Jane Smiley Quotes
'Lean on Pete' is the story of a boy and his horse, but it is never heart-warming - it ranges in tone from desperate to merely painful - and, while fascinating, it is never entertaining or redemptive. But if you want an unadorned portrait of American life (at least in some places) at the beginning of the 21st century, this is the book for you.

Quotes to Explore
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I received my money from the treasury, I used to very early to go the clubs, but when the burden of looking after my children came upon me I tried to live a quite life, and save as much as I could.
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I think with girlfriends, you always want your girlfriends to make the decisions for themselves, not based on a boy, not based on anything other than, 'Is this what you want?' Is this you know what you want to do?' And that's real support to me.
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These years after my liberation were years of reconstruction, and I think I made the right decisions... I mean, I lost everything: my life; my father died; I didn't know anything about my children.
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The juvenile sea squirt wanders through the sea searching for a suitable rock or hunk of coral to cling to and make its home for life. For this task, it has a rudimentary nervous system. When it finds its spot and takes root, it doesn't need its brain anymore so it eats it!
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There was this song I was working on called 'Swing.' It was almost finished, but there was something missing, and I couldn't for the life of me figure it out. And then this little piece of information - this little tweet - came to the forefront of my mind.
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You get to bring your own sound system when you play an arena, all the lights and visual stuff, which I think is really cool. There's something about those old arenas, where it feels larger than life.
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One of the things that always was Fall Out Boy was trying new things and kind of pushing ourselves in different directions.
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I think that's very sad, that I haven't allowed my heart to be broken. I have broken a few.
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I take so much pleasure at seeing customers who are happy: happy with what they eat, but happy with their friends and sharing a great moment together, and I think that is more important in life than the endless pursuit of perfection.
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It's easier to release an ebook than a print book.
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Be aware of who in your life is actually interested in hearing you discuss your writing, and who's just asking to be polite. Listening to writers talk about their work is often excruciatingly dull.
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When I had my first boy it all started and that male energy seemed to keep me awake but since my daughter, who's incredibly serene, I can't seem to stop sleeping because she's asleep all the time. It's a pattern.
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We don't spend so much time on the opponent that we forget it's really about us.
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Be who you are. It's easy to feel like you have to blend in, but it takes courage to live your life with conviction and embrace the person that you are.
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Life is one long jubilee.
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Character is supreme in life, hence Jesus stood supreme in the supreme thing - so supreme that, when we think of the ideal, we do not add virtue to virtue, but think of Jesus Christ, so that the standard of human life is no longer a code but a character.
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In life and art, there are distinctions to be made between what an act of cruelty consists of.
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Books that change you, even later in life, give you a kind of electrical shock as the world takes a different shape.
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The human being is flesh and consciousness, body and soul; his heart is an abyss which can only be filled by that which is godly.
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When the 'Guardian' is commissioning writers to write obituary pieces about you and your career... it doesn't get much nastier than that. And you've just got to go, 'It doesn't actually matter.'
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Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. The real miracle is the love that inspires them. In this sense everything that comes from love is a miracle.
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Women have it better in tennis than any other sport, but you shouldn't push them to play more than they're capable of playing.
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My nutritionist read my pathology report and said, 'There's only one way you can beat your cancer.' 'What's that?' 'You have to find out what caused it.'
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'Lean on Pete' is the story of a boy and his horse, but it is never heart-warming - it ranges in tone from desperate to merely painful - and, while fascinating, it is never entertaining or redemptive. But if you want an unadorned portrait of American life (at least in some places) at the beginning of the 21st century, this is the book for you.