Meryl Gordon > Quotes

“Discipline

I am old and I have had
more than my share of good and bad.

I've had love and sorrow, seen sudden death
and been left alone and of love bereft.

I thought I would never love again
and I thought my life was grief and pain.

The edge between life and death was thin,
but then I discovered discipline.

I learned to smile when I felt sad,
I learned to take the good and the bad,
I learned to care a great deal more
for the world about me than before.

I began to forget the "Me" and "I"
and joined in life as it rolled by:
this may not mean sheer ecstasy
but is better by far than "I" and "Me.”
― Meryl Gordon

“I made a resolution never again to whine or be disagreeable. For why should anyone have any need to be unhappy when they have what I have.”
― Meryl Gordon, Bunny Mellon: The Life of an American Style Legend

“again.”
― Meryl Gordon, Mrs. Astor Regrets: The Hidden Betrayals of a Family Beyond Reproach

“language on civil rights, Humphrey declared, “The time has arrived in America for the Democratic party to get out of the shadow of states’ rights and to walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights.”
― Meryl Gordon, The Woman Who Knew Everyone: The Power of Perle Mesta, Washington's Most Famous Hostess

“They were great friends and each always spoke of the other with kindness and deep admiration. Being a child, the great compatibility between these two men I took for granted. Now I realize they created the structure, like the beams in a great barn, that are still there when life becomes too difficult, that keeps me going.”
― Meryl Gordon, Bunny Mellon: The Life of an American Style Legend

“Her money gave her the license to be inconsiderate, and no one dared rebuke her. To be rich is to be narcissistic. To be old is to be narcissistic. Huguette had become narcissism squared.”
― Meryl Gordon, The Phantom of Fifth Avenue: The Mysterious Life and Scandalous Death of Heiress Huguette Clark

“I’ll have to put trust in you and God, write it nice, friendly, non-gossipy. I’m simple, here I am, do it like that. Be kind. Calm it down, Calm it down.”
― Meryl Gordon, Bunny Mellon: The Life of an American Style Legend