One thing that did give me pause for thought, when I told my female friends now that I was writing about a 13-year-old girl, without exception they all said, 'I would not go back to being 13 for a million pounds.' Allison Pearson More Quotes by Allison Pearson More Quotes From Allison Pearson Anyone suffering Downton Abbey withdrawal symptoms will find an instant tonic. Allison Pearson symptomswithdrawalsuffering In death, we are not defined by what we did or who we were but by what we meant to others. How well we loved and were loved in return. Allison Pearson definedwellsreturn My ideals told me that men and women could both go out to work and be truly equal. My children told me something more complicated, something I really didn't want to hear. Their need for me was like the need for water or light: it had a devastating simplicity to it. Allison Pearson lightmenchildren Men worry about childcare with their wallets, women feel it in their wombs. Allison Pearson worrymenchildren I forget the derivation of Boxing Day, but the feeling of wanting to invite your loved ones outside one at a time and punch them in the face, does that come into it somewhere? Allison Pearson boxingchristmasfeelings Working mothers' laughter comes hardest when our double life is revealed for what it is: a juggling act in which the balls can drop at any time, invariably on our own head. Allison Pearson ballslaughtermother You learned that if you're tired enough, you can sleep sitting up. That the unendurable is perfectly endurable if you just take it a minute at a time, and when the alternative is no more minutes ever. Allison Pearson alternativestiredsleep Death itself is too big to take in, she already sees that; the loss comes at you instead in an infinite number of small installments that can never be paid off. Allison Pearson infinitelossnumbers My mother was a stay-at-home mom until I was about 11, when she got a job - and it was like a light came on inside her. It's not wrong to be passionate about your career. When you love what you do, you bring that stimulation back to your family. Allison Pearson mommotherjobs God probably thinks it’s worth giving a sense of humor only to those of us who have to laugh at all the rubbish bits that are wrong with us. Allison Pearson givinglaughingthinking No man would ever use both hands to hold a cup of tea, unless he was one day's march from the South Pole, with one chum dead in the snow, dogs all eaten and six fingers about to drop off. And even then he would look around the empty tent to check, in case anybody thought it was girly. Allison Pearson girlydogmen The best musicians answer something in you when you don't even know the question. Allison Pearson musiciananswersknows When you have kids, there's a tendency to put the marriage stew on the back burner and give it a quick stir now and then. But it's important to remember why you had children with this person. Allison Pearson givingkidschildren The great thing about unrequited love is it's the only kind that lasts. Allison Pearson unrequited-lovelastslove-is Can't is for pussies. Allison Pearson pussy The quickest way to stop noticing something may be to buy it, just as the quickest way to stop appreciating a person may be to marry them. Allison Pearson appreciatemayway Children are the proof we've been here . . . they're where we go to when we die. They're the best thing and the most impossible thing, but there's nothing else . . . Life is a riddle and they are the answer. If there's any answer, it has to be them. Allison Pearson impossible-thingsanswerschildren When you're young your mother shields you from the world because she thinks you're too young to understand, and when she's old you shield her because she's too old to understand - or to have any more understanding inflicted upon her. The curve of life goes: want to know, know, don't want to know. Allison Pearson curvesmotherthinking A father is the template of a man Nature gives a girl Allison Pearson dadgirlfather People say that time is a great healer. Which people? What are they talking about? I think some feelings you experience in your life are written in indelible ink and the best you can hope for is that they fade a little over the years. Allison Pearson talkingyearsthinking
