“Argh? Pathetic and inarticulate. Nice combination. Your mothers must be so proud.”

“On the dresser was a row of blue-and-white jars that weren't very useful for anything. They'd been left to her mother by an elderly aunt, and she was proud of them because they looked nice but were completely useless. There was little room on the farm for useless things that looked nice, so they were treasured.”

“All mothers are proud of their children, Jena. I would have been very proud of my child if I had gotten the chance to know him or her. Someday, if you become a mother, you will be proud of your children. It is just the way mothers are.”

“We had pathetically simple dreams:to do meaningful work that we could be proud of, to be together, and to be happy.”

“It's nice to see something more pathetic than I feel right now.”

“You don't have to be famous. You just have to make your mother and father proud of you.”