Elizabeth Benedict > Quotes

“What gives value to travel is fear. It breaks down a kind of inner structure we all have.”
― Elizabeth Benedict

“There is an exquisite irony - a perfect relationship storm, you might say - between daughters and mothers. Because girls and women are judged by appearance, mothers want their daughters to look as attractive as possible. But any suggestion for improvement implies criticism. And therein lies the irony: for mothers, the person to whom you most want to offer helpful suggestions is the one most likely to resist and resent them; for daughters, the person you most want to think you're perfect is the one most likely to see your flaws - and tell you about them.

-Deborah Tannen”
― Elizabeth Benedict, Me, My Hair, and I: Twenty-seven Women Untangle an Obsession

“elevator door opened and people poured out. Bustling, well dressed, Oriental.”
― Elizabeth Benedict, Slow Dancing

“Shrinks will tell you there are only five problems: sex, money, intimacy, trust, children. No, six: add "parents," as in in-laws, Alzheimer's, inheritance. And of course they are all related,”
― Elizabeth Benedict, The Practice of Deceit

“The sun was shining, and there, right there on the side of the road, was a flower stand, a homemade wooden table covered with painted tins of lupine and cream-colored roses. For a few minutes on that sun-drenched road, I believed that God might be working her magic.”
― Elizabeth Benedict, Almost

“Her real life was underway, with all of its scratches and dents. Like the rest of us forty to forty five, she was something of a used book; intact but a bit battered around the edges.”
― Elizabeth Benedict, The Practice of Deceit

“And if I didn't fret about my hair, something else would take its place. I believe we are born with a cup of affliction and it is our destiny to keep that cup filled at all times.

-Patricia Volk”
― Elizabeth Benedict, Me, My Hair, and I: Twenty-seven Women Untangle an Obsession

“I turned on my e-mail”
― Elizabeth Benedict, The Practice of Deceit