Jodi Picoult Quotes

We women make choices for others, not for ourselves, and when we are mothers, we...bear what we must for our children. You will protect them. It will hurt you; it will hurt them. Your job is to hide that your heart is breaking and do what they need you to do.

People will say that it's some kind of evasion, but I would never want to have a kid for me. I'd want to have the child for the child's sake, if that makes sense.

I made the decision a long time ago that I had an obligation to my children that I happily fulfilled.

I can't selfishly take journeys anymore because I have to take a little boy along with me.

I think you really have to become a parent to understand what you will endure to be there for your kids.

Yeah, I could go rock on the back porch and do crossword puzzles - but I've got six kids, ages 9 to 16, and someone in the family should work. That's me.

I don't think you can have pain and soul-searching doing the right thing for your child.

You have to love your children unselfishly. That's hard. But it's the only way.

Being a mom to my son has taken precedence over everything in my life, and I think that's the order it should be... It's a great challenge that I don't think's ever gonna stop.

I'd make a good friend, not mother. I'm too selfish. I think a lot of mothers are selfish and they end up having children, but I don't want to put some small tiny person through that.

Like every parent, when you start your family, your life completely changes. And you completely live for someone else. I find that the most extraordinary thing. Your life is handed over to someone else. From that moment on, they come first in every choice you make. It's the most wonderful thing.

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.

One the one hand, the simple fact that there are children and that I do have an effect on them has been one of the most potent antidepressants that I've ever had. And on the other hand, there are moments when I feel imprisoned by the reality that I can no longer make my decisions just for myself, that I have to consider the interests of others.

I devote my whole life to my family, and that's the least I could do, because there's only one me and 14 of them. I have to give all my energy and all of me to my kids.

I think being a mom changed me, and now it's not just about what I want to do and what's sort of interesting, but what I absolutely have to do.

I can't just lie in bed and be self-obsessed if there are two children running about who could easily fall down the stairs.

I cannot just do things without thinking. I have a wife and daughter to think of at all times now.

My parents have sacrificed so much, more than any parents really should.

Motherhood: 24/7 on the frontlines of humanity. Are you man enough to try it?

It's the sacrifice I'm not willing to make right now to leave my children because I felt it wasn't only my choice.

A wretched child Is he who does not return his parents' care.

When you have children, you're obligated to live.

~My children are my life ... It's not like I don't have my own wants and and dreams anymore - it's just that the kids come first.~

To have a child is to be impaled daily on the spike of responsibility.

She was really strong around me. Having me at 16 had to have been a big responsibility. My mom gave up everything for me, had three jobs, supported me, sacrificed her life for me.