I wanted her to have the full, long life that every parent promises his or her child by the simple act of bringing that child into the world.

We have a mental health system that is dominated by political and hidden forces that keep us stagnated and unable to see real, lasting change.

Mama and I sat on a burping bus full of chickens in cages, and round-eyed babies on round mothers' laps. (The Pinata-Maker's Daughter)

This is how you hold onto your family. You hold them with open hands so they are free to find futures of their own. It's just that simple.

After a certain age, and even if we develop in quite different ways, the more we become ourselves, the more our family traits are accentuated.

You can find anyone that will tell you what you want to hear, but the only one worth valuing is the one that tells you what you need to learn.

Home's where the people you love are. It's about finding the things that matter to you, and holding on to them and taking care of them.

I don't think a female running a house is a problem, a broken family. It's perceived as one because of the notion that a head is a man.

Aliena's brother, Richard, sometimes reminded her of her father, with a look or a gesture, and that was when she felt a surge of affection.

My mother agreed to aid my abuse of alcohol but only if I promised never to tell my newly converted Mormon sister, whose identity I had stolen.

I never let myself yearn for Buckley, afraid he might see my image in a mirror or a bottle cap. Like everyone else I was trying to protect him.

A father is a man who expects his son to be as good a man as he meant to be A father is someone who carries pictures where his money used to be

People need space; families need air; love needs light. Like Mrs. Anastagio always said, ―You need enough rooms to love someone properly.

Family’s the luck of the draw, Lena. What you make of yourself, because of or despite it, that’s where the spine and heart come in.

A father is a man who expects his son to be as good a man as he meant to be A father is someone who carries pictures where his money used to be