Ayelet Waldman Quotes - Page 4

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• I was born in Israel, to Canadian parents. My father immigrated in 1948, part of a wave of young men and women who came as pioneers, to fight for a Jewish homeland. Their motive was in large part a reaction to the Holocaust, and their slogan was 'Never Again.'

  Ayelet Waldman

  Father, Fighting, Men

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• Before I was married, I didn't consider my failure to manage even basic hand tools a feminist inadequacy. I thought it had more to do with being Jewish. The Jews I knew growing up didn't do 'do-it-yourself.' When my father needed to hammer something he generally used his shoe, and the only real tool he owned was a pair of needle-nose pliers.

  Ayelet Waldman

  Growing Up, Real, Father

  Ayelet Waldman (2009). “Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace”, p.81, Anchor

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• By presenting a faithful and honest record of my experience as a mother, I hope to show both my readers and my children how truth can redeem even what you fear might be the gravest of sins.

  Ayelet Waldman

  Mother, Children, Faithful

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• I really hate alcohol. I hate it because it's linked so closely to sexual assault in our culture.

  Ayelet Waldman

  Hate, Alcohol, Culture

  Source: m.motherjones.com

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• I believe that mothers should tell the truth, even - no, especially - when the truth is difficult. It's always easier, and in the short term can even feel right, to pretend everything is okay, and to encourage your children to do the same. But concealment leads to shame, and of all hurts shame is the most painful.

  Ayelet Waldman

  Inspiring, Mothers Day, Hurt

  Ayelet Waldman (2009). “Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace”, p.3, Anchor

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• Despite the fact that in America we incarcerate more juveniles for life terms than in any other country in the world, the truth is that the vast majority of youth offenders will one day be released. The question is simple and stark. Do we want to help them change or do we want to help them become even more violent and dangerous?

  Ayelet Waldman

  Country, Simple, America

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• So many women today have become so focused on their children, they've developed these romantic entanglements with their children's lives, and the husbands are secondary. They're left out. And the romantic focus is on the children.

  Ayelet Waldman

  Children, Husband, Focus

  "A Mother's Love". “The Oprah Winfrey Show”, www.oprah.com. April 20, 2005.

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• I believe the approach we take to talking to our kids about drugs can, in some cases, mean the difference between life and death. So my approach is really simple: I just don't want them to die. And I want them to be able to save someone's life if they see someone die.

  Ayelet Waldman

  Believe, Kids, Mean

  Source: m.motherjones.com

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• Well, you know, I was raised by a 1970s feminist. My mom had a consciousness-raising group. I used to sit at the top of the stairs and listen to them.

  Ayelet Waldman

  Mom, Feminist, Groups

  "Ayelet Waldman's Memoir Of A 'Bad Mother'". "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross, www.npr.org. May 5, 2009.

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• When the babies were very young, I found it difficult to write. I told myself each time that it would be different, I was used to it now, but with every child, for the first four months, I would accomplish nothing.

  Ayelet Waldman

  Baby, Children, Writing

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• The stereotypical gay man is someone whose company I enjoy, someone who makes me laugh, someone I'd want my kid to be. The stereotypical gay woman makes me insecure, conscious of my failings as a feminist.

  Ayelet Waldman

  Kids, Insecure, Gay

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• The idea that [Jeff Sessions] is the man who is going to end the progress on the drug war makes me want to rip my hair out, every carefully nurtured curl on my head.

  Ayelet Waldman

  Rip, War, Men

  Source: m.motherjones.com

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• Yes, I have four children. Four children with whom I spend a good part of every day: bathing them, combing their hair, sitting with them while they do their homework, holding them while they weep their tragic tears. But I'm not in love with any of them. I am in love with my husband.

  Ayelet Waldman

  Children, Husband, Hair

  "The centre of my universe" by Ayelet Waldman, www.theguardian.com. November 26, 2005.

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• You can take the babushka off the Jewish mother and dress her up in a pair of Seven jeans and Marc Jacobs sling-backs, but she's still going to expect a passel of grandkids.

  Ayelet Waldman

  Mother, Jeans, Dresses

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• Those of us whose parenting style can be described as "a series of reflexes, instincts, and minute-by-minute adjustments," as Julie of A Little Pregnant puts it, rather than as a philosophy, are less invested in our own practices. What we do is often less a matter of conviction than one of convenience. What we need to remember is that there is no need to apologize for that, even in the face of the most red-faced outrage.

  Ayelet Waldman

  Philosophy, Practice, Style

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• I just don't have a lick of optimism left in me.

  Ayelet Waldman

  Optimism, Left

  Source: m.motherjones.com

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• If producing a regular column is living out loud, then keeping a daily blog is living at the top of your lungs. For a couple of months there, I was shrieking like a banshee.

  Ayelet Waldman

  Couple, Months, Banshees

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• I'd written personal essays before, but never on this scale -- never so often and with such, er, honesty. (If by honesty I mean slashing my wrists and hemorrhaging all over the computer screen).

  Ayelet Waldman

  Honesty, Mean, Computer

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• There is an inverse correlation between the cleanliness of a bathroom and my 3-year-old daughter's need to move her bowels.

  Ayelet Waldman

  Daughter, Moving, Years

  "Baby Lust". www.salon.com. April 11, 2005.

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• I really think we were charting a course to having a more sane response to mass incarceration, to drug use, and to understanding that the war on drugs has resulted only in the empowerment of vast criminal enterprises and the destruction of democracies around the world. And all that is coming to a miserable, horrific halt.

  Ayelet Waldman

  War, Thinking, Drug Use

  Source: m.motherjones.com

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• With prodigious bravery and eviscerating humor, Roxane Gay takes on culture and politics in Bad Feminist-and gets it right, time and time again. We should all be lucky enough to be such a bad feminist.

  Ayelet Waldman

  Gay, Bravery, Feminist

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• Personally, I think four is the perfect number of children for our particular family. Four is enough to create the frenzied cacophony that my husband and I find so joyful.

  Ayelet Waldman

  Children, Husband, Thinking

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• My own husband was divorced when we met, but without kids. I don't know what I would have done if he'd had them. I got the message very early on that the worst mistake a woman can make is marrying a man with children.

  Ayelet Waldman

  Children, Husband, Mistake

  "‘Impossible Pursuits’ on film: A Q&A with Ayelet Waldman". Interview with Katie Hafner, www.huffingtonpost.com. January 4, 2011.

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• I have made so many mistakes as a mother. But the one thing that I know I do is I make sure my children know how much I love them and they are absolutely secure in that.

  Ayelet Waldman

  Mother, Children, Mistake

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• I love the novel of 'The English Patient'; I think it's a profoundly beautiful novel. I love the movie of 'The English Patient'; I think it's a profoundly beautiful movie. And they're totally different. You accept each on its own terms, and that's kind of the ideal.

  Ayelet Waldman

  Beautiful, Thinking, Different

  "Ayelet Waldman on Acting Your Age". Interview with Tim J Luddy, www.motherjones.com. November/December 2009.

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