Quote

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
Children
Side
Needs
Challenges
Cling
Every
Parent
Sink
Life
Sides
Swim
Teach
Lesson
Child
Figure
Better
Lessons
Whole
Figures

More quotes by Jeannette Walls

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In my opinion, trying to guess what readers want is the wrong approach. You have to tell your story as best you can and as true to yourself as possible. You have to be honest and fair and vulnerable and foolish and brave, and not care what anyone thinks of it.
Jeannette Walls
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I always wanted to be a serious journalist.
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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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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I found out that people are incredibly compassionate and kind. It really changed my view of the world.
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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Too much hard luck can create a permanent meanness of spirit in any creature.
Jeannette Walls
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No child is born a delinquent. They only became that way if nobody loved them when they were kids. Unloved children grow up to be serial murderers or alcoholics.
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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She had her addictions and one of them was reading.
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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I never had any question that my parents loved me. I had a real sense of self confidence.
Jeannette Walls
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....he said it was interesting. He used the word 'textured'. He said 'smooth' is boring but 'textured' was interesting, and the scar meant that I was stronger than whatever had tried to hurt me.
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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If you don't think you're hurt, then you aren't
Jeannette Walls
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I sit down at my desk pretty early in the morning and write all day until about 4 or 5 p.m.
Jeannette Walls
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I hadn’t been paying much attention to things like the sunrise, but that old sun had been coming up anyway. It didn’t really care how I felt, it was going to rise and set regardless of whether I noticed it, and if I was going to enjoy it, that was up to me.
Jeannette Walls
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Don't you make fun of me or my children! Some babies are premature. Mine were all postmature. That's why they're so smart. Their brains had longer to develop.
Jeannette Walls
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Confidence doesn't come from thinking you're perfect or flawless. That's arrogance. Confidence comes from appreciating the beauty of your texture.
Jeannette Walls
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Everything in life is gray, you know.
Jeannette Walls