“Children want to feel as though their life matters.”

“I want so to live that I work with my hands and my feeling and my brain. I want a garden, a small house, grass, animals, books, pictures, music. And out of this, the expression of this, I want to be writing (Though I may write about cabmen. That’s no matter.) But warm, eager, living life — to be rooted in life — to learn, to desire, to feel, to think, to act. This is what I want. And nothing less. That is what I must try for.”

“I want to believe that things sometimes matter. I want to believe that what we had when we were children we can still have when we grow older. That there are some things in life that are worth holding on to.”

“But I want to feel like life matters. Ihad something real with you, but then the realness scared me. I decided to go for other things instead.”

“Children expect their mothers to love them, no matter what. Those who don't get this tend to feel cheated the rest of their lives.”

“All that mattered in life, that someone loved you even though you had faults.”