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Jodi Picoult

Jodi Picoult Quotes

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Famous Jodi Picoult Quotes

“I wonder if all mothers feel like this the moment they realize their daughters are growing up- as if it is impossible to believe that the laundry I once folded for her was doll-sized; as if I can still see her dancing in lazy pirouettes along the lip of the sandbox. Wasn't it yesterday that her hand was only as big as the sand dollar she found on the beach? That same hand, the one that's holding a boy's; wasn't it just holding mine, tugging so that I might stop and see the spiderweb, the milkweed pod, any of a thousand moments she wanted me to freeze? Time is an optical illusion- never quite as solid or strong as we think it is. You would assume that, given everything, I saw this coming. But watching Kate watch this boy, I see I have a thousand things to learn.”

MotherGrowing UpDaughterTime Passing
Book:My Sister's Keeper
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“When you're pregnant, you can think of nothing but having your own body to yourself again, yet after having given birth you realize that the biggest part of you is now somehow external, subject to all sorts of dangers and disappearance, so you spend the rest of your life trying to figure out how to keep it close enough for comfort. That's the strange thing about being a mother: until you have a baby, you don't even realize how much you were missing one.”

MotherBabyMotherhoodParentsPregnancy
Book:Vanishing Acts
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“My mother... she is beautiful, softened at the edges and tempered with a spine of steel. I want to grow old and be like her.”

WantLoveBeautifulMotherGrowsGrowing UpMomDaughterEdgesSteelMothers DaySpineYour MomBeing A MotherLike HerMotheringMother DaughterMother And DaughterHappy Mothers DayYour DaughterMother's LoveBest MotherYour MumMom And DaughterMothers Day InspirationalLove For My MotherMother Daughter RelationshipLike A MotherShe Is BeautifulMother And Daughter RelationshipMom DaughterWonderful MotherBeautiful Mother And Daughter
Author:Jodi Picoult
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“Maybe you had to leave in order to really miss a place; maybe you had to travel to figure out how beloved your starting point was... ...Parents aren't the people you come from. They're the people you want to be, when you grow up. I sat between my mother and my father, watching strangers on TV carry in Shaker rockers and dusty paintings and ancient beer tankards and cranberry glass dishes; people and their hidden treasures, who had to be told by experts that they'd taken something incredibly precious for granted.”

PeopleWantMotherOrderFatherGrowsParentGrowing UpTakenMissingFiguresPaintingTvsStartingAncientGlassesStrangerTreasureGrantedBeerBelovedSatExpertsDishesStarting PointRockersHidden TreasureShakersCranberries
Author:Jodi Picoult
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“When you're pregnant, you can think of nothing but having your own body to yourself again; yet after giving birth you realize that the biggest part of you is now somehow external, subject to all sorts of dangers and disappearance, so you spend the rest of your life trying to figure out how to keep her close enough for comfort. That's the strange thing about being a mother: Until you have a baby, you don't even realize how much you were missing one.”

ThinkingGivingTryingEnoughBodyMotherRealizingSubjectsMissingFiguresDangerStrangeBabyBirthComfortPregnantRest Of Your LifeStrange ThingsBeing A MotherGiving BirthDisappearance
Book:The Jodi Picoult Collection #3: Vanishing Acts, The Tenth Circle, and Nineteen Minutes
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“I thought of all the magazine article I'd read on mothers who worked and constantly felt guilty about leaving their children with someone else. I had trained myself to read pieces like that and silently say to myself, 'See how lucky you are?' But it had been gnawing at the inside, that part that didn't fit, that I never let myself even think about. After all, wasn't it a worse kind of guilt to be with your child and to know that you wanted to be anywhere but there?”

ThinkingKnowsKindChildrenWantedMotherFeltPiecesFitLuckyGuiltLeavingGuiltyMagazinesYour ChildrenArticlesLucky You
Book:Harvesting the Heart: A Novel
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“But I think half the battle is figuring out what works for you, and I am much better at being a mother than I ever would have been as a lawyer. I sometimes wonder if it is just me, or if there are other women who figure out where they are supposed to be by going nowhere." - My Sister's Keeper”

IfsThinkingHas BeensSometimesMotherHalfWonderFiguresBattleLawyerSupposed To BeMy SisterKeepersBeing A MotherMy Sister's Keeper
Book:My Sister's Keeper - Movie Tie-In: A Novel
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“Was it the act of giving birth that made you a mother? Did you lose that label when you relinquished your child? If people were measured by their deeds, on the one hand, I had a woman who had chosen to give me up; on the other, I had a woman who'd sat up with me at night when I was sick as a child, who'd cried with me over boyfriends, who'd clapped fiercely at my law school graduation. Which acts made you more of a mother? Both, I realized. Being a parent wasn't just about bearing a child. It was about bearing witness to its life.”

PeopleIfsGivingChildrenMadeHandsSchoolLawMotherNightParentLosesBirthSickGive MeParentingDeedsI RealizedChosenWitnessLabelsYour ChildrenSatCriedAdoptionBeing A ParentLaw SchoolGiving BirthSchool GraduationBearing Witness
Book:Handle with Care: A Novel
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“As a child, what I was missing was so much bigger to me than what I had. My mother-mythic, imaginary-was a deity and a superhero and a comfort all at once. If only I'd had her, surely, she would have been the answer to every problem; if only I'd had her , she would have been the cure for everything that ever had gone wrong in my life.”

IfsChildrenHas BeensProblemMotherAnswersGoneMissingComfortBiggerCuresImaginarySuperheroDeities
Book:Vanishing Acts
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“Real mothers don't just listen with humble embarrassment to the elderly lady who offers unsolicited advice in the checkout line when a child is throwing a tantrum. We take the child, dump him in the lady's cart, and say, "Great. Maybe you can do a better job." Real mothers know that it's okay to eat cold pizza for breakfast. Real mothers admit it is easier to fail at this job than to succeed.”

KnowsChildrenRealJobsMotherCan DoLinesFailingAdviceColdEasierOffersSucceedOkayHumbleBreakfastThrowingElderlyEmbarrassmentPizzaJust ListenDumpCartsBetter JobsTantrumsCheckoutsUnsolicited Advice
Book:House Rules: A Novel
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“The first question she was asked was What do you do? as if that were enough to define you. Nobody ever asked you who you really were, because that changed. You might be a judge or a mother or a dreamer. You might be a loner or a visionary or a pessimist. You might be the victim, and you might be the bully. You could be the parent, and also the child. You might wond one day and heal the next.”

IfsFirstsChildrenEnoughMightMotherNextParentChangedJudgingOne DayVictimHealDreamerBullyVisionariesPessimistLonerDefine You
Book:Nineteen Minutes
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“I have a sister, so I know-that relationship, it's all about fairness: you want your sibling to have exactly what you have-the same amount of toys, the same number of meatballs on your spaghetti, the same share of love. But being a mother is completely different. You want your child to have more than you ever did. You want to build a fire underneath her and watch her soar. It's bigger than words.”

KnowsWantChildrenDifferentMotherNumbersWatchesFireShareAmountBiggerYour ChildrenToysFairnessSoarSiblingSisterBeing A MotherSpaghettiMeatballsBuild A Fire
Book:My Sister's Keeper
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“Where did you go?" "To the end of the driveway," my mother says. "I was nine months pregnant; that was the maximum distance I could waddle without feeling as if my uterus was falling out." I wince. "Do you have to be quite so graphic?" "What would you like me to call it, Zoe? A fetal living room?”

IfsEndsFeelingsMotherFallRoomsMonthsDistanceNineLike MePregnantMaximumGraphicLiving RoomNine MonthsDrivewayWinceUterus
Book:Sing You Home: A Novel
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“I cannot admit this out loud. In the first place, we are expected to be supermoms these days, instead of admitting that we have flaws. It is tempting to believe that all mothers wake up feeling fresh every morning, never raise their voices, only cook with organic food, and are equally at ease with the CEO and the PTA.”

FirstsBelieveFeelingsMotherVoiceMorningWake UpRaisesExpectedCooksThese DaysEaseLoudFlawsEvery MorningCeoAdmittingTemptingOrganic FoodPta
Book:House Rules: A Novel
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“Grief is a curious thing, when it happens unexpectedly. It is a Band-Aid being ripped away, taking the top layer off a family. And the underbelly of a household is never pretty, ours no exception. There were times I stayed in my room for days on end with headphones on, if only so that I would not have to listen to my mother cry. There were the weeks that my father worked round-the-clock shifts, so that he wouldn't have to come home to a house that felt too big for us.”

IfsEndsHomeBigsHappensMotherFatherHouseFeltRoomsGriefWeekCryBandRoundsAidsCuriousClockExceptionComing HomeLayersHouseholdRippedHeadphonesBand Aid
Book:My Sister's Keeper: A Novel
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