“The death of a parent, he wrote, 'despite our preparation, indeed, despite our age, dislodges things deep in us, sets off reactions… — Joan Didion Copy Share Image
My mother 'gave teas' the way other mothers breathed. Her own mother 'gave teas.' All of their friends 'gave teas,' each involving… — Joan Didion Copy Share Image
Becoming a parent is actually terrifying. A lot of people have that feeling about their dogs. And if you're the kind of… — Joan Didion Copy Share Image
I don't think anybody feels like they're a good parent. Or if people think they're good parents, they ought to think again. — Joan Didion Copy Share Image
“You couldn't pay for her hats,' her father, a ship's captain, had told her suitors by way of discouragement, and perhaps they… — Joan Didion Copy Share Image
I ... have another cup of coffee with my mother. We get along very well, veterans of a guerrilla war we never understood. — Joan Didion Copy Share Image
My first notebook was a Big Five tablet, given to me [at age five] by my mother with the sensible suggestion that… — Joan Didion Copy Share Image
“The death of a parent, he wrote, 'Despite our preparation, indeed, despite our age, dislodges things deep in us, sets off reactions… — Joan Didion Copy Share Image
“Always when I play back my father’s voice,” Maria says, “it is with a professional rasp, it goes as it lays, don’t… — Joan Didion Copy Share Image
When I was in fact a child, six and seven and eight years old, I was utterly baffled by the enthusiasm with… — Joan Didion Copy Share Image
Despite our preparation, indeed, despite our age, [the death of a parent] dislodges things deep in us, sets off reactions that surprise… — Joan Didion Copy Share Image
I just read everything I could get my hands on. I taught myself to read or my mother taught me. Who knows… — Joan Didion Copy Share Image
“My father was dead, my mother was dead, I would need for a while to watch for mines, but I would still… — Joan Didion Copy Share Image
“I do not know many people who think they have succeeded as parents. Those who do tend to cite the markers that… — Joan Didion Copy Share Image
I was four or five, and my mother gave me a big black tablet, because I kept complaining that I was bored.… — Joan Didion Copy Share Image
To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters… — Joan Didion Copy Share
I work every day. Sometimes I don't accomplish anything every day, but if I don't work every day, I get depressed and get afraid… — Joan Didion Copy Share
California is a place in which a boom mentality and a sense of Chekhovian loss meet in uneasy suspension. — Joan Didion Copy Share
“Why did I write it down? In order to remember, of course, but exactly what was it I wanted to remember? How much of… — Joan Didion Copy Share
I no longer want reminders of what was, what got broken, what got lost, what got wasted. — Joan Didion Copy Share
My mother 'gave teas' the way other mothers breathed. Her own mother 'gave teas.' All of their friends 'gave teas,' each involving butter cookies… — Joan Didion Copy Share
I'm not very interested in people. I recognize it in myself - there is a basic indifference toward people. — Joan Didion Copy Share
“Was there ever in anyone's life span a point free in time, devoid of memory, a point when choice was any more than sum… — Joan Didion Copy Share
“Research to date has shown that, like many other stressors, grief frequently leads to changes in the endocrine, immune, autonomic nervous, and cardiovascular systems;… — Joan Didion Copy Share
“By the end of the week she was thinking constantly about where her body stopped and the air began about the exact point in… — Joan Didion Copy Share
“I just can't see the upside in this," I heard myself say by way of explanation. Later he said that if John had been… — Joan Didion Copy Share
I read so ravenously that I would read through whole categories. I was crazy about reading biographies. [...] I think biographies are very urgent… — Joan Didion Copy Share
To those of us who remained committed mainly to the exploration of moral distinctions and ambiguities, the feminist analysis may have seemed a particularly… — Joan Didion Copy Share
![“My first notebook was a Big Five tablet, given to me [at age five] by my mother with the sensible suggestion that I stop whining and learn to amuse myself by writing down my thoughts.” quote by Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/008/joan-didion-497_age_my-first-notebook-was-a-big-five-tablet_2074889.jpg)
![“Despite our preparation, indeed, despite our age, [the death of a parent] dislodges things deep in us, sets off reactions that surprise us and may cut free memories and feelings that we thought had gone to ground long ago. We might, in that indeterminate period they call mourning, be in a…” quote by Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/f93/joan-didion-497_age_despite-our-preparation-indeed-despite-o_1987477.jpg)
