Anna Quindlen

"I have a cat, the pet that ranks just above a throw pillow in terms of required responsibility."

"So much of friendship is about being in the right place at the right time."

"We read in bed because reading is halfway between life and dreaming, our own consciousness in someone else's mind."

"The clearest explanation for the failure of any marriage is that the two people are incompatible; that is, that one is male and the other female."

"A loose end - that's what we woman call it, when we are overwhelmed by the care of small children, the weight of small tasks, a life in which we fall into bed at the end of the day exhausted from being all things to all people."

"Children should have enough freedom to be themselves - once they've learned the rules."

"America is a country that seems forever to be toddler or teenager, at those two stages of human development characterized by conflict between autonomy and security."