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Mrs. Everything QUOTES

Mrs. Everything QUOTES

1 " They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds.” —MEXICAN PROVERB "

― Jennifer Weiner , Mrs. Everything

2 " We lose ourselves,” she repeated, forming each word with care, “but we find our way back.” Wasn’t that the story of her life? Wasn’t that the story of Bethie’s? You make the wrong choices, you make mistakes, you disappear for a decade, you marry the wrong man. You get hurt. You lose sight of who you are, or of who you want to be, and then you remember, and if you’re lucky you have sisters or friends who remind you when you forget your best intentions. You come back to yourself, again and again. You try, and fail, and try again, and fail again. "

― Jennifer Weiner , Mrs. Everything

3 " Women had made progress - Jo only had to look as far as the television set to see it - but she wondered whether they would ever not try to have it all and do it all and do it all flawlessly. Would the day ever come when simply doing your best would be enough? "

― Jennifer Weiner , Mrs. Everything

4 " If she married a man, she could let him plan, let him push, let him maneuver; and the world they inhabited would welcome them. They would always have a place. It would be easy, and Jo was so tired. "

― Jennifer Weiner , Mrs. Everything

5 " There is a long time in me between knowing and telling.” —GRACE PALEY "

― Jennifer Weiner , Mrs. Everything

6 " A body was just a body, just a vessel for her soul, and she was under no obligation to keep her body looking any certain way, no more than she was obliged to do anything just because it was customary, or traditional, or expected of women in America. She didn’t have to get married, she didn’t have to have kids, and she didn’t have to be thin. "

― Jennifer Weiner , Mrs. Everything

7 " A girl named Jo once had a life / But that’s gone now; she’s only wife. "

― Jennifer Weiner , Mrs. Everything

8 " You're allowed to want to use your education. You're allowed to want to be more than a mother. "

― Jennifer Weiner , Mrs. Everything

9 " Jo thought sometimes that Bethie liked to play at being a rebel, when the truth was that her sister had a genius for conformity, for making herself the best, most stylish example of whatever version of femininity was currently in fashion. "

― Jennifer Weiner , Mrs. Everything

10 " You don’t think she ever loved your dad?” Shelley shook her head. “I think, for her, it was more like taking a job than falling in love. If you’ve been bred to marry a rich man and have his babies and basically be decoration, and you have no skills and no idea how to support yourself, how many options do you really have? "

― Jennifer Weiner , Mrs. Everything

11 " She knew she’d be hearing that voice, those words, on an endless loop in her brain, maybe for the rest of her life. "

― Jennifer Weiner , Mrs. Everything

12 " Bethie and Harold glowed, with success and contentedness, and with, Jo thought, a little meanly, the kind of well-rested good looks you could have only when you were childless. "

― Jennifer Weiner , Mrs. Everything

13 " Would the day ever come when simply doing your best would be enough? "

― Jennifer Weiner , Mrs. Everything

14 " She loved [her daughters]. More than that, she admired them. They would be better than she was: stronger and smarter, more capable and less afraid, and if the world displeased them, they would change it, cracking it open, reshaping it, instead of bending themselves to its demands. "

― Jennifer Weiner , Mrs. Everything

15 " When your mom and I were your age, there weren't a lot of options for girls. Like, you know how your mother's always telling you that you can be anything you want to be when you grow up? That wasn't what we heard. Men could be doctors or lawyers. We were just supposed to marry them. "

― Jennifer Weiner , Mrs. Everything

16 " she married a man, she could let him plan, let him push, let him maneuver; and the world they inhabited would welcome them. They would always have a place. It would be easy, and Jo was so tired. "

― Jennifer Weiner , Mrs. Everything

17 " she’d braved a trip to the supermarket that morning, where her fellow housewives were acting practically feral, grabbing for the last loaf of bread or gallon of milk or four-pack of toilet paper, as if everyone’s snow-day plans included French toast and diarrhea. "

― Jennifer Weiner , Mrs. Everything

18 " Beauty was power, and Bethie wanted her power back. "

― Jennifer Weiner , Mrs. Everything

19 " sometimes—a lot of the time—it felt like her skin no longer fit her, and her body was only a collection of flaws to be fixed or at least disguised, an endless source of despair. "

― Jennifer Weiner , Mrs. Everything

20 " Just a regular gal, Jo thought, and smiled, thinking, If you only knew. "

― Jennifer Weiner , Mrs. Everything