Quotes About Expectations

Perfectly serviceable, Mrs. Richardson thought. Two bedrooms, one for the adults and one for the boys. The girls—for she was still certain Izzy would be back with them shortly—could sleep on the three-season porch. A bathroom and a half—well, they would have to share.

Five years, a year, even six months earlier, Lydia would have found sympathy in her brother's eyes. I know. I know. Confirmation and consolation in a single blink. This time Nath, immersed in a library book, did not notice Lydia's clenched fingers, the sudden red that rimmed her eyes. Dreaming of his future, he no longer heard all the things she did not say.

how hard it would be to inherit their parents' dreams. How suffocating to be so loved.

So concerned about wearing the right things, saying the right things, being friends with the right people.

She had been brought up to follow rules, to believe that the proper functioning of the world depended upon her compliance, and follow them—and believe—she did.

The Good Life in Shaker Heights," Cosmopolitan, March 1963

A part of her wanted to stay home, to simply be with her children, but her mother had always scorned woman who didn't work. "Wasting their potential," she had sniffed. "You've got a good brain, Elena. You're not going to sit at home and knit, are you?" A modern woman, she always implied, was capable - nay, required - to have it all.

higher standard than her other children, to demand more from her, yet at the same time to overlook her successes in favor of her faults.

All her life she had heard her mother's heart Drumming one beat: doctor, doctor, doctor. She wanted this so much, Lydia knew, that she no longer needed to say it. It was always there. Lydia could not imagine another future, another life. It was like trying to imagine a world where the sun went around the moon, or where there was no such thing as air.

I don't have a plan, I'm afraid...But then, no one really does, no matter what they say.

I realize that I am not happy with the life I lead. I always had one kind of life in mind and things have turned out very differently.

Don't remember me as too nice or beautiful or funny, because then you'll be disappointed.

Home Economics Textbook from 1950] : "Make [your husband] comfortable. Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in low, soft, soothing tones, allowing him to relax and unwind." Mama Celia : "Place a pillow over his head and hold it there until he promises to do at least one household chore a month.

o femeie care pretuieste mai mult decat barbatul cu care traieste este o mare nefericita.

A good wife is one who serves her husband in the morning like a mother does, loves him in the day like a sister does and pleases him like a prostitute in the night.

What hasty preparations we make for our future. Think of it: it seems almost tragic, the things we're sure we ought to bring along. We pack too heavy with what we hope we'll use, and too light of what we must. We thus go forth misladen, ill equipped for the dawn.

I don't think there's a date minimum or maximum. I don't get the whole 'All right, you've got to wait three days to call after the date.' If I got a number from a girl, I'd call that night. There's no science to it for me. You just do what it is that you feel like doing.

I'm not a role model.

I am not a role model. I am not paid to be a role model. I am paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court. Parents should be role models. Just because I dunk a basketball, doesn't mean I should raise your kids.

The worst mistakes I've made have been the ones directed by sweet-natured hopefulness.

You are a real find and you keep me satisfied, up to a point. After all, I'm a malcontent and you can't change that.

Here are the Top Ten things that your parents say to you: -Is that all you're going to do all day, sit in front of the computer? -When I was your age I had two jobs. -Why don't you wear some clothes that fir for a change? -Turn it down. I can hear it all the way over here. -You're not eating that for dinner. -Did you do your homework? -Stop mumbling and speak up. -Now what did you do? -Because I said so. -No.

People in those days didn't display affection like they do today. I'm still learning how to be affectionate to my grandchildren. I don't ever remember getting a kiss from my mother. I never even saw her kiss my kid brother, or my kid sister, Margaret. Not that anyone meant to play favorites, but Tom was my father's favorite and Peggy was my mother's. I guess I was so big, and being the oldest, they expected me to be more grown up than the two younger ones.

All in one day I flew to Puerto Rico and took care of two matters. Then I flew to Chicago and took care of one matter. Then I flew to San Francisco and stopped at a bar for a couple of glasses of wine, because I knew I wouldn't get anything to drink when I got to the Fairmont to meet up with Jimmy and give him the report. I walked into Jimmy's hotel room at exactly 8:00 P.M. and he yelled at me for keeping him waiting.