told Mom... You have to show compassion for her... She added that you should never hate anyone, even your worst enemies. Everyone has something good about them, she said. You have to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that. Oh yeah? I said. How about Hitler? What was his redeeming quality? Hitler loved dogs, Mom said without hesitation.

Horses were never wrong. They always did what they did for a reason, and it was up to you to figure it out.

I wondered if the fire had been out to get me. I wondered if all fire was related, like Dad said all humans were related, if the fire that had burned me that day while I cooked hot dogs was somehow connected o the fire I had flushed down the toilet and the fire burning at the hotel. I didn't have the answers to those questions, but what I did know was that 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.

God deals us all different hands. How we play 'em is up to us.

You're in a horse race but you're thinking like a sheep. Sheep don't win horse races.

When someone's wounded, the first order of business is to stop the bleeding. You can figure out later how best to help them heal.

It's the Joshua tree's struggle that gives it its beauty.

If you want to be treated like a mother, act like one.