“I have these secret pangs of shame about being single, like I wasn't good enough to get a husband. Rita reminded me of something I'd told her once, about the five rules of the world as arrived at by this Catholic priest named Tom Weston. The first rule, he says, is that you must not have anything wrong with you or anything different. The second one is that if you do have something wrong with you, you must get over it as soon as possible. The third rule is that if you can't get over it, you must pretend that you have. The fourth rule is that if you can't even pretend that you have, you shouldn't show up. You should stay home, because it's hard for everyone else to have you around. And the fifth rule is that if you are going to insist on showing up, you should at least have the decency to feel ashamed.So Rita and I decided that the most subversive, revolutionary thing I could do was to show up for my life and not be ashamed.”
Anne Lamott“You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”
Anne Lamott“A nun I know once told me she kept begging God to take her character defects away from her. After years of this prayer, God finally got back to her: I'm not going to take anything away from you, you have to give it to Me.”
Anne Lamott, Help Thanks Wow: The Three Essential Prayers“...the three things I cannot change are the past, the truth, and you.”
Anne Lamott, Help Thanks Wow: The Three Essential Prayers“If we stay where we are, where we're stuck, where we're comfortable and safe, we die there... When nothing new can get in, that's death.”
Anne Lamott, Help Thanks Wow: The Three Essential Prayers“Now, practically even better news than that of short assignments is the idea of shitty first drafts. All good writers write them.”
Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life“We must not inflict life on children who will be resented we must not inflict unwanted children on society. ”
Anne Lamott“I was raised with no religious training or influence. Except the influence was to be a moral and ethical person at the secular level. And to be a peace marcher, an activist for civil rights, peace and justice.”
Anne Lamott“Mothers are supposed to listen and, afterward, to respond with some wisdom and perspective, but these things were not my mother's strong suit.”
Anne Lamott“I love readings and my readers, but the din of voices of the audience gives me stage fright, and the din of voices inside whisper that I am a fraud, and that the jig is up. Surely someone will rise up from the audience and say out loud that not only am I not funny and helpful, but I'm annoying, and a phony.”
Anne Lamott