“I was the class podiatrist. I never made it to class clown. I wasn't funny enough. I would examine feet and prescribe and ointment. It was a sad childhood.” MadeEnoughClassFeetChildhoodMade ItClown Author:Gilbert Gottfried
“There was the usual dreaminess, I suppose. Also a shyness that caused me - and others - to notice that I could express myself better by writing than by speaking. This is typical of many writers, I think. What is a drawback in childhood is an asset to a literary life. Not being fluent on one’s feet sends one to the page and a habit is born.” ThinkingWritingBornFeetChildhoodHabitPagesAssetsUsualTypicalShynessDrawbacksFluent Author:Lorrie Moore
“Childhood was terrifying for me. A kid has no control. You’re three feet tall, flat broke, unemployed, and illiterate. Terror snaps you awake. You pay keen attention. People can just pick you up and move you and put you down.” PeopleKidsMovingThreePayAttentionFeetChildhoodPicksTerrorBrokeAwakeFlatsTallSnapsUnemployedIlliterate Author:Mary Karr
“The earthquake, however, must be to every one a most impressive event: the earth, considered from our earliest childhood as the type of solidity, has oscillated like a thin crust beneath our feet; and in seeing the laboured works of man in a moment overthrown, we feel the insignificance of his boasted power.” MenFeelsMomentsEarthSeeingFeetChildhoodEventsTypeImpressiveEarthquakesInsignificanceSolidity Book:Delphi Complete Works of Charles Darwin (Illustrated) Source: Delphi Complete Works of Charles Darwin (Illustrated)
“Witness the American ideal: the Self-Made Man. But there is no such person. If we can stand on our own two feet, it is because others have raised us up. If, as adults, we can lay claim to competence and compassion, it only means that other human beings have been willing and enabled to commit their competence and compassion to us--through infancy, childhood, and adolescence, right up to this very moment.” IfsMenHumansMeanPersonsHas BeensMadeTwoSelfMomentsHuman BeingsCompassionFeetChildhoodWillingAdultsIdealsClaimsLaysRaisedCommitWitnessAdolescenceCompetenceInfancySelf MadeSelf Made Man Author:Urie Bronfenbrenner
“Many children grow through adolescence with no ripples whatever and land smoothly and predictably in the adult world with both feet on the ground. Some who have stumbled and bumbled through childhood suddenly burst into bloom. Most shake, steady themselves, zigzag, fight, retreat, pick up, take new bearings, and finally find their own true balance.” WorldChildrenFightingGrowsFeetLandChildhoodBalancePicksAdultsShakesSteadyAdolescenceRetreatRippleFeet On The Ground Author:Stella Chess
“My face is muffled in my mother's clothing. Her rhinestones injure me. See: my feet are going. Fish flee the forefinger of my aunt. The sun streams over the geraniums. What has this to do with what I feel, with what I am.” FeelsFacesMotherSunFeetChildhoodFishesStreamsClothingsAunt Author:William H. Gass