Gina Barreca

“Two things I do for maintenance: I get a manicure once a month, and I see my therapist about every six weeks. I am happy to report that, at this point, my nails crack more often than I do.”

“Speaking up is important. Yet to speak up without listening is like banging pots and pans together: Even if it gets you attention, it’s not going to get you respect.”

“I regard other women as my community, not my competition.”

“For many of us, our proms were less Walt Disney's 'Cinderella' and more Stephen King's 'Carrie.' The less we spent on them, the better.”

“Love is inconvenient. Love is untidy. Love is relentless, ruthless and rapacious. Done well, it's hilarious, playful and redemptive.”

“I'm pretty much done with mindfulness. I'm just going to start paying attention.”

“We should learn to take genuine pride in a job well done and not expect praise for one simply carried out.”

“Ask a woman if she’s ambitious and she’ll look at you as if you just asked whether she sticks pins in puppies for fun. Ask a woman if she’s competitive and she’ll look at you as if you suggested that she’s a hooker.”

“Words can be as irrevocable as an action. They can cut as deeply as a surgeon’s scalpel.”

“If you know you can do it - if you can already chart every day in your future - then why bother? Choose to do something you have more trouble imagining. Take a chance.”

“If you believe that your best years are behind you, you've guaranteed they are; I'm going to dance into that good night, with the oldies turned up loud.”

“Birthdays are a reward for having shown up 365 days in a row. It's like getting a badge for attendance.”

“Once we hit forty, women only have about four taste buds left: one for vodka, one for wine, one for cheese, and one for chocolate.”

“It's not that diamonds are a girl's best friend, but it's your best friends who are your diamonds. It's your best friends who are supremely resilient, made under pressure and of astonishing value. They're everlasting; they can cut glass if they need to.”

“Here's something women need to stop doing to other women: We need to stop asking each other to lower our fees, cut our rates or work for free because we're members of the same sex.”

“The '60s had edge; the '70s had embroidery.”

“Laughing together is as close as you can get to a hug without touching.”

“If anger were mileage, I'd be a very frequent flyer, right up there in First Class.”

“Boys are rewarded for playing games where they line up by height and then run into walls. Perhaps I'm making that up--or perhaps you should do a Google search for "Guy Runs into Wall for Fun."Not only do women hold up half the sky; we do it while carrying a 500-pound purse.From age sixteen to age twenty, a woman's body is a temple. From twenty-one to forty-five, it's an amusement park. From forty-five on, it's a terrarium.Bring your sense of humor with you at all times. Bring your friends with a sense of humor. If their friends have a sense of humor, invite them, too”

“Recognizing your talents doesn't mean believing they're limitless. Accepting your strengths doesn't lead to pride, but instead to humility; you're less likely to resent what others have if you understand your own bounty.”