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" When he is late for dinner and I know he must be either having an affair or lying dead in the street, I always hope he's dead. "
Judith Viorst
Know
Dinner
Lying
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" I thought that the 40s was a tough decade, because it's when you finally figure out that you're not immortal, when you really start seeing that certain options are closed to you forever: You're not going to be a brain surgeon; you're not going to be a ballerina. "
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Start
Thought
" Because we believe ourselves to be better parents than our parents, we expect to produce better children than they produced. "
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" Starting after 60, I thought, 'I'm not going to be able to write a book of poems on the 70s. It's going to be all moans and groans and complaints, and what is there to laugh about?' But I found plenty to laugh about. "
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" I wrote 'And Two Boys Booed' several years ago, but we really chased around looking for the perfect illustrator, so it took a while. "
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Years
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" If I could pick one reason why I want to be a writer, it would be connection. In all kinds of ways, I like to be individual and distinct; but when I write, I want to be writing about things that connect me to the people for whom I write. "
Judith Viorst
Writing
Connection
Me
" One advantage of marriage is that, when you fall out of love with him or he falls out of love with you, it keeps you together until you fall in again. "
Judith Viorst
Him
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You
" Superstition is foolish, childish, primitive and irrational - but how much does it cost you to knock on wood? "
Judith Viorst
Foolish
Much
Cost
" Everything I have ever written about has been about what's going on inside of us. "
Judith Viorst
Been
Us
Inside
" Kids need to encounter kids like themselves - kids who can sometimes be crabby and fresh and rebellious, kids who talk back and disobey, tell fibs and get into trouble, and are nonetheless still likable and redeemable. "
Judith Viorst
Need
Back
Trouble
" I could be such a wonderful wife to another wife's husband. "
Judith Viorst
Could
Husband
Wife
" Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands - and then eat just one of the pieces. "
Judith Viorst
Hands
Eat
Chocolate
" Love is much nicer to be in than an automobile accident, a tight girdle, a higher tax bracket or a holding pattern over Philadelphia. "
Judith Viorst
Tax
Over
Love Is
" You end up as you deserve. In old age you must put up with the face, the friends, the health, and the children you have earned. "
Judith Viorst
Face
Health
Age
" I always credited my mother with inspiring me to be a writer because she was such a passionate reader. She read poetry to me as a child. But rather late in life, I've come to appreciate my father, the accountant. He was a solid, organized, get-the-job-done kind of person-and you need that piece of it to be a writer, too. "
Judith Viorst
Mother
Child
Father
" Everyone has bad days, and when you're having a bad day, you think, 'Here I am being singled out by a hostile, malicious universe that is picking exclusively on me.' And then you read a book about bad days and realize they happen to everyone, not just tormented, persecuted you. "
Judith Viorst
Book
Me
I Am
" I didn't get one word published until I was well into my 30s. But I always tried. "
Judith Viorst
Word
Always
Get
" Love is the same as like except you feel sexier. "
Judith Viorst
Feel
Same
Love Is
" My mother was born in June and later, feeling a vacancy, chose her birth month for her middle name. Marry to marry, had kids because that's what was done. Liked crossword puzzles, liked lilac trees, liked baking in the sun, and liked Bing Crosby. "
Judith Viorst
Trees
Baking
Done
" Kids are always writing me: 'I had a bad day too.' 'I got gum in my hair.' And the kids also write to me to pass on advice to Alexander. My favorite one of those being, 'The next time you have a bad day, blame your brothers.' I didn't expect this. It's certainly the most successful of my books. "
Judith Viorst
Time
Hair
Blame
" We will have to give up the hope that, if we try hard, we somehow will always do right by our children. The connection is imperfect. We will sometimes do wrong. "
Judith Viorst
Hope
Children
Sometimes
" Nobody who knows me and loves me dearly would ever call me adaptable or flexible. I'm not. "
Judith Viorst
Knows
Call
Flexible
" I actually sat down and started three Alexanders at the same time. Two of them went in the trash and got stomped on because I hated the idea so much. And the one I came up with, I got very excited by. And that's 'Alexander, Who's Trying His Best to Be the Best Boy Ever'. "
Judith Viorst
Boy
Three
Down
" The years that remain are clearly limited. When you're 80, you attend a lot more funerals. A lot more people are having a hard time and are ill. "
Judith Viorst
You
Years
Time
" What kind of grandmother am I? I'm a 'three-dessert' grandmother. I'm a 'let's just skip the bath tonight, honey, watch another video' grandmother. "
Judith Viorst
Honey
Bath
Grandmother
" My favorite was 'The Secret Garden'. I loved it, and I think it's had a big influence on all of my characters. 'The Secret Garden' is about transgressions and imperfect people. "
Judith Viorst
Garden
Influence
Loved
" Don't let anything sneak past you. Don't say, 'Well, oh, I'll take a picture and put it in my photograph album.' I notice it now. I love it now. And I am grateful for it now. "
Judith Viorst
Picture
I Am
Love
" My first published writings were trying to take scientific concepts and make them clear for a general audience. "
Judith Viorst
Trying
Audience
Clear
" A rebel. That was me when I was younger. What was a rebel from New Jersey? A rebel was moving to the Village, not sleeping with top sheets, not eating a hot breakfast in the morning, not having 20 rolls of toilet paper and 10 boxes of Kleenex. "
Judith Viorst
Morning
Moving
Breakfast
" My Girl Scout leader. She told me if I listened more and talked less, I could grow up to be a good writer. I thought that was interesting advice at age 12. "
Judith Viorst
Age
Thought
Me
" 'Alexander, Who's Trying His Best to Be the Best Boy Ever' was inspired by a combination of my grandson, my son, and myself - all those times when each of us has decided that we're just not going to get into trouble anymore. But it's so hard to be good all of the time! "
Judith Viorst
Myself
Best
Good