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Susan Cheever Quotes

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Susan Cheever is an American author born on July 31, 1943. Her works are known for their deep character portrayals and rich emotional expression, primarily focusing on themes such as family, love, and faith.

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All Men Ifs Thinking Writing Addiction Brain Fall Feelings Knows Lovers

Famous Susan Cheever Quotes

“When Tolstoy wrote that all happy families are alike, what he meant was that there are no happy families.”

Happy Family

Author:Susan Cheever

“The birth of a child is in many ways the end of a marriage - marriage including a child has to be reinvented, and reinvented at a time when both husband and wife are under unprecedented stress and the wife is exhausted, physically drained, and emotionally in shock. A man's conflict between wanting his child to have a mother and wanting to have the mother to himself is potentially intolerable.”

Men Way Children Ends Mother Wife Birth Husband Conflict Stress Including Shock Exhausted Husband And Wife Unprecedented Drained Birth Of A Child

Book:A Woman's Life: The Story of an Ordinary American and Her Extraordinary Generation

Source: A Woman's Life: The Story of an Ordinary American and Her Extraordinary Generation

“There is no other closeness in human life like the closeness between a mother and her baby - chronologically, physically, and spiritually they are just a few heartbeats away from being the same person.”

Humans Persons Mother Baby Human Life Heartbeat Closeness

Book:A Woman's Life: The Story of an Ordinary American and Her Extraordinary Generation

Source: A Woman's Life: The Story of an Ordinary American and Her Extraordinary Generation

“The actual American childhood is less Norman Rockwell and Walt Disney than Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe.”

Childhood Walt Hawthorne Allan Poe

Book:A Woman's Life: The Story of an Ordinary American and Her Extraordinary Generation

Source: A Woman's Life: The Story of an Ordinary American and Her Extraordinary Generation

“Dogs are great teachers. They are at home in the world. They live in the moment, and they force us to stay there with them. Dogs love us unconditionally, not for our bodies or bank accounts.”

World Moments Home Body Force Teacher Dog Accounts Live In The Moment Great Teacher Bank Accounts Dog Love

Author:Susan Cheever

“Pregnancy is difficult for women but it is even more difficult for men.”

Men Difficult Pregnancy

Book:A Woman's Life: The Story of an Ordinary American and Her Extraordinary Generation

Source: A Woman's Life: The Story of an Ordinary American and Her Extraordinary Generation

“Guilt is petty; I am above guilt.”

Guilt Petty

Author:Susan Cheever

“A wedding isn't for the bride and groom, it's for the family and friends. The B. and G. are just props, silly stick figures with no more significance than the pink and white candy figures on the top of the cake.”

White Figures Sticks Silly Significance Cake Family And Friends Candy Brides Props Bride And Groom

Author:Susan Cheever

“Whenever there was a crisis, I found a man to help me take the edge off the feelings of helplessness and pain.”

Men Helping Feelings Pain Found Crisis Edges Help Me Helplessness

Book:Desire: Where Sex Meets Addiction

Source: Desire: Where Sex Meets Addiction

“Addiction isnt about substance - you arent addicted to the substance, you are addicted to the alteration of mood that the substance brings.”

Addiction Mood Substance Alterations

Author:Susan Cheever

“There were a number of books about Bill Wilson, and by him, but a lot of the basic biographical tasks had not been done.”

Book Done Numbers Tasks Bills Wilson

Author:Susan Cheever

“Womens currency is their looks. Like it or not, the most powerful woman is an 18-year-old woman.”

Years Looks Powerful Most Powerful Currency Old Woman Powerful Women

Author:Susan Cheever

“A fierce literary woman with a penchant for married men, Margaret Fuller was ultimately torn between motherhood and her final career as a political reporter.”

Men Political Careers Married Finals Motherhood Fierce Reporters Torn Married Man

Author:Susan Cheever

“There is some consensus: There's obsession, there's never satiety, and there's always remorse. For me, the big thing is that you're always breaking a promise - for example, you promise yourself you're just going to have coffee with a man, then before you know it, you're in bed together.”

Knows Men Bigs Together Example Promise Bed Coffee Obsession Big Things Remorse Consensus Satiety

Author:Susan Cheever

“Our [western] culture embraces sex addiction. If I drink too much or rack up credit-card debt or lose the rent in Vegas, that's bad. But if I have many lovers, that's good.”

Ifs Culture Sex Loses Too Much Lovers Drink Embrace Western Addiction Credit Debt Cards Vegas Credit Card Racks Western Culture Sex Addiction Credit Card Debt

Author:Susan Cheever

“If a woman is surrounded by lovers or if a woman has a lot of guys asking her out, that's considered wonderful. As a woman who's slept with a lot of men, I've always been complimented on my ability to attract men.”

Ifs Men Guy Ability Wonderful Lovers Asking

Author:Susan Cheever

“I think 12-step programs really work, rehab really works, certain types of therapies and talking to other addicts really work. There are a lot of things that work - that isn't the problem. The problem is getting the addicts to say they're addicts. The problem is admitting it.”

Thinking Problem Certain Talking Steps Type Program Therapy Addict Admitting Rehab 12 Step

Author:Susan Cheever

“I don't really think of writing as a career. It's something that happened to me. By working harder than I knew it was possible to work, I have become passable at it.”

Thinking Writing

Author:Susan Cheever

“All writers have strengths and weaknesses. I am terrified of being boring, so I write short, compressed stories that sometimes don't give a reader time to think about what they have read. I struggle to slow down.”

Thinking Giving Writing Sometimes Struggle Weakness Boring Slow Down Time To Think Having Strength

Author:Susan Cheever

“There is no such thing as expecting too much.”

Too Much Optimistic Expecting Expecting Too Much

Author:Susan Cheever

“Obsession is so extreme and so hard to imagine with the rational mind that it has a science-fiction-like quality to it-it's almost as if the obsessed one has been taken over by a replica, a pod, a facsimile of the rational person.”

Ifs Mind Persons Has Beens Hard Fiction Quality Taken Imagine Science Fiction Extremes Obsession Rational Obsessed Replica

Book:Desire: Where Sex Meets Addiction

Source: Desire: Where Sex Meets Addiction

“Writers often write their best when they are feeling their worst”

Writing Feelings Worst

Book:Louisa May Alcott: A Personal Biography

Source: Louisa May Alcott: A Personal Biography

“Death is terrifying because it is so ordinary. It happens all the time.”

Happens Death Ordinary

Book:Home Before Dark

Source: Home Before Dark

“Falling in love as we know it is an addictive experience.”

Knows Fall Falling In Love

Book:Desire: Where Sex Meets Addiction

Source: Desire: Where Sex Meets Addiction

“I believe that the memoir is the novel of the 21st century; it’s an amazing form that we haven’t even begun to tap…we’re just getting started figuring out what the rules are.”

Believe Form I Believe Novel Century Havens Memoir 21st Century Getting Started

Author:Susan Cheever

“You mustn’t be so open-minded that your brains fall out.”

Fall Brain Open Minded Open Mindedness Being Open Minded

Book:E. E. Cummings: A Life

Source: E. E. Cummings: A Life

“Personal experience is the lightning of the soul; it transforms the heart in ways that leave the brain behind.”

Way Heart Soul Behinds Brain Experience Lightning Personal Experiences

Book:American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau: Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work

Source: American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau: Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work

“Love is a great wrecker of peace of mind.”

Inspirational Mind Love Is Peace Of Mind

Book:As Good As I Could Be: A Memoir About Raising Wonderful Children in an Imperfect World

Source: As Good As I Could Be: A Memoir About Raising Wonderful Children in an Imperfect World

About the Author

Born: July 31, 1943
Known for: Author
Quotes: 28

Books & Sources

A Woman's Life: The Story of an Ordinary American and Her Extraordinary GenerationRelated source material

Desire: Where Sex Meets AddictionRelated source material

American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau: Their Lives, Their Loves, Their WorkRelated source material

As Good As I Could Be: A Memoir About Raising Wonderful Children in an Imperfect WorldRelated source material

E. E. Cummings: A LifeRelated source material

Home Before DarkRelated source material

Louisa May Alcott: A Personal BiographyRelated source material

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