The Lost Daughter Quotes

“Standing on that corner where these two worlds meet, I couldn’t help but think how for the past two years I’d also been standing on a similar line of demarcation that runs between my birth family and my adopted family. Though a narrow strip of metaphorical macadam separated these two worlds, crossing between them was no easy feat. Once one has crossed from one to the other, re-entry was as hazardous as a rocketship’s fall through the upper atmosphere. The potential to crash and burn was great. I”
― Mary Williams, The Lost Daughter: A Memoir

“In the end I came to believe that many of the world’s ills cannot be solved solely by outsiders who believe that their wealth and degrees make them the most qualified. The most respectful, practical and efficacious approach to improving the lives of others is for wealthy nations and individuals to use their resources to empower people to help themselves.”
― Mary Williams, The Lost Daughter: A Memoir

“Contrary to what I thought, being a college grad and fluent in English doesn’t make one a good English teacher. I was surprised to learn that all the stuff I didn’t know about the language was more than I knew—by a multiple of ten. I knew my nouns, verbs and adjectives. I could speak intelligently about the past, present and future tenses. No problem. But my students were asking me about aspects of English way out in the hinterlands of my understanding. Holy hell! When did English get more than three tenses? Turns out a world existed beyond verbs and nouns. A big world that, for me at the time, seemed as deep and incomprehensible as quantum physics. Tenses like the past perfect, the subjunctive, the pluperfect, the present perfect, the future perfect continuous. Often”
― Mary Williams, The Lost Daughter: A Memoir

“He’d stand in front of the class and read passages from the works of Dickens, Hemingway, Shakespeare. He wouldn’t just read the words, he’d allow them to dance off his tongue, and his arms would spiral in an arabesque when he read a particularly beautiful piece. “Did you hear that! Lovely! Let me read it again!” Most of the students found him comical but I got what he meant about words.”
― Mary Williams, The Lost Daughter: A Memoir

“Black Panther Party—an organization founded in Oakland during the mid-1960s to stop police brutality toward African Americans and to help those who lacked employment, education and healthcare. Some of the many accomplishments of the Party would include the Free Breakfast for Children Program that would be replicated by public school systems across the country.”
― Mary Williams, The Lost Daughter: A Memoir

“She’s also showing me behavior I’ve never even heard of, like passenger road rage.”
― Mary Williams, The Lost Daughter: A Memoir