There's this moment when kids realize that they have power and that they can use it.

Sometimes I think about all the hours spent making lunches, carting kids from one place to another, being up in the middle of the night taking temperatures. People who haven't had to do that have, say, read every last book up there from cover to cover and probably remember it. There are trade-offs. But more life is more life.

I'm a different person in French. I'm a different person in New York. I'm a different person in Canada.

Claire Messud Quotes