Jodi Picoult, House Rules
13 quotes
"It's never the differences between people that surprise us. It's the things that, against all odds, we have in common."
"Then Henry speaks again. "Did he do it?"I turn to him slowly. "Does it matter?"
"I [Jacob Hunt, Aspie] see it as the next step of evolution: I cannot take away your sadness, so why should I acknowledge it?"
"I don't understand why people never say what they mean. It's like the immigrants who come to a country and learn the language but are completely baffled by idioms. (Seriously, how could anyone who isn't a native English speaker 'get the picture,' so to speak, and not assume it has something to do with a photo or a painting?)"
"We're [parents]) always bluffing, pretending we know best, when most of the time we're just praying we won't screw up too badly."
"On the other hand, I think cats have Asperger's. Like me, they're very smart. And like me, sometimes they simply need to be left alone."
"My dad used to say that living with regrets was like driving a car that only moved in reverse."
"The best place to cry is on a mother's arms."
"Motherhood is a Sisyphean task. You finish sewing one seam shut, and another rips open. I have come to believe that this life I'm wearing will never really fit."
"I cannot admit this out loud. In the first place, we are expected to be supermoms these days, instead of admitting that we have flaws. It is tempting to believe that all mothers wake up feeling fresh every morning, never raise their voices, only cook with organic food, and are equally at ease with the CEO and the PTA."
"We all know that a sky with clouds in it is much more interesting than one that doesn’t have any."
"It's the child who's supposed to cry, and the mom who makes it all better, not the other way around, which is why mothers will move heaven and earth to hold it together in front of their own kids."
"I don't know what he means by that, but I nod and smile at him. You'd be surprised at how far that response can get you in a conversation where you are completely confused."