Maria Semple Quotes

The mother memories that are closest to my heart are the small gentle ones that I have carried over from the days of my childhood. They are not profound, but they have stayed with me through life, and when I am very old, they will still be near . . . Memories of mother drying my tears, reading aloud, cutting cookies and singing as she did, listening to prayers I said as I knelt with my forehead pressed against her knee, tucking me in bed and turning down the light. They have carried me through the years and given my life such a firm foundation that it does not rock beneath flood or tempest.

Food brings back memories. I had a mom that wasn't a good cook, so I would eat my grandma's food. It was amazing because it brings back a time almost in Technicolor. I see her house, I see her stove; I think about what it felt like when I was sick, and it felt like love.

'The Secret Garden' was the first musical that I fell in love with when I was a kid. My mom took me to see it, and it was the first one that I owned the soundtrack to and listened to over and over again.

The joke in our family is that we can cry reading the phone book.

'Black Beauty,' by Anna Sewell, remains a star-dusted memory because my mom read it aloud to my sister and me at night for months. I was no more than 7.

'After 17' is a song I wrote when my first daughter went to college, so that's kind of where I'm at in that part of my life. If you listen to that song and knew anything about me, you'd say, 'Oh yeah, he wrote that about his daughter,' but I try not to write them that they are so specific that they wouldn't apply to anybody that has a child.

I have memories of my grandfather Kirkman making mashed potatoes that were so good because they tasted like a bowl of butter. I love my mom's brownies. My favorite thing about both of those recipes is that someone else made them for me.

Music has always been a huge part of my life from a very young age, and today it remains a very powerful and natural way for me to connect with people, as well as my children.

You know, nobody can ever cook as good as your mama.

My mom tells me the first show we saw was 'The Secret Garden,' but I don't remember that.

I love stories. I loved stories when I was a kid. My mom read stories to me all the time.

The most memorable night of The Judy Garland Show for me was the night my mother pulled me out of the audience and sang to me onstage.

I always knew, even as a kid, that my mom had a really rough life, and I always wanted to make her feel happy and to make her feel good.

Music is just a huge part of my life. It affects moods. I've always found it insane how you can hear one song, and it takes you back to a specific, specific moment in your life, and you remember it vividly like it was yesterday.

'E.T.' was a healing movie; it was a heart movie. It was all about getting about getting home and love.

Music makes time fall away like almost nothing else. You hear a song from another moment of your life, and it really is like you're still there.

When my mom travelled, she would bring me basketball tapes.

When I found out I'd won Book of the Year, the first person I called was my mum, who was so happy she cried on the phone. I did a bit too to be honest.

I used to watch 'Last Comic Standing' with my mom before she passed. So when I got that red envelope, I was extremely emotional.

'Mom' is an emotional family drama that's also thrilling. It's the story about a mother and a daughter, their emotions, and how their lives change. Being a mother myself helped me understand those emotions better.

I was about 10 when I first began to sing. My mother had been away for three weeks, and I learned 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina.' When she came back, I sang it in front of her, my auntie Linda, my father, my uncle Jim, and my grandmother.

I have to always go back to Tim Horton's, it's my favorite spot. I remember growing up as a kid - my mom, every Saturday morning she'd go the hairdresser and she'd give me two dollars to go buy donuts.

One of my favourite scenes ever is in Mr India - when the kids are hungry and Sridevi comes with the pastries etc, and they become friends. It's impossible not to get teary-eyed.

The first human I ever said 'I love you' to was my oldest son.

You never forget where you were when you write a song; it's a very proper memory, so I knew exactly where I was and what I was doing for each track. It was like going into a time machine.