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Anna Quindlen

Anna Quindlen Quotes

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Anna Quindlen, born on July 8, 1952, is a renowned American author known for her insightful social commentary and delicate portrayal of everyday life. Her writing career began as a newspaper editor, later transitioning to novel writing, which has been well-received by readers.

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Famous Anna Quindlen Quotes

“It is so easy to waste our lives: our days, our hours, our minutes. It is so easy to take for granted the pale new growth on an evergreen, the sheen of the limestone on Fifth Avenue, the colour of our kids’ eyes, the way the melody in a symphony rises and falls and disappears and rises again. It is so easy to exist instead of live. Unless you know there is a clock ticking.”

Source: A Short Guide to a Happy Life

“Poor kids are much more likely to become sick than their richer counterparts, but much less likely to have health insurance. Talk about a double whammy.”

Care Kids Poor Poverty Sick Health Care Counterparts

Author:Anna Quindlen

“Parents have railed against shelters near schools, but no one has made any connection between the crazed consumerism of our kids and their elders' cold unconcern toward others. Maybe the homeless are not the only ones who need to spend time in these places to thaw out.”

Needs Made Kids School Values Parent Cold Connections Shelter Consumerism Homeless End Times Elders Spend Time Meanness

Book:Thinking Out Loud: On the Personal, the Political, the Public and the Private

Source: Thinking Out Loud: On the Personal, the Political, the Public and the Private

“Kids and violent TV, violent TV and violence, violence and kids. The only people missing from this discussion are the parents. Where are we? Gone. Abdicated.”

People Kids Parent Gone Violence Missing Tvs Violent Discussion

Author:Anna Quindlen

“Stereotypes fall in the face of humanity. You toodle along, thinking that all gay men wear leather after dark and should never, ever be permitted around a Little League field. And then one day your best friend from college, the one your kids adore, comes out to you.”

Thinking Men Should Littles Kids Faces Humanity Fall Dark Fields College Gay One Day League Bigotry Homosexuality Stereotype Adore Leather Homophobia Your Best Friend Gay Men Little League

Book:Loud and Clear

Source: Loud and Clear

“Well, we tell our kids things like 'don't gossip' and then an hour later they hear us on the phone. Stuff like that.”

Wells Kids Stuff Hours Phones Gossip

Author:Anna Quindlen

“Keeping kids safe is sometimes a delusion. The world is a perilous place. Sometimes the kitchen is a perilous place.”

World Sometimes Kids Safe Kitchen Delusion

Author:Anna Quindlen

“There are a million moving parts to raising kids, and you can't always anticipate them all, especially when they are teenagers and their peers play such a huge role in their lives. If you offer independence, there is one kind of pitfall; if you shelter them too much, there is another. And sometimes you do everything right and something bad just happens. It's as simple, and as scary, as that.”

Ifs Kind Sometimes Play Happens Kids Moving Simple Roles Millions Too Much Huge Offers Independence Scary Teenager Shelter Peers Anticipate Pitfalls Raising Kids Moving Parts

Author:Anna Quindlen

“Choose the kids. There will be plenty of time later to choose work.”

Kids Baby Plenty Newborn Newborn Baby

Author:Anna Quindlen

“Your kids are launched. You love your work but you understand how to place it in the panorama of the rest of your life. There's this line in the book, and when I wrote it I thought yes, that's it - if you think of life as a job, maybe by the time you get to, say, in my case, 60, you've finally gotten good at it.”

Ifs Thinking Book Kids Jobs Lines Cases Love You Rest Of Your Life Love Your Work Panorama

Author:Anna Quindlen

“Now, a lot of people are challenged by the fact that a record number of people in their sixties have living parents, and a record number of people in their sixties have kids who may still depend upon them.”

People May Stills Facts Kids Parent Numbers Records Depends Sixty

Author:Anna Quindlen

“So you're getting squeezed at both sides. You're taking care of your mom and dad and you're still doing caregiving with your kids, which is not easy. But I think overall, there's a level of satisfaction that might be unparalleled.”

Thinking Stills Might Care Kids Easy Sides Levels Mom Dad Satisfaction Both Sides Your Mom Mom And Dad Caregiving

Author:Anna Quindlen

“I think a lot of people, but particularly a lot of women, get to this stage when I'd say they're over 50. We face a lot of hard judgment from the world, we women. If you're a full-time mother, you should be out working. If you're out working, your kids must be being overlooked.”

People Ifs Thinking World Should Hard Kids Faces Mother Stage Judgment Overlooked Over 50 Full Time Mother

Author:Anna Quindlen

“As I said, I had this fabulous college education. At college I met the man to whom I've been married for 34 years and who is the father of those three kids. I seriously considered going to another college, and my life would have been completely different in every way.”

Men Way Years Has Beens Said Different Kids Three Father College He Man Mets Married Fabulous College Education

Author:Anna Quindlen

“I think that after a while you realize that your husband can't be all things to you and certainly you don't want the kids to be all things to you, because that would be a terrible weight for them; and that where you really find solace a lot of the time is with your girlfriends.”

Thinking Want Would Be Kids Realizing Terrible Husband All Things Weight Girlfriend Solace Your Husband Your Girlfriend

Author:Anna Quindlen

“I was a kid who sometimes got in trouble because I couldn't keep my mouth shut, which turned out to be an advantage when I became an opinion columnist.”

Sometimes Kids Opinion Trouble Mouths Advantage Columnists

Author:Anna Quindlen

“The future is built on brains, not prom court, as most people can tell you after attending their high school reunion. But you'd never know it by talking to kids or listening to the messages they get from the culture and even from their schools.”

People Knows Kids School Culture Literature Brain Talking Listening Messages High School Built Court Reunion Attending Prom High School Reunion School Reunion

Author:Anna Quindlen

“Ideas are only lethal if you suppress and don't discuss them. Ignorance is not bliss, it's stupid. Banning books shows you don't trust your kids to think and you don't trust yourself to be able to talk to them.”

Ifs Thinking Book Ideas Shows Kids Able Literature Stupid Ignorance Trust Bliss Trust Yourself Don't Trust Ignorance Is Not Bliss

Author:Anna Quindlen

“You want to have fun with your kids, and no one has fun with someone who runs roughshod.”

Want Running Kids Fun Having Fun

Author:Anna Quindlen

“But it's important, while we are supporting lessons in respecting others, to remember that many of our youngest kids need to learn to respect themselves. You learn your worth from the way you are treated.”

Way Needs Important Kids Remember Literature Lessons Respect Treated Respecting Others

Author:Anna Quindlen

About the Author

Born: July 8, 1952
Known for: Author
Quotes: 434

Related Topics

Thinking Ifs People Children World Writing Way Men Years Book Knows Sometimes Kids Literature Mother Reading Kind Looks Parent Feels

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

Living Out LoudRelated source material

Thinking Out Loud: On the Personal, the Political, the Public and the PrivateRelated source material

A Short Guide to a Happy LifeRelated source material

Loud and ClearRelated source material

How Reading Changed My LifeRelated source material

Every Last One: A NovelRelated source material

Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake: A Memoir of a Woman's LifeRelated source material

Imagined London: A Tour of the World's Greatest Fictional CityRelated source material

Object Lessons: One True Thing ; Black and BlueRelated source material

Object Lessons: One True Thing; Black and BlueRelated source material

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