230 Quotes by Mary Karr

If dysfunction means that a family doesn’t work, then every family ambles into some arena in which that happens, where relationships get strained or even break down entirely. We fail each other or disappoint each other. That goes for parents, siblings, kids, marriage partners – the whole enchilada.

Every day I feel more like some defeated matador limping out of the arena after I’ve been gored, or like some general coming back from a long battle.

Height – ours and our boyfriends – is a running contest between Lecia and me. If I tell her good news about myself, she’s liable to say ‘I’m five-nine’ and hang up.

Faith is not a feeling, she says. It’s a set of actions. By taking the actions, you demonstrate more faith than somebody who actually has experienced the rewards of prayer and so feels hope.

Bad things are gonna’ happen to you, because they happen to us all. And worrying won’t stave the really bad things off. Don’t make the mistake of comparing your twisted-up insides to other people’s blow-dried outsides. Even the most privileged person in this stadium suffers the torments of the damned just going about the business of being human.

People who didn’t live pre-Internet can’t grasp how devoid of ideas life in my hometown was. I stopped in the middle of the SAT to memorize a poem, because I thought, This is a great work of art and I’ll never see it again.

In some ways, writing a memoir is knocking yourself out with your own fist, if it’s done right.

Having a great dad probably permitted me to pal around with guys in a way that some women don’t.

I’m bred for farm work, and for such folk, the only A’s you get come from effort. Strife and strain are all the world can offer, and they temper you into something unbreakable because Lord knows they’ll try – without let up – to break you.