Bessie-isms:

*Having your first child is a real slap in the face, a wake up call to inspire you to grow up, be an adult, learn how to parent and figure out how to love decently. You aren’t half as prepared as you think you are, but you’ll figure that out soon enough.

*The thing I fear most about old age is that I might lose the memories of when my kids were young. Death would be a better fate, than that slow diminishment of joy.

Quotable:

In a very real sense, people who have read good literature have lived more than people who cannot or will not read. It is not true that we have only one life to live; if we can read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish.

S.I. Hayakawa