“Well, most women are full to the brim, that's all...We are, most of us, ready to explode, especially when our children are small and we are so weary with the demands for love and attention and the kind of service that makes you feel you should be wearing a uniform with "Mommy" embroidered over the left breast, over the heart...If a stranger had come up to me and said, "Do you want to talk about it? I have time to listen," I think I might have burst into tears at the relief of it.” IfsThinkingWantFeelsShouldWellsHeartKindChildrenSaidMightLeftAttentionTearsReadyDemandOur ChildrenCome UpStrangerReliefBreastsUniformsWeary Author:Elizabeth Berg
“It's amazing how smart the body is. Though maybe we could do without loving. I think it's overrated, and I think it's too hard. You should only love your children; that is necessary, because otherwise you might kill them. But to love a man? It's overrated, and it's too hard and I will never, ever do it again.” ThinkingMenShouldChildrenHardBodyMightSmartYour ChildrenOnly LoveOverratedLove Your Children Book:Open House: A Novel Source: Open House: A Novel
“In the classics section, she had picked up a copy of The Magic Mountain and recalled the summer between her junior and senior years of high school, when she read it, how she lay in bed hours after she should have gotten up, the sheet growing warmer against her skin as the sun rose higher in the sky, her mother poking her head in now and then to see if she'd gotten up yet, but never suggesting that she should: Eleanor didn't have many rules about child rearing, but one of them was this: Never interrupt reading.” IfsShouldYearsChildrenSchoolMotherReadingHoursSunGrowingMagicSkyHigherBedMountainSummerHigh SchoolShould HaveSkinsLaysRoseCopiesNow And ThenSeniorSheetsSectionsJuniorsSuggestingEleanorChild RearingSenior Year Book:Home Safe: A Novel Source: Home Safe: A Novel
“People say you should give until it hurts. I say you should give until it stops hurting. Know what I mean?” PeopleKnowsGivingShouldMeanHurtWorld War IiIt Hurts Author:Elizabeth Berg
“As a writer, you should have a sticky soul; the act of continually taking things in should be as much a part of you as your hair color.” ShouldWritingSoulColorHairShould HaveSticky Author:Elizabeth Berg
