“No one knows his true character until he has run out of gas, purchased something on the installment plan and raised an adolescent.”

“Children in a family are like flowers in a bouquet: there's always one determined to face in an opposite direction from the way the arranger desires.”

“Eating without conversation is only stoking.”

“Weather means more when you have a garden. There's nothing like listening to a shower and thinking how it is soaking in around your green beans.”

“If at first you don't succeed, blame your parents.”

“One sure way to lose another woman's friendship is to try to improve her flower arrangements.”

“A DEFINITION NOT FOUND IN THE DICTIONARY Not leaving: an act of trust and love,often deciphered by children”

“The ideal-worker standard and norm of work devotion push mothers to the margins of economic life. And a society that marginalizes its mothers impoverishes its children. That is why the paradigmatic...”

“When God Created Mothers"When the Good Lord was creating mothers, He was into His sixth day of "overtime" when the angel appeared and said. "You're doing a lot of fiddling around on this one." And ...”

“Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown.And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them ...”

“When you turn an election into a three-ring circus, theres always a chance that the dancing bear will win.”

“Rayner can't go into politics, she's got more shit on her than Elton John's cock!”

“My Aunt Helen was my favorite person in the whole world. She was my moms sister. She got straight As when she was a teenager and she used to give me books to read. My father said that the books wer...”

“...a row of tables manned by seated, serious women. Each woman looked like she could be someone's least-favourite aunt.”

“On the big bed, Mamima and Sandeeps mother began to dream, sprawled in vivid crab-like postures. His aunt lay on her stomach, her arms bent as if she were swimming to the edge of a lake; his mother...”