Anna Quindlen Quotes

In some ways, siblings, and especially sisters, are more influential in your childhood than your parents.

I think that your relationship is always changing with your siblings.

Siblings tend not to care much about boundaries and borders. Having worn each others' T-shirts, it's unlikely that they'd go to war over a border.

Big sisters and brothers... I am telling you, it never changes.

My brother and I have too good a relationship to spoil it by working together.

As for my brothers, of whom I had three, I know not how they were bred.

Birth order is fascinating, and it is forever.

I'm one of seven kids, and I love being around a bunch of siblings because I think it teaches you independence, and it teaches you how to grow up quickly and also just be a good friend and be a good sister.

I have two older sisters.

Siblings are often very opposite.

I remember going to friends' houses and being fascinated when they got into fights with their siblings.

Sibling relationships have been underemphasised in learning about child development.

When you learn conflict-resolution skills in the playroom, you then practice them on the playground, and that in turn stays with you. If you have a combative sibling or a physically intimidating, older sibling, you learn a lot about how to deal with situations like that later in life. If you're an older sibling and you have a younger sibling who needs mentoring or is afraid of the dark, you develop nurturing and empathic skills that you wouldn't otherwise have.

I'm a person that can get along with people. I like people who believe passionately in things even if they're not the things I agree with.

From the time we're born, our brothers and sisters are our collaborators and coconspirators, our role models and our cautionary tales.

I'm an only child. Which is kind of bad, because having a brother or sister is like another form of friendship. That's something I've missed out on, except I know that I couldn't be doing what I am doing now if I had brothers and sisters.

I have a younger brother.

I always wanted a little brother because I felt like the little brother had to do everything.

I do find the sibling connection endlessly fascinating, as I do all family dynamics. I like how siblings seem to create their own parentless mini-civilization within a family, one that has its own laws, myths, language, humor, its own loyalties and treacheries.

I was a middle child. I grew up in Brooklyn with three sisters and a brother. You know what that means: everybody is constantly fighting with everybody and you are in the middle of the storm trying to make peace. That is your life. Making everybody work and play well together.

I was the middle of five children, and we were five very opinionated siblings. That probably pushed me to learn to speak up for myself.

I've always had this interest in sibling relationships because I don't have any siblings. I'm completely a product of the one-child policy in China, so I always kind of wished that I had an older brother or a younger brother or sister just to have that bond, so I find myself constantly writing about that relationship.

My mom always said I was the peacemaker in the family. My older brother, Eric, was the leader, the creative one. I was just his puppet.

Everyone knows that if you've got a brother, you're going to fight.

I am obsessed with my sisters. Being the oldest, I probably just have that in me. But I also think I am the youngest sometimes. We all have moments when we are the maternal one of the group.