Most writers spend their lives standing a little apart from the crowd, watching and listening and hoping to catch that tiny hint of despair, that sliver of malice, that makes them think, 'Aha, here is the story.' Ayelet Waldman More Quotes by Ayelet Waldman More Quotes From Ayelet Waldman If you focus all of your emotional passion on your children and you neglect the relationship that brought that family into existence... eventually, things can go really, really wrong. Ayelet Waldman passionemotionalchildren I mean, I absolutely call myself a feminist. And by that, I mean a woman who believes that your opportunities should not be constrained by your gender, that women should be entitled to the same opportunities as men. Ayelet Waldman motivationalinspirationalbelieve Why is it that loving something provides such little protection from betrayal? Ayelet Waldman protectionbetrayallittles I just don't have a lick of optimism left in me. Ayelet Waldman leftoptimism One of the darkest, deepest shames so many of us mothers feel nowadays is our fear that we are Bad Mothers, that we are failing our children and falling far short of our own ideals. Ayelet Waldman mothers-dayinspiringchildren I hate homework. I hate it more now than I did when I was the one lugging textbooks and binders back and forth from school. The hour my children are seated at the kitchen table, their books spread out before them, the crumbs of their after-school snack littering the table, is without a doubt the worst hour of my day. Ayelet Waldman hatebookchildren I think it's worth trying to be a mother who delights in who her children are, in their knock-knock jokes and earnest questions. A mother who spends less time obsessing about what will happen, or what has happened, and more time reveling in what is. Ayelet Waldman motherchildrenthinking If God were like a Star Wars Force linking all consciousness, I supposed I could maybe believe that. But let's just say I'm not going to be running off to India to join an ashram anytime soon. Ayelet Waldman starsrunningwar There are times as a parent when you realize that your job is not to be the parent you always imagined you'd be, the parent you always wished you had. Your job is to be the parent your child needs, given the particulars of his or her own life and nature. Ayelet Waldman parentjobschildren Courage is impulsive; it is narcissism tempered with nihilism. Ayelet Waldman impulsivenarcissismnihilism The capacity for extravagant emotion that my husband finds so attractive in me can be exhausting, especially to a child. My moods are mercurial, and this can be terrifying. I know, because I was a daughter of a mother with a changeable temperament. Ayelet Waldman daughterhusbandmother In a perfect world I think we would microdose with LSD instead of giving teenagers Adderall. But I'd like to see it studied first. Ayelet Waldman teenagergivingthinking Perhaps my children will one day pledge their loyalty to the Republican Party. Or perhaps they'll dismiss my liberalism as mild pap, and become anarchists. Either way may well be a reaction to my manipulation, my values. We are all the product of the indoctrination we received at the hands of our parents, even when we are repudiating that ideology. Ayelet Waldman partyloyaltychildren If only shame were a reliable engine for behavior modification. All it does is make me feel bad, which inspires me to bust open a bag of cheese popcorn, which then makes me feel crappy about my weight. Ayelet Waldman popcornbagsinspire I learned that I suffered from bipolar II disorder, a less serious variant of bipolar I, which was once known as manic depression. The information was naturally frightening; up to 1 in 5 people with bipolar disorder will commit suicide, and rates may even be higher for those suffering from bipolar II. Ayelet Waldman bipolarsuicidepeople If your white privilege and class privilege protects you, then you have an obligation to use that privilege to take stands that work to end the injustice that grants that privilege in the first place. Ayelet Waldman whiteclassfirsts The idea of going down to Central or South American and taking ayahuasca and shitting my pants and puking in a circle of overprivileged white people is not my idea of a good time. That's not going to happen. Ayelet Waldman ayahuascacirclesideas In every union roles are assumed, some traditional, some not. My husband used to pay his own bills, I used to call my own repairman. But as marriages progress, you surrender areas of your own competence, often without even knowing it. Ayelet Waldman progresshusbandknowing When we choose to have an abortion, we must do so understanding the full ramifications of what we are doing. Anything less feels to me to be hypocritical, a selfish abnegation of reality and responsibility. Ayelet Waldman selfishresponsibilityreality Lots of medications work for a month, or a year, and then stop working. Ayelet Waldman medicationmonthsyears
