Quotes from Anita Diament

Why did I not know that birth is the pinnacle where women discover the courage to become mothers?

The more a daughter knows the details of her mother's life [...] the stronger the daughter.

I love many kinds of music: world music, jazz, classical, pop.

My husband, Jim, converted to Judaism just before our wedding.

Whatever your relationship is to your sacred tradition in the West, you have some relationship to the Bible if only through the names of the characters.

The Sabbath is a weekly cathedral raised up in my dining room, in my family, in my heart.

Since 1985, I have written about contemporary Jewish practice and the Jewish community.

My husband, Jim, converted to Judaism just before our wedding.

The Sabbath is a weekly cathedral raised up in my dining room, in my family, in my heart.

Whatever your relationship is to your sacred tradition in the West, you have some relationship to the Bible if only through the names of the characters.

Right now, I'm Writing song lyrics. Experimenting with a play. Toying with an idea for a documentary. I hope one of these will eventually be launched into the light of day.

One of his tears fell in my mouth, where it became a blue sapphire, source of strength, source of strength and eternal hope.

I lived through a classic publishing story. My editor was fired a month before the book came out. The editor who took it over already had a full plate. It was never advertised. We didn't get reviewed in any major outlets.

The Bible - it's sort of the other person in the room. There's this book, the reader, and the Bible.

I got nice rejections explaining that historical fiction was a difficult sell. But I kept trying.

I tell writers to keep reading, reading, reading. Read widely and deeply. And I tell them not to give up even after getting rejection letters. And only write what you love.

One of my great secrets was knowing I had the power to make her smile.

Shakespeare in Love... such smart writing of an alternative view of history, and such beautiful acting. Like most Americans, I'm a sucker for the accent.

There's something almost adolescent about Whitman's paean to everything that was and remains good about America.

One of my favorite poets, Neruda, writes close to the bone. Though I know only a little Spanish, I like to compare the Spanish and English lines and see how the translator worked.

I have a 10-year track record of writing for the Jewish community.

It's a good thing babies don't give you a lot of time to think. You fall in love with them and when you realize how much they love you back, life is very simple.

My six handbooks to Jewish life and lifecycle events mostly followed the trajectory of my adult Jewish life.

Of all life's pleasures, only love owes no debt to death.