"I was set free because my greatest fear had been realized, and I still had a daughter who I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life."

"It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends."

"I would like to be remembered as someone who did the best she could with the talent she had."

"Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young."

"Now that virtually every career is an option for ambitious girls, it can no longer be considered regressive or reactionary to reintroduce discussion of marriage and motherhood to primary education. We certainly do not want to return to the simplistic duality of home economics classes for girls and wood shop for boys."

"It is a radiant truth that the spark of ambition becomes a blaze of accomplishment only through disciplined persistence — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"A son can bear with equanimity the loss of his father, but the loss of his inheritance may drive him to despair."

"Isn't it sad to go to your grave without ever wondering why you were born? Who, with such a thought, would not spring from bed, eager to resume discovering the world and rejoicing to be part of it?"