“Maybe I should be a lawyer instead of a magical baker, Rose thought. Lawyers' mistakes rarely result in old men climbing on top of towers and taking off their pants.”

“Well, you ought to stick with it, even after you mess up-but sticking with it is a lot easier if you have a family who believes in you.”

“I used to be a good fighter." She looks out along the boxwoods, wipes off her sweat with her palm. "If you'd known me ten years ago..."She's got no goo on her face, her hair's not sprayed, her nightgown's like an old prairie dress. She takes a deep breath through her nose and I see it. I see the white-trash girl she was ten years ago. She was strong. She didn't take no shit from nobody.”

“She blow em clean over. She suck the grits off the candle and start eating. After while, she smile up at me, say, "How old are you?""Aibileen's fifty-three."Her eyes get real wide. I might as well be a thousand.”

“By the time she a year old Mae Mobley following me around everwhere I go….Miss Leefolt, she’d narrow up her eyes at me like I done something wrong, unhitch that crying baby off my foot. I reckon that’s the risk you run, letting somebody else raise you chilluns”

“Minny: "Isn't Mister Johnny gonna wonder how the foods so good?"Celia: "You're right..."*silence*Celia: "Maybe we should burn the chicken a little...?"Minny: "...Minny don't burn chicken.”

“The point is, I can’t tell you how to succeed. But I can tell you how not to: Give in to the shame of being rejected and put your manuscript—or painting, song, voice, dance moves, [insert passion here]—in the coffin that is your bedside drawer and close it for good. I guarantee you that it won’t take you anywhere. Or you could do what this writer did: Give in to your obsession instead.”