Judith Viorst Quotes

Quotes about:

Age Aging Childhood Children Dreams Fathers Giving

We lost not only through death, but also by leaving and being left, by changing and letting go and moving on. And our losses include not only our separations and departures from those we love, but our conscious and unconscious losses of romantic dreams, impossible expectations, illusions of freedom and power, illusions of safety -- and the loss of our own younger self, the self that thought it would always be unwrinkled and invulnerable and immortal.

Judith Viorst

Letting Go, Dream, Moving

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Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands - and then eat just one of the pieces.

Judith Viorst

Inspirational, Strength, Food

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Losing is the price we pay for living. It is also the source of much of our growth and gain.

Judith Viorst

Loss, Growth, Pay

Judith Viorst (2010). “Necessary Losses: The Loves Illusions Dependencies and Impossible Ex”, p.325, Simon and Schuster

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One advantage of marriage is that, when you fall out of love with him or he falls out of love with you, it keeps you together until you fall in again.

Judith Viorst

Love, Marriage, Funny Valentines Day

Judith Viorst (1987). “Love and Guilt and the Meaning of Life, Etc.”, Fireside

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Recognize joy when it arrives in the plain brown wrappings of everyday life.

Judith Viorst

Life, Joy, Everyday

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Lust is what keeps you wanting to do it even when you have no desire to be with each other. Love is what makes you want to be with each other even when you have no desire to do it.

Judith Viorst

Love, Relationship, Lust

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Close friends contribute to our personal growth. They also contribute to our personal pleasure, making the music sound sweeter, the wine taste richer, the laughter ring louder because they are there.

Judith Viorst

Happiness, Friends, Laughter

Judith Viorst (2010). “Necessary Losses: The Loves Illusions Dependencies and Impossible Ex”, p.181, Simon and Schuster

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Growing up means letting go of the dearest megalomaniacal dreams of our childhood. Growing up means knowing they can't be fulfilled. Growing up means gaining the wisdom and the skills to get what we want within the limitations imposed by reality - a reality which consists of diminished powers, restricted freedoms and, with the people we love, imperfect connections.

Judith Viorst

Letting Go, Dream, Growing Up

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READ! Books can be as delicious as hot-fudge sundaes, as funny as clowns, as exciting as a baseball game that's tied in the 9th inning, and as beautiful as the best sunset you ever saw.

Judith Viorst

Beautiful, Baseball, Book

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For we lose not only by death, but also by leaving and being left, by changing and letting go and moving on.

Judith Viorst

Letting Go, Moving, Leaving

Judith Viorst (2010). “Necessary Losses: The Loves Illusions Dependencies and Impossible Ex”, p.15, Simon and Schuster

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the lives we lead are determined, for better and worse, by our loss experiences.

Judith Viorst

Loss, Determined

Judith Viorst (2010). “Necessary Losses: The Loves Illusions Dependencies and Impossible Ex”, p.17, Simon and Schuster

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I had it together on Sunday. By Monday at noon it had cracked. On Tuesday debris Was descending on me. And by Wednesday no part was intact. On Thursday I picked up some pieces. On Friday I picked up the rest. By Saturday, late, It was almost set straight. And on Sunday the world was impressed With how well I had got it together.

Judith Viorst

Friday, Monday, Sunday

Judith Viorst (2001). “Suddenly Sixty and Other Shocks of Later Life”, p.65, Simon and Schuster

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When he is late for dinner and I know he must be either having an affair or lying dead in the street, I always hope he's dead.

Judith Viorst

Women, Lying, Dinner

Judith Viorst (2014). “When Did I Stop Being Twenty and Other Injustices”, p.96, Simon and Schuster

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We begin life with loss. We are cast from the womb without an apartment, a charge plate, a job or a car. We are sucking, sobbing, clinging, helpless babies.

Judith Viorst

Baby, Jobs, Loss

Judith Viorst (2010). “Necessary Losses: The Loves Illusions Dependencies and Impossible Ex”, p.21, Simon and Schuster

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I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Judith Viorst

Mom, Mother, Bad Day

"Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day". Book by Judith Viorst, June 16, 1972.

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Sun lighting a child's hair. A friend's embrace. Slow dancing in a safe and quiet place. The pleasures of an ordinary life.

Judith Viorst

Children, Hair, Dancing

Judith Viorst (1990). “Forever Fifty and Other Negotiations”, Thorndike Pr

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My mom says I'm her sugarplum.
My mom says I'm her lamb.
My mom says I'm completely perfect
Just the way I am.
My mom says I'm a super-special wonderful terrific little guy.
My mom just had another baby.
Why?

Judith Viorst

Mom, Baby, Sibling

Judith Viorst (2010). “Necessary Losses: The Loves Illusions Dependencies and Impossible Ex”, p.94, Simon and Schuster

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Love is when you realize that he's as sexy as Woody Allen, as smart as Jimmy Connors, as funny as Ralph Nader, as athletic as Henry Kissinger and nothing like Robert Redford - but you'll take him anyway.

Judith Viorst

Sexy, Smart, Love Is

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Somewhere slightly before or after the close of our second decade, we reach a momentous milestone--childhood's end. We have left asafe place and can't go home again. We have moved into a world where life isn't fair, where life is rarely what it should be.

Judith Viorst

Growing Up, Home, Childhood

Judith Viorst (2010). “Necessary Losses: The Loves Illusions Dependencies and Impossible Ex”, p.157, Simon and Schuster

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Because we believe ourselves to be better parents than our parents, we expect to produce better children than they produced.

Judith Viorst

Children, Believe, Parent

Judith Viorst (2010). “Necessary Losses: The Loves Illusions Dependencies and Impossible Ex”, p.210, Simon and Schuster

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Absence makes the heart grow frozen, not fonder.

Judith Viorst

Heart, Frozen, Absence

Judith Viorst (2010). “Necessary Losses: The Loves Illusions Dependencies and Impossible Ex”, p.27, Simon and Schuster

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as we acquire new aches and new pains, our health care is, of necessity, being supplied by internists, cardiologists, dermatologists, podiatrists, urologists, periodontists, gynecologists and psychiatrists, from all of whom we want a second opinion. We want a second opinion that says, don't worry, you are going to live forever.

Judith Viorst

Life, Pain, Health

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For some it takes a lifetime to find true love, But for the lucky ones a lifetime is merely enough to share the love they've found.

Judith Viorst

Greatest Love, Lucky, Lifetime

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Friends broaden our horizons. They serve as new models with whom we can identify. They allow us to be ourselves-and accept us that way. They enhance our self-esteem because they think we're okay, because we matter to them. And because they matter to us-for various reasons, at various levels of intensity-they enrich the quality of our emotional life.

Judith Viorst

Friendship, Self Esteem, Emotional

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Superstition is foolish, childish, primitive and irrational - but how much does it cost you to knock on wood?

Judith Viorst

Superstitions, Doe, Cost

Judith Viorst (1987). “Love and Guilt and the Meaning of Life, Etc.”, Fireside

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Born: February 2, 1931
Occupation: Author
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