“Parents were invented to make children happy by giving them something to ignore.”
“People can't, unhappily, invent their mooring posts, their lovers and their friends, anymore than they can invent their parents. Life gives these and also takes them away and the great difficulty is to say Yes to life.”
Pt. 1, Ch. 1 - p.4-5 [Page numbers per the 2007 Penguin Books paperback edition.]
Source: Giovanni's Room (1956)
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James Baldwin 163
(1924-1987) writer from the United States 1924–1987Related quotes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAnQbFJbGfM
Interview with Barbara Bermudo, 2003
Section 1.16
The Crosswicks Journal, A Circle of Quiet (1972)
“My parents wrote their own rules, so it didn’t seem odd to me to invent my life as I went along.”
As quoted in the "Greta Gaines" profile page at Artist Direct http://www.artistdirect.com/artist/bio/greta-gaines/702133
Context: My parents wrote their own rules, so it didn’t seem odd to me to invent my life as I went along. … I picked up a guitar and started writing songs late, when I was 22, but quickly became devoted to the craft of song writing, relieved that I had found my inner calling.
“Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.”
Source: A Case of Identity