Mother, Mother Quotes

“Sociopaths have no conscience. Narcissists have no empathy. Neither one thinks other people are real. Narcissists think other people are just ego food, tools or extensions of themselves.”
― Koren Zailckas, Mother, Mother

“It's not rocking the boat, Dad. It's called communication. You're allowed to ask questions. Other people do it all the time. Other people don't live in fear of someone else's reactions. They don't relentlessly stress out about getting into trouble.”
― Koren Zailckas, Mother, Mother

“So apparently all homeschooled kids spoke like pretentious liberal arts college students.”
― Koren Zailckas, Mother, Mother

“Crushes weren’t a precursor to love, they were a precursor to having your heart chewed up like Shark Week.”
― Koren Zailckas, Mother, Mother

“Sometimes the very loved ones who seem to be causing all our problems are just calling attention to deeper issues the rest of the family would rather ignore.”
― Koren Zailckas, Mother, Mother

“It’s how fucked-up families communicate. Instead of talking to each other directly, everything goes through a third party. If one person controls all the information, they can lie or pit people against each other.”
― Koren Zailckas, Mother, Mother

“Having a baby doesn't make you a mother any more than buying a piano makes you fucking Beethoven”
― Koren Zailckas, Mother, Mother

“Religion seemed as good an escape route as any, plus it was conveniently compatible with psychedelics.”
― Koren Zailckas, Mother, Mother

“Instead of seeing bad in yourself, you perceive it in others. It’s a defense mechanism. One that allows people to go on believing they’re perfect.”
― Koren Zailckas, Mother, Mother

“And narcissists don’t love themselves. They hardly have any selves to begin with. They put all their energy into the fake image that they wear like a mask. Only there’s nothing but dead space behind it.”
― Koren Zailckas, Mother, Mother

“Why is it so hard to say good-bye to something even when you know it's a slow-growing cancer?”
― Koren Zailckas, Mother, Mother

“a quote by the street artist Banksy: A lot of parents will do anything for their kids except let them be themselves.”
― Koren Zailckas, Mother, Mother

“But William Hurst’s favorite word, hands down, was still eellogofusciouhipoppokunurious. It meant good. Will didn’t expect other people to understand it, this complicated word for such a seemingly simple thing. But to Will, good was precisely that complicated. Good job. Good boy. Good point. Good heart. Those were the kinds of words he’d been waiting to hear all his life. They never came, but Will never stopped waiting for them; he just kept throwing all his strange, clever words at the world, hoping that one day they would.”
― Koren Zailckas, Mother, Mother

“Violet remembered that slap; later her mother had called it a "love tap," as if to further confuse love with pain.”
― Koren Zailckas, Mother, Mother