Quotes from The Joys of Motherhood

“God, when will you create a woman who will be fulfilled in herself, a full human being, not anybody’s appendage? she prayed desperately.”
― Buchi Emecheta, quote from The Joys of Motherhood

“Nnu Ego was like those not-so well-informed Christians who,promised the Kingdom of Heaven,believed that it was literally just round the corner and that Jesus Christ was coming on the very morrow. Many of them would hardly contribute anything ton this world,reasoning, "What is the use? Christ will come soon" They became so insulated in their beliefs that not only would they have little to do with ordinary sinners,people going about their daily work, they even pitied them and in many cases looked down on them because the Kingdom of God was not for the likes of them. Maybe this was a protective mechanism devised to save them from realities too painful to accept.”
― Buchi Emecheta, quote from The Joys of Motherhood

“In Ibuza sons help their father more than they help their mother. A mother's joy is only in the name. She worries over them,looks after them when they are small;but in the actual help on the farm ,the upholding of the family name,all belong to the father.”
― Buchi Emecheta, quote from The Joys of Motherhood

“Don't blame anyone for what has happened to your father. Things have changed drastically since the days of his own youth,but he has refused to see the changes...The fact is that parents get only reflected glory from their children nowadays,whereas your father has invested in all of you, just as his father invested in him so that he could help on the farm. Your father forgot that he himself left the family farm to come to this place.”
― Buchi Emecheta, quote from The Joys of Motherhood

“Alguns pais, especialmente os que têm muitos filhos de diferentes esposas podem rejeitar um mau filho, um amo pode rejeitar um criado perverso, uma esposa pode chegar ao ponto de abandonar um mau marido, mas uma mãe nunca, nunca pode rejeitar seu filho. Se ele for condenado, ela será condenada ao lado dele.”
― Buchi Emecheta, quote from The Joys of Motherhood

“Nnaife did not realise that Dr Meers's laughter was inspired by that type of wickedness that reduces any man, white or black, intelligent or not, to a new low; lower than the basest of animals, for animals at least respected each other's feelings, each other's dignity.”
― Buchi Emecheta, quote from The Joys of Motherhood

“The fear of everybody was that the man might give in and say, "After all, it's her life." However a thing like that is not permitted in Nigeria; you are simply not allowed to commit suicide in peace, because everyone is responsible for the other person. Foreigners may call us a nation of busybodies, but to us, an individual's life belongs to the community and not just to him or her.”
― Buchi Emecheta, quote from The Joys of Motherhood

“Enquanto voltava para o quarto, ocorreu a Nnu Ego que ela uma prisioneira: aprisionada pelo amor por seus filhos, aprisionada pelo papel de esposa mais velha. Dela, não se esperava nem que pedisse mais dinheiro para a família, essa atitude seria considerada inferior ao padrão esperado de uma mulher em sua posição. Não era justa, ela achava, o modo como os espertos dos homens usavam o sentido de responsabilidade de uma mulher para escravisá-la na prática.”
― Buchi Emecheta, quote from The Joys of Motherhood

“Quanto mais eu penso no assunto, mais me dou conta de que nós, mulheres, fixamos modelos impossíveis para nós mesmas. Que tornamos a vida intolerável umas para as outras. Não consigo corresponder a nossos modelos, esposa mais velha. Por isso preciso criar meus próprios.”
― Buchi Emecheta, quote from The Joys of Motherhood

“Deus, quando você irá criar uma mulher que se sinta satisfeita com sua própria pessoa, um ser humano pleno, não o apêndice de alguém?”
― Buchi Emecheta, quote from The Joys of Motherhood

“Os homens nos fazem acreditar que precisamos desejar filhos ou morrer. Foi por isso que quando perdi meu primeiro filho eu quis a morte, porque não fora capaz de corresponder ao modelo esperado de mim pelos homens da minha vida, meu pai e meu marido, e agora tenho que incluir também meus filhos. Mas quem foi que escreveu a lei que nos proíbe de investir nossas esperanças em nossas filhas? Nós, mulheres, corroboramos essa lei mais que ninguém. Enquanto não mudarmos isso, este mundo continuará sendo um mundo de homens, mundo esse que as mulheres sempre ajudarão a construir.”
― Buchi Emecheta, quote from The Joys of Motherhood

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Popular quotes

“You know what? Forget what I just said. You’re already a part of this. You will eat, you will laugh at stupid things, you will stay up all night just to see what it feels like, you will fall painfully in love, you will have babies of your own, you will doubt and regret and yearn and keep a secret. You will get old and decrepit, and you will die, exhausted from all that living.”
― Miranda July, quote from The First Bad Man

“Sex and death are the gas pedals and brakes of tribal growth. (Gay sex and abortion, for example, are both alternatives to reproduction.) What’s less clear is why different tribes hold different views about sex, life, and death, and why some tribes are more willing than others to impose their views on outsiders.”
― Joshua D. Greene, quote from Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them

“But over the last decade, neuroscientists have discovered that, like an eager student, the brain is remarkably responsive to experience. Ask your brain to do math every day, and it gets better at math. Ask your brain to worry, and it gets better at worrying. Ask your brain to concentrate, and it gets better at concentrating. Not only does your brain find these things easier, but it actually remodels itself based on what you ask it to do.”
― Kelly McGonigal, quote from The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It

“PART 2
I felt doomed to death,
But in a flash,
Before I could reduce my thoughts
To an emotion,
I felt a mass leave my body:
Departing.
Then my mind becomes anonymous
As is each night.
Just unfinished thoughts,
and a deep sickness inside,
As I was forced to swallow it,
Something I've tried to bury deep inside my
psyche to this day.
(poem written by alter personality)”
― quote from Today I'm Alice: Nine Personalities, One Tortured Mind

“Whatever may have been said of the satiety of pleasure and of the disgust which usually follows passion, any man who has anything of a heart and who is not wretchedly and hopelessly blasé feels his love increased by his happiness, and very often the best way to retain a lover ready to leave is to give one's self up to him without reserve.”
― Théophile Gautier, quote from Mademoiselle de Maupin

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

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