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Ayelet Waldman

Ayelet Waldman Quotes

Novelist

Ayelet Waldman is a distinguished American novelist known for her works that delve into themes of morality, family, and law. Born on December 11, 1964, she has made substantial contributions to the literary world with her distinctive storytelling and thought-provoking narratives.

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Famous Ayelet Waldman Quotes

“I have made so many mistakes as a mother. But the one thing that I know I do is I make sure my children know how much I love them and they are absolutely secure in that.”

Knows Children Made Mother Mistake Know How One Thing Secure My Children

Author:Ayelet Waldman

“Look, if you ask a child, 'Would you rather have a fulfilled mother or a stay-at-home Sylvia Plath,' they'll pick Sylvia Plath every time. But I think it's really important that children don't feel their parents' emotional lives depend on their success.”

Ifs Thinking Feels Looks Children Important Home Mother Asks Parent Emotional Depends Picks Fulfilled Stay At Home Emotional Life Plath

Author:Ayelet Waldman

“You can take the babushka off the Jewish mother and dress her up in a pair of Seven jeans and Marc Jacobs sling-backs, but she's still going to expect a passel of grandkids.”

Stills Mother Dresses Seven Pairs Jeans Jacob Grandkids Jewish Mother

Author:Ayelet Waldman

“A good mother remembers to serve fruit at breakfast, is always cheerful and never yells, manages not to project her own neuroses and inadequacies onto her children, is an active and beloved community volunteer. She remembers to make play dates, her children's clothes fit, she does art projects with them and enjoys all their games.”

“I went from resenting my mother-in-law to accepting her, finally to appreciating her. What appeared to be her diffidence when I was first married, I now value as serenity.”

Firsts Law Mother Values Accepting Married Appreciate Serenity In-laws Mother In Law Diffidence

Author:Ayelet Waldman

“I believe that mothers should tell the truth, even - no, especially - when the truth is difficult. It's always easier, and in the short term can even feel right, to pretend everything is okay, and to encourage your children to do the same. But concealment leads to shame, and of all hurts shame is the most painful.”

Source: Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace

“If a good mother is one who loves her child more than anyone else in the world, I am not a good mother. I am in fact a bad mother. I love my husband more than I love my children.”

Ifs World Children Facts Mother Husband My Children My Husband Good Mother Love My Husband I Love My Husband I Love My Children Love My Children Bad Mother

Author:Ayelet Waldman

“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.”

Feels Children Mother Fall Inspiring Failing Ideals Shame Our Children Mothers Day Bad Mother

Book:Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace

Source: Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace

“I have two daughters and I have done everything in my power to prevent them from assimilating, even being aware of, my idiocy about my weight.”

Two Done Mother Daughter Weight Idiocy Two Daughters

Author:Ayelet Waldman

“By presenting a faithful and honest record of my experience as a mother, I hope to show both my readers and my children how truth can redeem even what you fear might be the gravest of sins.”

Children Shows Might Mother Sin Records Honest Reader My Children Faithful Presenting

Author:Ayelet Waldman

“I used to refer to myself as a 'theoretical anorexic,' just as crazy when it came to body image, but saved by a lack of self-discipline. My daughters do everything better than I do - they're smarter, more beautiful, happier. What if they end up better at anorexia, too?”

Ifs Ends Self Body Beautiful Used Mother Crazy Discipline Daughter Saved What If My Daughter Smarter Self Discipline Body Image Theoretical Anorexia Anorexics

Author:Ayelet Waldman

“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.”

Thinking Trying Children Happens Mother Happened Jokes Delight More Time Earnest Obsessing

Author:Ayelet Waldman

“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.”

Knows Children Mother Emotion Husband Daughter Capacity Mood Attractive My Husband Temperament Exhausting Extravagant

Book:Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace

Source: Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace

“When my first daughter was born, my husband held her in his hands and said, 'My God, she's so beautiful.' I unwrapped the baby from her blankets. She was average size, with long thin fingers and a random assortment of toes. Her eyes were close set, and she had her father's hooked nose. It looked better on him.”

Firsts Long Said Hands Eye Beautiful Mother Father Born Baby Husband Daughter Fingers Average Size Noses My Husband Her Eyes Toes Blanket Hooked

Author:Ayelet Waldman

“Aborting my baby is the most serious of the many maternal crimes I tally in my head when I am at my lowest, when the Bad Mother label seems to fit best. Rocketship was my baby. And I killed him.”

Seems Mother Crime Serious Baby Fit Labels Lowest My Baby Bad Mother

Author:Ayelet Waldman

“By the time the children go to bed, I am as drained as any mother who has spent her day working, car pooling, building Lego castles and shopping for the precisely correct soccer cleat.”

Children Mother Car Building Bed Soccer Shopping Castles Drained Legos Cleats

Author:Ayelet Waldman

“Think about it, I say. How many straight men maintain inappropriately intimate relationships with their mothers? How many shop with them? I want a gay son. People laugh, but they assume I'm kidding. I'm not.”

People Thinking Men Want Mother Inspiring Laughing Son Gay Assuming Intimate Shops Intimate Relationships Gay Son

Author:Ayelet Waldman

About the Author

Born: December 11, 1964
Known for: Novelist
Quotes: 126

Related Topics

Children Mother Ifs Thinking Kids Feels Husband Knows My Children Want Drug My Husband People Firsts Parent Ends Important Writing Baby Believe

Popular Topics

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

Books & Sources

Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of GraceRelated source material

A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My LifeRelated source material

Red Hook RoadRelated source material

Love and Other Impossible PursuitsRelated source material

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