How is it that, a full two centuries after Jane Austen finished her manuscript, we come to the world of Pride and Prejudice and find ourselves transcending customs, strictures, time, mores, to arrive at a place that educates, amuses, and enthralls us? It is a miracle. We read in bed because reading is halfway between life and dreaming, our own consciousness in someone else's mind.

— Anna Quindlen

Ideas are only lethal if you suppress and don't discuss them. Ignorance is not bliss, it's stupid. Banning books shows you don't trust your kids to think, and you don't trust yourself to be able to talk to them.

— Anna Quindlen

I don't even have a dog. I tell people I'm allergic so they won't think less of me. Instead, I have a cat, the pet that ranks just above a throw pillow in terms of responsibility required.

— Anna Quindlen

If I get the forty additional years statisticians say are likely coming to me, I could fit in at least one, maybe two new lifetimes. Sad that only one of those lifetimes can include being the mother of young children.

— Anna Quindlen

If your success is not on your own terms, if it looks good to the world but does not feel good in your heart, it is not success at all.

— Anna Quindlen

I had that feeling you have when you're watching a sad movie, sobbing at the heartbreak you are feeling at the same time that you know the heartbreak isn't exactly real, that it will be gone by the time you get home and make a cup of tea. I found a lot of life like that when I was younger, as though I was practicing for what came later.

— Anna Quindlen

I have a cat, the pet that ranks just above a throw pillow in terms of required responsibility.

— Anna Quindlen

I mark my years or parenting by the people who stepped in and forced me to abandon my inclination to meddle, micromanage, and coddle, beginning with my children's father, who sat me down and told me in year two that I was going to create a little monster if I continued to act as though "no" and "I don't love you" were synonymous.

— Anna Quindlen

I'm sure not afraid of success, and I've learned not to be afraid of failure. The only thing I'm afraid of now is of being someone I don't like much.

— Anna Quindlen

In books, I have traveled, not only to other worlds, but into my own.

— Anna Quindlen