She knew how to get by on next to nothing. pg. 21
One thing about whoring: It put a chicken on the table.
New Yorkers, I figured, just pretended to be unfriendly.
If you don't want to sink, you better figure out how to swim
Everything in life had a purpose, and unless it achieved that purpose, it was just taking up space on the planet and wasting everybody's time.
As I sat down, though, I realized that you can get used to certain luxuries that you start to think they're necessities, but when you have to forgo them, you come to see that you don't need them after...
Even though I was getting better education at home than any of the kids in Toyah, I'd need to go to finishing school when I was thirteen, both to acquire social graces and to earn a diploma. Because i...
What struck me most was his crooked grin, like he saw the world in his own special way and got a kick out of it.
There was nothing to compare with standing on a piece of land you owned free and clear. No one could push you off it, no one could take it from you, no one could tell you what to do with it. The soil...
Once you go on welfare it changes you. Even if you get off welfare, you never escape the stigma that you were a charity case. You're scarred for life.
I’ve told you before, life’s not about doing what you want.
I’m a grown woman now, Mom said almost every morning. Why can’t I do what I want to do?
In this world, it's not enough to have a fine education. You need a piece of paper to prove you got it.
Don't worry, God understands,' Mom said. 'He knows that your father is a cross we must bear.
Woman grabbed my shirt and tried to pull me over the chain. It’s all right, I told her. My dad does stuff like this all the time. He should be arrested! she shouted. Okay, kids,
You can't prepare for everything life's going to throw at you. And you can't avoid danger. It's there. The world is a dangerous place, and if you sit around wringing your hands about it, you'll out on...
You can't cling to the side your whole life, that one lesson every parent needs to teach a child is If you don't want to sink, you better figure out how to swim
Sometimes it didn't matter how much gumption you had. What mattered were the cards you'd been dealt.
She was developing what Mom called a bit of a sarcastic streak.
Life's too short to worry about what other people think... Anyway, they should accept us for who we are.