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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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Jeannette Walls
Age: 64
Born: 1960
Born: April 21
Journalist
Writer
Phoenix
Arizona
Sides
Swim
Life
Lesson
Teach
Figure
Child
Lessons
Better
Figures
Whole
Side
Children
Challenges
Cling
Needs
Parent
Sink
Every

More quotes by 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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...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 in this world, Dad said, it's not enough to have a fine education. You need a piece of paper to prove you go it.
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I always wanted to be a serious journalist.
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No one expected you to amount to much, she told me. Lori was the smart one, Maureen the pretty one, and Brian the brave one. You never had much going for you except that you always worked hard.
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She never felt sorry for herself, and that was something I decided I admired most in people.
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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Don't be afraid of your dark places. ... If you can shine a light on them, you'll find treasure there.
Jeannette Walls
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You West Virginia girls are one tough breed, he said. You got that right, I told him.
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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But the positive thoughts would give way to negative thoughts, and the negative thoughts seemed to swoop into her mind the way a big flock of black crows takes over the landscape, sitting thick in the trees and on the fence rails and lawns, staring at you in ominous silence.
Jeannette Walls
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Mom also hinted a couple of times that it was good I was going to college, since with one failed marriage behind me, I 'd have trouble landing a good husband and would need something to fall back on. A package that's been opened once doesn't have the same appeal.
Jeannette Walls
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Whoever coined the phrase 'a man's got to play the hand that was dealt him' was most certainly one piss-poor bluffer.
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
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We laughed about all the kids who believed in the Santa Clause myth and got nothing but a bunch of cheap plastic toys. 'Years from now, when all the junk they got is broken and long forgotten,' Dad said, ' you'll still have your stars.
Jeannette Walls
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One benefit of Summer was that each day we had more light to read by.
Jeannette Walls
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It's really not that hard to put food on the table if that's what you decide to do.
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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Fussing over children who cry only encourages them. That's positive reinforcement for negative behavior.
Jeannette Walls
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Life's too short to care about what other people think. Besides, they should accept us for who we are
Jeannette Walls
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Unlike diamonds, watches were practical. They were for people on the run, people with appointments to keep and schedules to meet.
Jeannette Walls