“For one of the first pressures that bear down on American girls is the pressure not only to be liked but to be like everyone else. This initial feat of self-transformation often involves loosening one's grip on that quiet sense of inner self and hitching one's wagon to a single standard of beauty. The stress of leaping through that hoop insinuates itself into the young heart and soul with a vengeance, and insecurities go from being hard little buds of confusion to overripe, snarled and tyrannical fruits that hang on the vine as we age.”

“She is focused on living her own full life, following her own agenda and cultivating her actual self, rather than reinventing herself or pining away to be someone she's not.”

“If you forbid [children] from doing what is natural , they will seek it out later in ways that are unnatural and perverse.”

“[For the French] time...is an ephemeral currency and should be spent doing the things that make life worth living.”

“harness your own power though what you keep to yourself”

“Feed your mind. Cultivate impressions and opinions. Know what you think.”

“Consider your life your personal currency-and invest it wisely.”