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Dad was a philosopher and had what he called his Theory of Purpose, which held that 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.

Jeannette Walls

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Jeannette Walls
Age: 64
Born: 1960
Born: April 21
Journalist
Writer
Phoenix
Arizona
Space
Dad
Purpose
Planet
Everything
Planets
Time
Unless
Life
Taking
Wasting
Theory
Achieved
Called
Philosopher
Everybody
Held

More quotes by Jeannette Walls

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When someone's wounded, the first order of business is to stop the bleeding. You can figure out later how best to help them heal.
Jeannette Walls
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Mom always said people worried too much about their children. Suffering when you're young is good for you, she said. It immunized your body and your soul, and that was why she ignored us kids when we cried. Fussing over children who cry only encouraged them, she told us. That's positive reinforcement for negative behavior.
Jeannette Walls
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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
Jeannette Walls
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You'll never make a fortune working for the boss man.
Jeannette Walls
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You should never hate anyone, even your worst enemies. Everyone has something good about them. You have to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that.
Jeannette Walls
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Maybe I should have cut him some slack. With his broken wing and lifetime of eating roadkill, he probably had a lot to be ungrateful about. Too much hard luck can create a permanent meanness of spirit in any creature.
Jeannette Walls
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Teaching is a calling too. And I've always thought that teachers in their way are holy - angels leading their flocks out of the darkness.
Jeannette Walls
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Since Mom wasn't exactly the most useful person in the world, one lesson I learned at an early age was how to get things done, and this was a source of both amazement and concern for Mom, who considered my behavior unladylike but also counted on me. I never knew a girl to have such gumption, she'd say. But I'm not too sure it's a good thing.
Jeannette Walls
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I'm a big believer in luck - the harder you work, the luckier you become.
Jeannette Walls
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One of the most challenging aspects of writing a memoir is finding your own voice, and you should be very careful about being influenced by someone else's voice.
Jeannette Walls
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When I got a little older, I started writing for the high school newspaper, The Maroon Wave, and that's when I fell in love with journalism.
Jeannette Walls
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The dangerous falls were the ones that happened so fast you didn't have time to react
Jeannette Walls
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We're stronger than we realize.
Jeannette Walls
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You have to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that.
Jeannette Walls
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Interesting people always have a past.
Jeannette Walls
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Living there [Horse Mesa] was like living in a natural cathedral. Waking up every morning, you walked outside and looked down at the blue lake, then up at the sandstone cliffs--those awe-inspiring layers of red and yellow rock shaped over the millennia, with dozens of black-streaked crevices that temporarily became waterfalls after rainstorms.
Jeannette Walls
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Whenever I'm reading a book I enjoy, I always develop a mental list of the people I want to share it with.
Jeannette Walls
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Mom always said people worried too much about their children. Suffering when you are young is good for you, she said. It immunized your body and your soul.
Jeannette Walls
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When I asked my mother, ‘how do I tell people about you’ her answer was ‘tell the truth’. But of course, the truth is never simple.
Jeannette Walls
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That was the thing to remember about all monsters, They love to frighten people, but the minute you stare them down, they turn tail and run.
Jeannette Walls