The Glass Castle

by Jeannette Walls

Dark is a way and light is a place, Heaven that never was Nor will be ever is always true

When Dad wasn’t telling us about all the amazing things he had already done, he was telling us about the wondrous things he was going to do. Like build the Glass Castle.

Suffering when you’re young is good for you, she said. It immunized your body and your soul, and that was why she

ignored us kids when we cried. Fussing over children who cry only encourages them, she told us. That’s positive reinforcement for negative behavior.

the Joshua tree’s struggle that gives it its beauty.’

you can’t cling to the side your whole life, that one lesson every parent needs to teach a child is ‘If you don’t want to sink, you better figure out how to swim.’

We were always supposed to pretend our life was one long and incredibly fun adventure.

Too much hard luck can create a permanent meanness of spirit in any creature.

‘Life is a drama full of tragedy and comedy,’ Mom told me. ‘You should learn to enjoy the comic episodes a little more.’

Situations like these, I realized, were what turned people into hypocrites.

‘Everyone has something good about them,’ she said.

‘what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.’

‘That’s true,’ Mom said, ‘but it could also improve my self-esteem. And at times like these, self-esteem is even more vital than food.’

thin black belt reminded me of the equator circling the globe.

felt best when I was on the move, going someplace rather than being there.

A wind picked up, rattling the windows, and the candle flames

suddenly shifted, dancing along the border between turbulence and order.