"My parents, and librarians along the way, taught me about the space between words about the margins, where so many juicy moments of life and spirit and friendship could be found. In a library, you could find miracles and truth and you might find something that would make you laugh so hard that you get shushed, in the friendliest way."

"Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up."

"We must not inflict life on children who will be resented we must not inflict unwanted children on society."

"We can't understand when we're pregnant, or when our siblings are expecting, how profound it is to have a shared history with a younger generation: blood, genes, humor. It means we were actually here, on Earth, for a time - like the Egyptians with their pyramids, only with children."

"My mom is the backbone not just of my family but of many families."

"I want to be a young dad. By 25 or 26 I want to see myself, like, married or start looking for a family."

"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others."

"What greater aspiration and challenge are there for a mother than the hope of raising a great son or daughter?"