Pamela Druckerman Quotes

"It's refreshing to have some time off from wondering whether I look fat."

"I think, in writing a memoir, you kind of give order to your life."

"Every time I pass a cafe, I imagine it being stormed by men with Kalashnikovs."

"The question on my husband's birthday is always, What do you get for the man who has nothing?"

"One of the great joys of a creative life is that your observations and loose moments aren't lost forever; they live in your work."

"Just as dressing well in your forties entails making choices that reflect who you are and not just wearing generic basics, looking good as you get older requires accentuating and enjoying what's specific to you rather than striving for cookie-cutter perfection."

"Teach your kids emotional intelligence. Help them become more evolved than you are. Explain that, for instance, not everyone will like them."

"The French talk about education, the education of their children. They don't talk about raising kids. They talk about education. And that has nothing to do with school. It's this kind of broad description of how you raise children and what you teach them."

"The French view is really one of balance, I think... What French women would tell me over and over is, it's very important that no part of your life - not being a mom, not being a worker, not being a wife - overwhelms the other part."

"Optimism - even, and perhaps especially in the face of difficulty - has long been an American hallmark."

"Discrimination was a problem before terrorism. Now, the bad deeds of a few people have made life worse for millions."

"I was scared to say I was in my 40s because at that point, it sounded really old, and to out myself as a middle-aged human - I felt very awkward about it."

"There's this idea in America that you can be whatever you want. That remains an ideal in terms of how you dress too - when you go shopping, you try on all possible selves and then decide."

"There's an American idea that you want to look as young as you can for as long as you can. If you can be mistaken for a teenager from behind into your 50s, then you've won; you've succeeded."

"I'm speaking in very broad brushstrokes, but in France, there's generally this idea that you should look like the best version of the age that you are."

"In my 40s, I expect to finally reap the average-looking girl's revenge. I've entered the stage of life where you don't need to be beautiful; simply by being well-preserved and not obese, I would now pass for pretty."

"Certain woman will be jealous of how skinny you are, no matter what's causing it."

"Just do what you want more often. Don't be so worried about what other people expect."

"When I was 41, I had a very bad back pain, and it turned out to be Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma."

"Although I wrote a book about infidelity around the world, I ended up concluding that fidelity is quite a good idea."

"Usually, I'm so self-absorbed that my companion could be bleeding to death, and I might not notice."

"When you're further along in your career, you probably have more money and more means; you have to stop yourself from giving your child too much. Whereas, if you're in twenties, you might just get by."

"In the Nineties, there was all this new research into brain development, with evidence saying poor kids fall behind in school because no one is talking to them at home, no one is reading to them. And middle-class parents seized on this research."

"I've got letters from all over the world saying what you're describing as American parenting is Chilean middle-class parenting, or it is Finnish middle-class parenting, or it is Slovak middle-class parenting."

"I'm not an early adopter. I'll only start wearing new styles of clothing once they're practically out of date, and I won't move into a neighborhood until it's fully saturated with upscale coffee shops."

"Podcasts immersed me in colloquial English and put me back in the American zeitgeist."

"French children seem to be able to play by themselves in a way."

"This idea - that the only way to mend the relationship post-affair is through therapy - is unique to the American script."

"In the English books, the American kids' books, typically, there is a problem, the characters grapple with that problem, and the problem is resolved."

"Get rid of the idea of kids' food. Kids can eat whatever adults can eat. You know, there is one dinner, and everyone has the same thing."