Hang the Moon

by Jeannette Walls

reading was a way of traveling the world, getting to know people you’ll never meet, also traveling through time, getting to know people who lived long ago.

if a blind, deaf girl didn’t sit around feeling sorry for herself and instead learned to read and write, then I could also do anything I set out to do.

teachers don’t know everything, but as long as they stay a step ahead of the students, the students think they do.

enough people smarts to know better than to show off their book smarts.

If you’re the smartest person in the room, is it always smart to let everyone know it?”

“That’s the secret. Stay busy. It doesn’t do to dwell on it.” Stay busy. On the move. Keep the wheels turning.

teachers and parents can’t change children and shouldn’t try. What they can do is bring out children’s strengths.”

it’s not the gun you have to concern yourself with, but the person holding it.

People who’ve never gone without find it easy to pass judgment on those who’ve struggled.

“Laws made by people far away don’t matter all that much. What matters are the laws made by the people right here, the ones taking care of you.

What matters most are the laws made by the people close to you, the ones you depend on.

I try to keep my head down but sometimes it won’t stay there.”

motherhood—bringing an innocent life into this world and caring for it—is the highest calling for a woman,

You can’t judge someone until you’ve walked in their shoes.”

“You’ve got to look the part,”

“Look like a dirt farmer and people will treat you like a dirt farmer.”

“Once a fight gets started, it takes on a life of its own.

it’s cars and roads that have done the most to change things for women, giving them the freedom to go where they want without needing the help of a man to harness the horse to the wagon.

I’ve never picked a fight in my life, but if someone comes at me I won’t back down.