My life is not just about the past.
Jeannette Walls
With a complicated childhood, you can either focus on the positive or the negative, and I chose to focus on the positive.
I never thought 'The Glass Castle' would be a movie. It's just too complicated.
What's wrong with social climbing? What's wrong with trying to improve your lot in life? And if you do, what happens if your family doesn't? Is that betraying your roots? Are you being dishonest? I had a really good job, and it paid really well. Am I supposed to quit it out of loyalty to my parents?
Taking care of myself is central to my personality. I'm pathologically independent. There's no doubt that's one reason I never had children.
I was never really a party person.
We all have our baggage, and I think the trick is not resisting it but accepting it, understanding that the worst experience has a valuable gift wrapped inside if you're willing to receive it.
I believe that everyone has some huge talent in them; the really lucky ones discover what it is.
When I was first getting out of college, Mom said, 'You ought to become a squatter.' I'm like, 'Forget it!'
I was going to some fabulous party, and my taxi got stuck in traffic, and I looked out the window, and I saw a homeless woman rooting through the garbage, and I realized it was my mother. And I was so mortified that I ducked down, and I hid.
One of the blessings of my childhood was being a fighter and a scrapper, but being a fighter and a scrapper is a curse, too.
I didn't want to be the daughter of the crazy people.
I never had any question that my parents loved me. I had a real sense of self confidence.
I love Woody Harrelson. He's a fine actor.
I sit down at my desk pretty early in the morning and write all day until about 4 or 5 p.m.
I feel like 'Alice Through the Looking Glass.'
I was in control of what people thought of me, but I had no control over what they thought of my mother. When I asked my mother, 'How do I tell people about you?' her answer was, 'Tell the truth'. But of course, the truth is never simple.
I didn't have indoor plumbing. I'd go to school dirty. I didn't have lunches.
During recess at school, I'd slip back into the classroom and find something in some other kid's lunch bag that wouldn't be missed - a package of crackers, an apple - and I'd gulp it down so quickly I would barely be able to taste it.
I'm a big believer in luck - the harder you work, the luckier you become.
I reached my full height at age 11, and I was clumsy as all get-out - all elbows and knees, couldn't get up a flight of stairs without falling down. I wanted to be a cute, petite blonde, but I'm a big ol' strapping thing, so I just accept it.
I have a joyful life, and I attribute that to both of my parents.
So many people ask, 'How could you forgive your mother for the way you were raised?' It's really not forgiveness, in my opinion. It's acceptance. She's never going to be the sort of mother who wants to take care of me.
Donald Trump really understood how to float a story, how to float a rumor, how to manipulate the truth.
Some people who've read my story think I had a terrible childhood and that I was neglected or even abused, while others feel that my parents, while certainly flawed, also had truly wonderful qualities. And that's the way it should be, because in real life two people can look at the same president and one will see a hero and the other a villain.
Once I became the editor of the school newspaper, I had a key to the school, and I went to the school cafeteria and just took the food they threw away.
My older sister achieved her dream of being an artist. She's an illustrator living in Manhattan.
I was so worried that people wouldn't like me or my story.
Everything in life is gray, you know.
I found out that people are incredibly compassionate and kind. It really changed my view of the world.
I always wanted to be a serious journalist.
My advice to anyone is to figure out what you're good at - what it is that you love doing the most in life - and figure out a way to make a living from it.
When I got a little older, I started writing for the high school newspaper, 'The Maroon Wave,' and that's when I fell in love with journalism.
I'm a fairly fast, but sloppy writer, so I'm a big fan of re-writing, and re-writing again.
One of the most challenging aspects of writing a memoir is finding your own voice, and you should be very careful about being influenced by someone else's voice.
We're stronger than we realize.
Horses are a mirror of who you are. They're emotionally dependent on you.
I listen to music mostly in the evening. I've come to love what is called world music, like the Zimbabwean Oliver Mtukudzi and the Colombian singer Marta Gomez. I also love the Irish folk singer Mary Black. Other favorites include Chet Baker, Eva Cassidy, and Billie Holiday.
I find books that have a moral and spiritual center, that speak to what is really important and lasting, hugely appealing.
Books are my very favorite gift to give. If you give a book to someone and they really respond to it, you feel you've actually changed their life in some way.
Whenever I'm reading a book I enjoy, I always develop a mental list of the people I want to share it with.
And as soon as the Internet hit and people started having their own web sites, I realized that people who did what I did, our positions were being threatened because, as journalists, we were the conduits between the celebrities and the public.
I loved 'Casablanca.' You know, right vs. wrong. I think I like a movie where there is a victory, right over wrong, but there's always some price to be paid.
My father, Rex, was one of the most charismatic human beings I've ever known, and also one of the most brilliant.
I had the big shoulders; I had the big hair. I loved the '80s. It was all about power women.
I was like, 'I'll take out garbage or do whatever it takes just to work at 'New York Magazine.' My god! I'd do anything!
I still dream about 'New York' mag. It's kind of weird. I dream I'm part-time, and they can't find a full-time job for me. It's usually that I can't find a lead, and I call all my great sources and say, 'Can you help me out?'
I liked movers and shakers more than celebrities. I wasn't that interested in celebrities. I grew up without a TV.
Kids are smarter than you realize.
