Housework hassles go on, are never resolved, and will probably extend into the afterlife ('Why am I the one who takes the clouds to the dry cleaners?').

Motherhood is like Albania- you can't trust the descriptions in the books, you have to go there.

Why are we, the most medicalized of societies, a culture in pain?

This is a truism of child-raising, of course - whatever you give special time and attention to cooking, your children will despise and reject, with annoying gagging sounds.

I could still remember how having a two day old baby makes you feel faintly sorry for everyone else, stuck in their wan unmiraculous lives.

Well, delusions are a wonderful thing, and they keep you company, too.

Hasn't anyone thought to look at outcomes as a logical way to figure out what really works? Not until recently. That tells you how far out of the picture the patient has been.

At a certain point, the soul exits from a cherished photograph, because we have come to the end of our loving projection into that moment.

The first axiom of the family vacation is that someone, possibly everyone, will get sick.

Like an animal, cancer sleeps, prowls, hibernates, turns surly or placid.

Home alone with a wakeful newborn, I could shower so quickly that the mirror didn't fog and the backs of my knees stayed dry. The one-minute hair conditioner was too slow for me.

Praise be to God that hope is much more than how we feel on a given day. It exists outside of us

Two types of people laugh at the law: those that break it and those that make it.

We must use time creatively.

I keep my eyes open. I pay attention to how different types of people express their personal style, how they put their clothes together.

You'll never do a whole lot unless you're brave enough to try.

The only way to make real wealth is to get rid of your salary. In a salary, by definition, you are creating wealth for others, and you are creating a chain and handcuffs for yourself.

I've still kind of maintained a low profile but people still kind of recognize you and will come up to you, and that's taken a bit of getting used to.

There's a kind of virgin one only becomes with difficulty.

Life ain't complicated unless you complicate it.

From moment to moment one can bear much.