[Mom] said she didn't want her youngest daughter dressed in the thrift-store clothes the rest of us wore. Mom told us we would have to go shoplifting. "Isn't that a sin?" I asked Mom. "Not exactly," Mom said. "God doesn't mind you bending the rules a little if you have good reason. It's sort of like justifiable homicide. This is justifiable pilfering.

— Jeannette Walls

Most important thing in life is learning how to fall.

— Jeannette Walls

New Yorkers, I figured, just pretended to be unfriendly.

— Jeannette Walls

Nobody's perfect. We're all just one step up from the beasts and one step down from the angels.

— Jeannette Walls

No child is born a delinquent. They only became that way if nobody loved them when they were kids. Unloved children grow up to be serial murderers or alcoholics.

— Jeannette Walls

Once you go on welfare it changes you. Even if you get off welfare, you never escape the stigma that you were a charity case. You're scarred for life.

— Jeannette Walls

One benefit of Summer was that each day we had more light to read by.

— Jeannette Walls

One of the ways to discover our toughness and resiliency is to look back at where we come from. (from Amazon description)

— Jeannette Walls

One time I saw a tiny Joshua tree sapling growing not too far from the old tree. I wanted to dig it up and replant it near our house. I told Mom that I would protect it from the wind and water it every day so that it could grow nice and tall and straight. Mom frowned at me. "You'd be destroying what makes it special," she said. "It's the Joshua tree's struggle that gives it its beauty.

— Jeannette Walls

People are like animals. Some are happiest penned in, some need to roam free. You go to recognize what's in her nature and accept it.

— Jeannette Walls