The Mother-in-Law Quotes
"Mother Nature’s warning that all is not well."
"Like most Australian mothers, I’d been incensed about this."
"It’s funny sometimes what you just know."
"It’s enough to convince me that I’m being overly dramatic."
"I see it in the somberness of the policeman’s expression, in the downward turn of the corners of his mouth."
"You have two families in your life—the one you are born into and the one you choose."
"I was thirteen when my mother, Joy, died."
"He throws his arms around his son, and Ollie thumps his old man on the back."
"You’d better believe it. I’d love to hear more about it."
"It’s so rare that I get something right with Lucy, and it’s not for want of trying."
"All day every day. And all night every night."
"I’m not sure of much, but I’m absolutely sure about this."
"We’re caught in an unmoving, timeless void while the rest of the world keeps moving around us, oblivious."
"It wasn’t the poor baby’s fault that I’d gotten into the back of the Falcon with David; I didn’t see why it should have to pay the ultimate price for it."
"I find it difficult to keep my opinions to myself."
"She was my mother but as it turns out . . . I didn’t really know her at all."
"I don’t trust myself on the roads until I’ve had my morning coffee, my eyes aren’t what they once were."
"Heaven forbid I take longer than they expect to get there. No one is asking where Tom has been."
"Lightning doesn’t strike twice, that’s what they say. Well, in fact, there was a man, Roy Sullivan, who was struck by lightning seven times during his life."
"I thank my lucky stars that at least Archie is out of my hair while I do this."
"Can’t afford to," he says. "Anyway, I married a young one to begin with."
"Diana was found dead with an empty bottle of poison in her hand."
"This kind of thing is rife in Diana’s neighborhood."
"Are you going to trade me in for a younger model one day?"
"Helping is the worst thing I could do for you, Nettie."
"Patrick throws his head back and lets out a long, loud, wrong laugh."
"At least this time, you don’t have to give it back."
"Old MacDonald had a farm. Ee ii ee ii oo."
"It has nothing to do with me," I tell Gerard. "Nothing at all."
"I’m sorry because we’re ruined financially."
"I am standing there, with Edie hanging off one leg, when another mourner approaches me."
"I wonder, yet again, if I should tell her what I know about Patrick."
"You have no idea how sorry I am, Lucy. Honestly, I am. But it’s done now and I think it would be better if we could just—"
"It occurs to me suddenly that there are a lot more of them."
"We’ve never once focused on our similarities. As women. As wives. As mothers."
"We’re getting older, Tom. Nothing works as well as it used to."
"Everyone, given enough time, will get on your nerves if they join your family."
"I’m not warm, I’m not especially kind. But I can be strong."
"We’ll go through the process and exhaust all the avenues. But in the end, Tom will die, somehow I know this."
"I am aware of my limitations. I’m not warm, I’m not especially kind. But I can be strong."
"I’d reached my quota, so I came in here, to hide."
"No one will ever know you were involved. Not Ollie. Not anyone."
"But power is overrated. And being weak—and wallowing—is surprisingly lovely."
"What’s it all for if not for children to play with?"
"Sometimes we need to grieve together, and sometimes we need to grieve alone."
"It’s about support, whether to give it or not."
"It took me a while to process it too. I mean... it wouldn’t be biologically my child, I wouldn’t carry it in my body. At first I wasn’t really on board. Then I started thinking... it would be a child created by us, for us."
"You don’t know anything. It’s like she’s possessed. Some days I’ll be talking to her and it’s like she’s not even there!"
"I could have written more, but in the end, there’s really only two pieces of wisdom worth leaving behind. I worked hard for everything I ever cared about. And nothing I ever cared about cost a single cent."
"Everyone, no matter how old they are, wants their mother’s approval. And EVERYONE, no matter who they are, wants their mother-in-law’s."
"Sons see the best parts of you, but daughters really see you. They see your flaws and your weaknesses. They see everything they don’t want to be. They see you for exactly who you are... and they hate you for it."
"I’m not going to do it, Lucy. I can’t leave Nettie with everything that’s going on right now."
"This is my last chance. I need you, Mum."
"I had affection for Patrick. He’d tried his best. If I had only gotten pregnant easily, Patrick and I would probably still have been happy."
"People underestimate the role fate plays in our lives. Silly them."