Anne Lamott Quotes About Parents

Quotes about: Parents

• I don't remember who said this, but there really are places in the heart you don't even know exist until you love a child.

  Anne Lamott

  Inspiring, Funny Inspirational, Children

  Anne Lamott (1994). “Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year”, Fawcett

• You fall so deeply in love with your grandbaby. It's so so so much easier than being a parent, because you really don't have much responsibility. And just when you are at the end of your rope with exhaustion, the parents take the baby away. So it's the best of both worlds.

  Anne Lamott

  Baby, Fall, Love You

• I don’t know why life isn’t constructed to be seamless and safe, why we make such glaring mistakes, things fall so short of our expectations, and our hearts get broken and out kids do scary things and our parents get old and don’t always remember to put pants on before they go out for a stroll. I don’t know why it’s not more like it is in the movies, why things don’t come out neatly and lessons can’t be learned when you’re in the mood for learning them, why love and grace often come in such motley packaging.

  Anne Lamott

  Mistake, Fall, Heart

• My parents, and librarians along the way, taught me about the space between words; about the margins, where so many juicy moments of life and spirit and friendship could be found. In a library, you could find miracles and truth and you might find something that would make you laugh so hard that you get shushed, in the friendliest way.

  Anne Lamott

  Space, Laughing, Parent

  Anne Lamott (2006). “Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith”, p.143, Penguin

• Remember that you own what happened to you. If your childhood was less than ideal, you may have been raised thinking that if you told the truth about what really went on in your family, a long bony white finger would emerge from a cloud and point to you, while a chilling voice thundered, "We *told* you not to tell." But that was then. Just put down on paper everything you can remember now about your parents and siblings and relatives and neighbors, and we will deal with libel later on.

  Anne Lamott

  Sibling, Thinking, Clouds

  Anne Lamott (2007). “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life”, p.6, Anchor

• We write to expose the unexposed. Most human beings are dedicated to keeping that one door shut. But the writer's job is to see what's behind it, to see the bleak unspeakable stuff, and to turn the unspeakable into words - not just into any words but if we can, into rhythm and blues. You can't do this without discovering your own true voice, and you can't find your true voice and peer behind the door and report honestly and clearly to us if your parents are reading over your shoulder.

  Anne Lamott

  Jobs, Reading, Writing

  Anne Lamott (2007). “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life”, p.198, Anchor

• Write as if your parents are dead.

  Anne Lamott

  Writing, Parent, Ifs

  Anne Lamott (2007). “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life”, p.199, Anchor

• ...one of the worst things about being a parent, for me, is the self-discovery, the being face to face with one's secret insanity and brokenness and rage.

  Anne Lamott

  Discovery, Self, Parent

  Anne Lamott (1994). “Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year”, Fawcett

• It feels like I'm babysitting in the Twilight Zone. I keep waiting for the parents to show up because we are out of chips and diet cokes.

  Anne Lamott

  Twilight, Waiting, Parent

• And my fear of failure has been lifelong and deep. If you are what you do- and I think my parents may have accidentally given me this idea- and you do poorly, what then? It’s over; you’re wiped out. All those prophecies you heard in the dark have come true, and people can see the real you, see what a schmendrick you are, what a fraud.

  Anne Lamott

  Real, Dark, Thinking

• All parents are an embarrassment to their kids. Often grandparents are the relief. Kids don't have to resist you.

  Anne Lamott

  Kids, Grandparent, Relief

  "Anne Lamott's directions for grandparents: 'Some Assembly Required'". Interview with Katia Hetter, www.cnn.com. April 6, 2012.

• I was raised by my parents to believe that you had a moral obligation to try and save the world. You sent money to the Red Cross, you registered people to vote, you marched in rallies, stood in vigils, picked up litter.

  Anne Lamott

  Believe, People, Parent

  Anne Lamott (2000). “Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith”, p.9, Anchor

• If you asked me, parents were supposed to affect the life of their child in such a way that the child grows up to be responsible, able to participate in life and in community.

  Anne Lamott

  Children, Growing Up, Community

• No matter what circumstances, it's hard to be a parent and maintain a sense of self and identity in the world.

  Anne Lamott

  Self, Parent, Identity

  "Anne Lamott's directions for grandparents: 'Some Assembly Required'". Interview with Katia Hetter, www.cnn.com. April 6, 2012.

• Most marriages are a mess, and the children get caught between two bitter, antagonistic parents. My parents stayed married for 27 unhappy years, till their kids were grown, and this was a catastrophe for us.

  Anne Lamott

  Children, Kids, Years

• It's intrusive for grandparents to think they're in charge. It's manipulative. Also, it's self-destructive, since if the parents have to resist you, you won't get your mitts on the kid as often.

  Anne Lamott

  Kids, Thinking, Self

  "Anne Lamott's directions for grandparents: 'Some Assembly Required'". Interview with Katia Hetter, www.cnn.com. April 6, 2012.

• Mothering has been the richest experience of my life, but I am still opposed to Mother's Day. It perpetuates the dangerous idea that all parents are somehow superior to non-parents.

  Anne Lamott

  Mother, Dangerous Ideas, Parent

• So I was doing well academically, and I was a well-ranked tennis player and was the apple of my handsome father's eye-and then I would bring home a report card with a B-plus on it, and my parents would look at the report card as if I'd flunked. "Uh, honey?" one of them would ask, looking perplexed. "Now, this isn't a criticism but, if you could get a B-plus in philosophy, how much harder would it have been to get an A-minus?"

  Anne Lamott

  Father, Philosophy, Eye

  Anne Lamott (2000). “Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith”, p.21, Anchor

• I was raised by my parents to believe that you had a moral obligation to try and help save the world.

  Anne Lamott

  Believe, Parent, Trying

• I had NO interest in being a theologian, especially not a Christian, as I had been raised by progressive atheists. We bowed down every morning to the golden calf of the New York Times, Noam Chomsky, Hannah Arendt. I tried to get my parents to respect and nourish me, let alone delight in me, so even though I secretly loved and believed in the Divine Something - Goodness, Good Orderly Direction, Gift of Desperation, the Cosmic Muffin - I wasn't ready yet to commit myself to the study of a higher power.

  Anne Lamott

  Christian, Morning, Atheist

  Source: www.cosmopolitan.com

• Having a child as a single mother was a crucible - maybe this is true for all parents. I got rid of so much stuff that didn't really matter in the scheme of things-like throwing stuff out of an airplane that kept me flying too low. What was left was essential, i.e. not a lot of extraneous stuff that had kept me busy and people-pleasing. I just didn't have the luxury of wasting my life force on so much stupidity and distraction. That made me strong.

  Anne Lamott

  Mother, Strong, Children

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

• Grief is just so scary.... If we finally begin to cry all those suppressed tears, they will surely wash us away like the Mississippi River. That's what our parents told us. We got sent to our rooms for having huge feelings. In my family, if you cried or got angry, you didn't get dinner.

  Anne Lamott

  Grief, Rivers, Parent

• Being a parent is absolutely exhausting and draining, along with all the joy and love.

  Anne Lamott

  Joy, Parent, And Love

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

• Talking to the parents of older kids was helpful for me, since parents of kids the same age as yours won't admit how horrible their children are.

  Anne Lamott

  Children, Kids, Talking

  Anne Lamott (2006). “Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith”, p.94, Penguin

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