After all those years as a woman hearing 'not thin enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough, not this enough, not that enough,' almost overnight I woke up one morning and thought, 'I'm enough.'

After all those years as a woman hearing 'not thin enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough, not this enough, not that enough,' almost overnight I woke up one morning and thought, 'I'm enough.'

America is a country that seems forever to be toddler or teenager, at those two stages of human development characterized by conflict between autonomy and security.

Women who marry early are often overly enamored of the kind of man who looks great in wedding pictures and passes the maid of honor his telephone number.

I'm sure not afraid of success and I've learned not to be afraid of failure. The only thing I'm afraid of now is of being someone I don't like much.

Even as we enumerate their shortcomings, the rigor of raising children ourselves makes clear to us our mothers' incredible strength. We fear both. If they are not strong, who will protect us? If they are not imperfect, how can we equal them?

There is little premium in poetry in a world that thinks of Pound and Whitman as a weight and a sampler, not an Ezra, a Walt, a thing of beauty, a joy forever.

People always blame the girl; she should have said no. A monosyllable, but conventional wisdom has always been that boys can't manage it.

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.

Children should have enough freedom to be themselves - once they've learned the rules.

The clearest explanation for the failure of any marriage is that the two people are incompatible; that is, that one is male and the other female.

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.

The greatest public health threat for many American women is the men they live with.