“You seem like a strong-minded young woman. You’re very beautiful, too. I would have been proud to call you my daughter.”

“Damn, I’m proud to call you my best friend. You’re so strong and resilient with all you’ve been through, and then deciding to have a baby on your own like this. You’re my own little Steel Magnolia.”

“I'm a daughter from a strong man and beautiful mommy, and I'm so proud to be I am.”

“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.”

“If you’re going to do something, I believe, you should do it well. You should sweat over it and make sure it’s strong and accurate and beautiful and you should be proud of it”

“I've never thought of you like that,' said Christopher. 'How could I? If you were any other woman, I could tell you I loved you, easily enough, but not you-- because you've always seemed to me like a part of myself, and it would be like saying I loved my own eyes or my own mind. But have you ever thought of what it would be to have to live without your mind or your eyes, Kate? To be mad? Or blind?”