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What distinguished my life from my brother's is that my mother didn't like me. When I became a woman, I seemed to repel her.


Jamaica Kincaid

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WILL POULTER I was supposed to be a mother like my mother, who didn't work.
SONIA RYKIEL Like every mother, it's my children; that's the first thing that makes me really proud. For ...
CHERIE BLAIR When I was a kid, my father didn't really have much hope for me. He thought I was a dreamer; he ...
FRANK GEHRY I'm not saying my mother didn't like me, but she kept looking for loopholes in my birth cert...
LES DAWSON My mother cried when I told her I really didn't want to go to West Point. So I went.
MARTIN DEMPSEY My mother had taught me about the importance of finding a 'good provider,' so when my boyfri...
ELIZABETH WARREN My mother gave me singing lessons; that was totally painful, because I couldn't do what she want...
LINDA LAVIN Growing up, we didn't have anything. My mum wasn't well, so I was in three care homes then f...
REBECCA FERGUSON When I was younger, I didn't have the finer things in life. It was around me - the cars, the jew...
LARENZ TATE I've stammered all my life, and it's fair to say that my stammer has shaped my life. It'...
GARETH GATES I don't think my dad really knew what to do with me, as a daughter. He treated me like a boy; my...
EMMA WATSON At one time in my life, from the time I was seven until I was about 13, I didn't speak. I only s...
MAYA ANGELOU My mother wouldn't allow me to speak slang when I was growing up. But when I got outside, around...
QUEEN LATIFAH My mother sent me to psychiatrists since the age of four because she didn't think little boys sh...
ANDY KAUFMAN I didn't have the welfare. I didn't have the proper education. I didn't have these thing...
BAHMAN GHOBADI My initial introduction to him was - this is a funny story... My Aunt Marian, my entire life growing...
ROB MCCLURE What motivated me? My mother. My mother was an immigrant woman, a peasant woman, struggled all her l...
AL LEWIS I go back five generations in Jamaica. My dad grew up in Port Royal, and my mom grew up in Kingston....
DULE HILL There was a time in my life that my mother told me that they didn't know whether they were going...
ELLEN GREENE I did not direct my life. I didn't design it. I never made decisions. Things always came up and ...
B. F. SKINNER I had to have my first kiss in front of, like, a hundred people. I didn't know what to do. So my...
LACEY CHABERT I think I lost at least 40% of my fans when I became blond. They didn't recognize me anymore.
VALERIA MAZZA As a child, my father's architecture seemed to me to be industrial in a way. It seemed harsh and...
NATHANIEL KAHN I don't throw around the word 'brother' because I'm so, so close to my real-life bro...
JUSSIE SMOLLETT My wife used to tell me one of my best qualities was that my feet don't smell, but I remember my...
JACK PRELUTSKY When I read Katana's run in 'Birds of Prey,' I was curious about her restraint. She didn...
ANN NOCENTI My name is James Edward Franco. Ted is a nickname for Edward. That's what my parents called me. ...
JAMES FRANCO Yeah, I read Judy Blume. My mother didn't like that, but I read it anyhow.
ALISON BECHDEL I always was a weird child. My mother told me the story that, in kindergarten, I would come home and...
JOHN WATERS I don't think that much about my relationship with my mother and what it did to me. I sometimes ...
ALICE MUNRO I didn't want to give up my career. That's what kept me alive, kept me going. I couldn't...
ELIZABETH WILSON Barbie ruined my life! It's a really bad image for women. For a long time I thought I was deform...
RITA RUDNER I want to go to Jamaica, actually. My whole family's from there, so I'd like to go there.
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ALEXANDRA ADORNETTO If you didn't know that I am an actress, I don't think you could tell from my lifestyle. I c...
KAREN BLACK When I was younger I didn't have much financially, like we couldn't afford a lot of stuff an...
NICKI MINAJ My brothers used to call me Bob. They'd laugh at me, and I didn't get it. I'm 13 years o...
MICHAEL STRAHAN I lived with my mother all my life until she died, and I don't really think I knew her, because ...
HARRIET WALTER I don't have a college degree, and my father didn't have a college degree, so when my son, Z...
ROBIN WILLIAMS All the praise I received couldn't substitute for the praise I had never received from my mother...
BESS MYERSON I didn't go to the lectures. My valet, who was more distinguished than I, went instead.
WITOLD GOMBROWICZ I heard my mother talking badly of me to people who were talking badly of me in her salon. That'...
VINCENT GALLO My mother's very proud of the name she gave me. She thought it sounded rhythmically better. It d...
HOLLY MARIE COMBS I wanted a good relationship with my mother, and I realized I had a choice: Either I could spend all...
CHANDRA WILSON I believe destiny and hard work go hand in hand. I was studying to be an engineer when my mom and my...
PRIYANKA CHOPRA As a father, I do everything my dad didn't do. My son Beau's birth changed my life.
DAVID CASSIDY I came from a poor family. My father was from Glasgow, Scotland; my mother's brothers were brake...
MICKEY ROONEY My father and I are friends and my mother and I don't speak. It's a bummer. I miss her.
JENNIFER ANISTON My mother told me that my birth mother got pregnant by a married man who didn't want to leave hi...
ELLEN ULLMAN My grandmother, she's been the positive portion of my life the entire time. She raised us Baptis...
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ANGELA BASSETT I was horrible at science and math. I couldn't pass a test to save my life! I'm surprised th...
WILLIAM PETERSEN I didn't have any expectations of what my family life would end up being like. But I've been...
JOSH TURNER My mum died of leukemia when I was in high school - she lost her life at 40. It was very hard, and I...
CORY HARDRICT My mother is from another time - the funniest person to her is Lucille Ball; that's what she lov...
STEVEN WRIGHT When my mum first told me she got sick, I didn't cry. I probably cried over my mum's illness...
JACK OSBOURNE It wasn't cool that I didn't comb my hair and had books and wore glasses. It was never cool ...
AJ LEE I actually feel more of a woman because I feel like I'm being smart about my choices, and I'...
ANGELINA JOLIE My mother was a full-time mother. She didn't have much of her own career, her own life, her own ...
ANGELINA JOLIE I didn't cook that much as a kid. My mother was cooking, and I was her helper. We made dishes to...
ALEX GUARNASCHELLI My mother speaks of my step being a source of life-long pain to her, that it is a living death, etc....
ELIZABETH GARRETT ANDERSON I don't know how I didn't kill any one of my sisters. For this one horror film we were makin...
ALEXA VEGA I didn't like to stop playing for a second to bother with eating or going to the bathroom. I was...
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CARMEN EJOGO My mother moved abroad when I was 11, my dad wasn't around from the time that I was a baby, so I...
MARK STRONG I remember specifically my mother telling me growing up don't put my business in the street. I w...
KARRINE STEFFANS Daniel, my big brother, is eight years older. I'm lucky he didn't mind hanging out with his ...
SAMANTHA STOSUR My vigor, vitality and cheek repel me. I am the kind of woman I would run from.
NANCY ASTOR I didn't grow up in public life. I lived with my mother in Boston, not in Washington, DC, so I w...
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SYDNEY POLLACK You know, I don't play the race card a lot. I'm half-black, half-white, and I'm proud of...
SHEMAR MOORE My mother's nickname for me is 'Positive Patrick.' I like to live up to that title.
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SHIMON PERES When I was little, I used to watch Disney movies all the time, and it drove me crazy that Cinderella...
ALLISON WILLIAMS I can't stand quitters. My mother is a very strong, determined woman. I was peeling onions when ...
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DAVID ROCKEFELLER My mum certainly isn't a prude, nor is my brother, so I think I'm lucky to have a family lik...
ROXANNE MCKEE When I joined Bill Clinton's start-up presidential campaign in 1991, I was confident that women ...
DEE DEE MYERS I didn't speak English until I was ten, when Philip Burton, the schoolmaster who became my guard...
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STURGILL SIMPSON In my life, there have always been people who guided my path, towards the school, towards this compa...
KAREN KAIN My father is a teacher; my mother was a telecom employee. I come from Palermo; I was raised in Ethio...
LUCA GUADAGNINO My ma and pa are both very artistic, so I suppose it's in my blood. But my ma's the one who ...
GREY DAMON I got into sports, thankfully, because I didn't listen to my mother.
DAT NGUYEN American popular culture, like individuals in daily life, tends to either romanticize or demonize mo...
DEBORAH TANNEN I'm certainly not a perfect mother, but I'm trying to be what my mother wasn't for me. M...
DOROTHY HAMILL

More Jamaica Kincaid

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JAMAICA KINCAID I come from a little island with the Caribbean Sea on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. ...
JAMAICA KINCAID I'm so used to being misunderstood.
JAMAICA KINCAID I have no credentials. I have no money. I literally come from a poor place. I was a servant. I dropp...
JAMAICA KINCAID The English language started out as a distortion in my life, but nothing remains the same, and so th...
JAMAICA KINCAID Race is not particularly interesting to me. Power is. Who has power and who doesn't. Slavery int...
JAMAICA KINCAID this is how you smile to someone you don't like too much; this is how you smile to someone you don't...
JAMAICA KINCAID ...be sure to wash every day, even if it is with your own spit; don't squat down to play marbles—y...
JAMAICA KINCAID I like cooking, but I think someone else ought to do the dishes.
JAMAICA KINCAID If I actually ran the world, I'd do it from the kitchen. It's not anything deliberate or a statemen...
JAMAICA KINCAID When I moved out here to California, I became obsessed with geology. It's impossible not to be i...
JAMAICA KINCAID The garden has taught me to live, to appreciate the times when things are fallow and when they'r...
JAMAICA KINCAID I used to want to be a backup singer. Not a lead singer, because I really can't sing.
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JAMAICA KINCAID One of the things reading does, it makes your loneliness manageable if you are an essentially lonely...
JAMAICA KINCAID One doesn't have to pursue unhappiness. It comes to you. You come into the world screaming. You ...
JAMAICA KINCAID I can write anywhere. I actually wrote more than I ever did when I had small children. My children w...
JAMAICA KINCAID I picked a name that was a combination of an island name and a very English name. Havana was one cho...
JAMAICA KINCAID I think in many ways the problem that my writing would have with an American reviewer is that Americ...
JAMAICA KINCAID When I write nonfiction, it's always absolutely true. There will be no moment in my nonfiction w...
JAMAICA KINCAID Friendship is a simple thing, and yet complicated; friendship is on the surface, something natural, ...
JAMAICA KINCAID I think life is difficult and that's that. I am not at all - absolutely not at all - interested ...
JAMAICA KINCAID The inevitable is no less a shock just because it is inevitable.
JAMAICA KINCAID People only say I'm angry because I'm black and I'm a woman. But all sorts of people wri...
JAMAICA KINCAID No matter how happy I had been in the past I do not long for it. The present is always the moment fo...
JAMAICA KINCAID That the native does not like the tourist is not hard to explain. For every native of every place is...
JAMAICA KINCAID You are not an ugly person all the time; you are not an ugly person ordinarily; you are not an ugly ...
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NANCI KINCAID Watching the events is free. Everything is open to the public.
DON KINCAID Watching the events is free,
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DON KINCAID It's shaping up to be the best field in the tournament's 13 years here. You'll see golf as good as y...
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CLIFF KINCAID If you remind people that terrorists are actually planning to kill us, that tends to support the cas...
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NANCY KINCAID