Forgiveness is the path to healing. Jeanne Marie Laskas More Quotes by Jeanne Marie Laskas More Quotes From Jeanne Marie Laskas Isolation is aloneness that feels forced upon you, like a punishment. Solitude is aloneness you choose and embrace. I think great things can come out of solitude, out of going to a place where all is quiet except the beating of your heart. Jeanne Marie Laskas being-alone heart thinking Solitude is a place where all is quiet - except the beating of your heart. Jeanne Marie Laskas solitude heart quiet But the writing life, it turned out, was difficult. It wasn't like you could sit down and flip a switch and crank on the ventilation system. Sometimes it didn't work, and sometimes you couldn't even find the switch. Jeanne Marie Laskas flip down-and writing All peace-loving women shut up when they sense they have stepped onto Guy Turf. Guy Turf is a murky realm of ego and pride and chivalry and testosterone and heroism. Jeanne Marie Laskas ego guy pride You can make your life so much larger simply be acknowledging everyone else's. Jeanne Marie Laskas I think the call of the inward life starts here. Solitude helps you differentiate, define the borders of the self. Solitude helps you figure our where everybody else stops and you begins. Jeanne Marie Laskas solitude self thinking I wanted to go to a place where I could think, really sink into my own imagination, or ride it, or drift along it, as in a balloon. The kind of place that probably all writers crave. The kind of place where the outside world is still and quiet and you get a chance to listen, to peer, to go inward Jeanne Marie Laskas balloons imagination thinking Why do we think the people on stage are the only ones having fun? Jeanne Marie Laskas fun people thinking You plant a garden one flower at a time. ... You write a book one word at a time, clean a closet one shelf at a time, run a marathon one step at a time. If you feel defeated by some large task, get your spade and dig the first hole. Jeanne Marie Laskas perseverance determination running It's much better to be apart and wish you were together than to be together and wish you were apart. Jeanne Marie Laskas wish-you wish together Maybe the biggest problem with loneliness is that we walk around thinking we're the only ones suffering from it. Jeanne Marie Laskas loneliness suffering thinking I was suppose to write a book about being a mom, to organize my thoughts into chapters and figure out a structure to hang them on, to make a lasting point, but somehow I decided to go ahead and become a mother instead. Jeanne Marie Laskas mom mother book Dreams are matters of the heart, things that pull you along as if they have hooked you someplace deep inside. Jeanne Marie Laskas matter dream heart This is one of the take-home messages for me: we just walk around with this narrative in America that everybody wants to be rich and famous. That that’s why people do what they do. And you know, all through these pages you learn over and over again no, actually not even NFL cheerleaders are doing it for fame and fortune. There’s another motivation going on that is so pure and human. That to me was an eye-opener in a really wonderful way. Jeanne Marie Laskas motivation eye home He took the brain home, he financed this research himself. Jeanne Marie Laskas health Your personality is choked and you turn into someone else. Jeanne Marie Laskas health The science is out there. So, take a leadership position and help us solve this problem so we can all have football. Jeanne Marie Laskas health The Gun Control Act of 1968 was an attempt to impose order. It set up the Federal Firearms License (FFL) system; gun stores would have to become licensed, and they would have to follow certain rules. Felons, illegal immigrants, and crazy people would be prohibited from buying guns. Jeanne Marie Laskas gun-control crazy gun people Bob Dole. He's like the neighbors' Labrador retriever your dad used to curse for all that barking, all that darn digging in your mom's tulip bed, and now look, you live next door to a godforsaken pack of teeth-baring rabid Pomeranians, and, good golly, Bob Dole! Jeanne Marie Laskas good look you dad Seagulls are a landfill nuisance because they fly away with food scraps and, as is their reputation, fight each other over them midflight, often losing them, and soon a lady has a half-eaten hamburger splashing into her backyard pool. Jeanne Marie Laskas fly fight losing food