#the

I am the woman I grew to be partly in spite of my mother, and partly because of the extraordinary love of her best friends, and my own best friends' mothers, and from surrogates, many of whom were not women at all but gay men. I have loved them my entire life, even after their passing. ↗

— Anne Lamott

#am #because #best #entire #entire life

I didn't write about my mother much in the third year after she died. I was still trying to get my argument straight: When her friends or our relatives wondered why I was still so hard on her, I could really lay out the case for what it had been like to be raised by someone who had loathed herself, her husband, even her own name. ↗

— Anne Lamott

#after #argument #been #case #could

I spent my whole life helping my mother carry around her psychic trunks like a bitter bellhop. So a great load was lifted when she died, and my life was much easier. ↗

— Anne Lamott

#bitter #carry #died #easier #great

I used to tell my writing students that they must write the books they wished they could come upon - because then the books they hungered and thirsted for would exist. ↗

— Anne Lamott

#books #come #could #exist #i

I was raised by my parents to believe that you had a moral obligation to try and help save the world. ↗

— Anne Lamott

#had #help #i #i was raised #moral

I went to Goucher College in Maryland for the best possible reasons - to learn - but then I dropped out at 19 for the best possible reasons - to become a writer. ↗

— Anne Lamott

#best #college #dropped #i #learn

Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first. ↗

— Charles de Gaulle

#comes #first #hate #love #nationalism

A true leader always keeps an element of surprise up his sleeve, which others cannot grasp but which keeps his public excited and breathless. ↗

— Charles de Gaulle

#breathless #cannot #element #excited #grasp

I respect only those who resist me, but I cannot tolerate them. ↗

— Charles de Gaulle

#i #me #only #resist #respect

Diplomats are useful only in fair weather. As soon as it rains they drown in every drop. ↗

— Charles de Gaulle

#drop #drown #every #fair #only