Terry McMillan quotes
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“Being a lifetime wife and mother has afforded me the luxury of having multiple careers: I've been a teacher. A chauffeur. A chef. An interior decorator. A landscape architect, as well as a gardener. I’ve been a painter. A personal shopper. An accountant and a banker. I’ve been a beautician. Santa Claus. The Tooth Fairy. A movie reviewer. A nurse. A psychologist. A negotiator. An I have a Ph. D in How to Pretend Like You Don’t Mind.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“Too many of us are hung up on what we don't have, can't have, or won't ever have. We spend too much energy being down, when we could use that same energy – if not less of it – doing, or at least trying to do, some of the things we really want to do.”
-- Terry McMillanSource : Terry McMillan (2012). “Disappearing Acts”, p.158, Penguin
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“Folks want to glow, to leave their worries and dead skin behind.”
-- Terry McMillanSource : Terry McMillan (2010). “Getting to Happy”, p.67, Penguin
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“I like to think of what happens to characters in good novels and stories as knots--things keep knotting up. And by the end of the story--readers see an unknotting of sorts. Not what you expect, not the easy answers you get on TV, not wash and wear philosophies, but a reproduction of believable, emotional experiences.”
-- Terry McMillan -
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“I'm more interested in interpersonal relationships - between lovers families, siblings. That's why I write about how we treat each other.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“Few writers are willing to admit writing is autobiographical.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“don't sabotage your own greatness by succumbing to failure!”
-- Terry McMillan -
“happiness aint got no Ph.D. or no certain amount of zeroes behind it!”
-- Terry McMillanSource : Terry McMillan (2002). “A Day Late and a Dollar Short”, p.222, Penguin
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“I don't trust white critics' judgment about most things that deal with black life, particularly when a black person is the creator.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“It's sad to think that we've gotten to this that we actually have to think about how to go about finding a man. But what's even sadder is that some men make you feel guilty for looking.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“I try to create characters that I am fascinated by on some level or intrigued by or can't stand.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“I also discovered that you can get used to a man , much like you do a household pet!”
-- Terry McMillan -
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“I don't let negative criticism, for the most part, bother me.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“It should be obvious that I wasn't no honor roll student in high school. My favorite class was boys.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“I would be content being a housewife if I could find the kind of man who wouldn't treat me like one.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“As far as young kids go, my primary interest is to get parents to read to their kids. That's about the most you can do, I think.”
-- Terry McMillan -
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“Sometimes I cheat and buy things I used to make from scratch and just doctor them up.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“I'm the only one who can stop me.. I'm the one who's been sitting at the stoplight all these years, waiting for the light to turn green.”
-- Terry McMillanSource : Terry McMillan (2006). “The Interruption of Everything”, p.414, Penguin
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“If you jump to conclusions, you make terrible landings.”
-- Terry McMillanSource : Terry McMillan (2006). “The Interruption of Everything”, p.412, Penguin
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“It's amazing how we can make ourselves believe what we want to.”
-- Terry McMillanSource : Terry McMillan (2006). “The Interruption of Everything”, p.412, Penguin
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“I can't stand that - those women in 'Waiting to Exhale' now. I can't stand them. But that's because I'm 53 and not 33. But what they were experiencing at 33, I identified with it.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“I let my characters do the talking, simple as that.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“People need to be re - sometimes we need to reinvent ourselves and then get reacquainted with our better selves.”
-- Terry McMillan -
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“Why is it that if you happen to be black and over six feet tall, everybody thinks you supposed to play basketball or football?”
-- Terry McMillan -
“I'd crack up without my music. It's the best company you can have, really. It don't say 'no' or 'maybe,' or ask no questions.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“It's not that marriage itself is bad; it's the people we marry who give it a bad name.”
-- Terry McMillanSource : Terry McMillan (2006). “Waiting to Exhale”, p.38, Penguin
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“Pay attention to the things that agitate you. It will tell you a lot about yourself.”
-- Terry McMillan -
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“Let me put it this way: when I read, I learned the world was not as small as my house. And that everybody in my home town was not representative of the way people in the world were raised. And that was what saved me.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“I would like to think that as a result of not just my own experiences, but at least being empathetic and compassionate about other people's experiences and plights and tragedies, that I am affected by it and learn from it.”
-- Terry McMillanSource : "Author Terry McMillan, Interrupted by Life". "News & Notes" with Ed Gordon, www.npr.org. July 28, 2005.
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“I like doing the readings and the autographing, but the interviewing gets a little tedious because you get asked the same questions every day and sometimes three or four times a day.”
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“I just believe that young people need to be able to learn how to write in their own voice. Just like a musician, you pride yourself on having your own distinct sound.”
-- Terry McMillanSource : "Terry McMillan: On The Anguilla Literary Festival & Oprah’s Possible Role In ‘Waiting To Exhale’ Sequel". Interview with Brennan Williams, www.huffingtonpost.com. April 16, 2012.
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“Write from your heart, and God will take care of the rest.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“You know, one of my fears about living alone so long is that you get used to doing everything your own way.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“Writing is my shelter. I don't hide behind the words; I use them to dig inside my heart to find the truth.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“We never thought some guy would deliberately fill our hearts with brown sugar and then pour hot water all over it.”
-- Terry McMillan -
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“You've been killing me inside and I don't want to die like this.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“The best rush in the world is getting something at 80 percent off.”
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“Back then I confused passions and ***** with love. It look me years to realize the two weren't synonymous.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“I was tired of chasing ghosts, hollow men who were outside my comfort zone, men who had nothing to give me except a rush. It was all I asked for, and all I ever got.”
-- Terry McMillan -
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“I've got tons of irreplaceable information inside the soul of this computer.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“I'm not trying to be a middle aged centerfold, I just want to look at myself naked and not be disgusted.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“Now, I've been known to be attractive on special occasions, and I do my best to project as much beauty as I can muster from deep inside, though I often fail.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“money does not guarantee happiness or peace of mind, it can take your mind off things, distract you, but it can't replace the generic stuff a person needs!”
-- Terry McMillan -
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“life is like a jigsaw puzzle, you have to see the whole picture, then put it together piece by piece!”
-- Terry McMillan -
“It goes without saying that your friends are usually the first to discuss your personal business behind your back.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“I want to push the fast-forward button until I get back to happy.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“What I do know is sometimes we love the wrong people and sometimes we marry them.”
-- Terry McMillanSource : Terry McMillan (2010). “Getting to Happy”, p.151, Penguin
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“I been saying it for years: church is full of sneaky men posing as honest souls, and they are perpetuators our here looking for women just like you, with giant holes in your hearts, and they can smell when you got a good job and when you lonely as hell.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“I remember the day I turned thirty. I was getting out of the shower and I stood in front of the mirror and stared at myself for a long time. I examined every inch of my body and appreciated the fact that I finally looked like a grown woman. I also assumed that this was how I was going to look for the rest of my life. The way I saw it, I was never going to age; I'd just look up one day and be old.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“Cruising the Internet doesn't count as writing. Neither does answering e-mail. Before you check Twitter & FB and do other similar tasks that get in the way of writing, write first. (I really need to take my own advice here!)”
-- Terry McMillan -
“Can't nothing make your life work if you ain't the architect.”
-- Terry McMillan -
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“There is a price for popularity. Critics look for your weaknesses, your flaws, anything that makes the work seem like a fluke and not seem worthy of all the attention it's getting.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“Writing is the only place I can be myself and not feel judged.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“My mama taught me that anything worth doing in life should be a little scary.”
-- Terry McMillan -
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“At least be a nice lesbian or you're going to give the rest a bad rap.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“Look, as my mama always said, 'One monkey don't stop no show.”
-- Terry McMillanSource : Toni Cade Bambara (2011). “The Salt Eaters”, p.40, Vintage
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“We get divorce, we get conned, someone we love dies, or we can't find anybody to love us or somebody breaks our heart and we realize this fairy tale ain't fair. So we suffer.”
-- Terry McMillan -
“Don't worry about how pretty (the story) sounds, how lilting it is, and the imagery, and the metaphor, all that. Most readers don't care. It's the people in your book that matter.”
-- Terry McMillan -
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