“Parents were the only ones obligated to love you; from the rest of the world you had to earn it.”

“There are aspectsof this life-- of this world-- from which you can never walk away. Ever. The fact that almost everything you say to almost everyone you love for the rest of your life will be a lie is one of them.”

“Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual you have an obligation to be one.”

“From your parents you learn love and laughter and how to put one foot before the other. But when books are opened you discover that you have wings.”

“for once, you believed in yourself. you believed you were beautiful and so did the rest of the world.”

“In my crazy world, above all others… you were the only one who was the ugliest. And you were the only one… who was the most beautiful…. This is the unspoken truth.”

“The purest love is the one between parents and their children. The rest may be more elevated, but never as deep or long-lasting”

“I had a thought for no one's but your ears:
That you were beautiful, and that I strove
To love you in the old high way of love;”

“If you want to love a parent you have to understand the incredible investment he or she has in you. If you are a parent, and you want to be loved, you have to deserve it.”

“A serious ape whom none take seriously,
Obliged in this fool's world to earn his nuts
By hard buffoonery.”