294 Quotes by Jeannette Walls

One day we heard on the radio that a woman in the suburbs had seen a mountain lion behind her house and had called the police, who shot the animal. Dad got so angry he put his fist through a wall. “That mountain lion had as much right to his life as that sour old biddy does to hers,” he said. “You can’t kill something just because it’s wild.

He never said anything, but I think he figured that, as when we were kids, we both stood a better chance if we took on the world together.

Everyone has something good about them,” she said. “You have to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that.” “Oh yeah?” I said. “How about Hitler? What was his redeeming quality?” “Hitler loved dogs,” Mom said without hesitation.

I began to feel like I was getting the whole story for the first time, that I was being handed the missing pieces to the puzzle, and the world was making a little more sense.

Crockett and James Bowie got what was coming to them,” Mom said, “for stealing this land from the Mexicans.

She bought a bucket. It was made of yellow plastic, and we kept it on the floor in the kitchen, and that was what we used whenever we had to go to the bathroom. When it filled up, some brave soul would carry it outside, dig a hole, and empty it.

Those braces are a goddamn feat of engineering genius,” he said. “You take after your old man.

Don’t be someone else’s little cheerleader”, Mom said. “Be the star of your own show. Even if there’s no audience.

We all have our baggage, and I think the trick is not resisting it but accepting it, understanding that the worst experience has a valuable gift wrapped inside if you're willing to receive it.