I always credited my mother with inspiring me to be a writer because she was such a passionate reader. She read poetry to me as a child. But rather late in life, I've come to appreciate my father, the accountant. He was a solid, organized, get-the-job-done kind of person-and you need that piece of it to be a writer, too. -Judith Viorst Poetry
I had lived with my mother in anger and love - I suppose most daughters do - but my children only knew her in one way: As the lady who thought they were smarter than Albert Einstein. As the lady who thought they wrote better than William Shakespeare. As the lady who thought every picture they drew was a Rembrandt. -Judith Viorst Anger
Close friends contribute to our personal growth. They also contribute to our personal pleasure, making the music sound sweeter, the wine taste richer, the laughter ring louder because they are there. -Judith Viorst Music
One advantage of marriage is that, when you fall out of love with him or he falls out of love with you, it keeps you together until you fall in again. -Judith Viorst Marriage
In history class, I wrote a poem, 'The Royalists and the Roundheads.' I would write poems about driftwood in art class and little stories about the sun, moon, and stars in science class. Since not many kids were writing in class, I got away with it. -Judith Viorst Science
Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands - and then eat just one of the pieces. -Judith Viorst Strength
We will have to give up the hope that, if we try hard, we somehow will always do right by our children. The connection is imperfect. We will sometimes do wrong. -Judith Viorst Hope
You end up as you deserve. In old age you must put up with the face, the friends, the health, and the children you have earned. -Judith Viorst Health
