Top 70 Gail Sheehy Quotes

It was my very good fortune to find a mentor, Clay Felker, who started my career at the ‘New York Magazine’ as a freelance writer when I had to quit my job at the ‘Herald Tribune’ to stay home with my young daughter.

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter into another!

Be willing to shed parts of your previous life. For example, in our 20s, we wear a mask; we pretend we know more than we do. We must be willing, as we get older, to shed cocktail party phoniness and admit, ‘I am who I am.’

When men reach their sixties and retire, they go to pieces. Women go right on cooking.

The feminist spirit still lives! It shows most boldly among younger women from the millennial generation.

Very few women manage to have it all; certainly not all at once.

In the case of my husband, we found that facing a life-threatening illness prodded us to make a dramatic change in our lives.

People in grief need someone to walk with them without judging them.

This is something caregivers have to understand: You have to ask for help. You have to realize that you deserve to ask for help. Because you need to keep on working on your own life.

The perceptions of middle age have their own luminosity.

Sex and older women used to be considered an oxymoron, rarely mentioned in the same breath.

I dare to do things – that’s how I survive.

I do think taking the 20s to take the most chances you can is important, because you’re not going to hurt anyone else during that time. And if you do have a partner, you need a couple years to rehearse that relationship.

Sex and older women used to be considered an oxymoron, rarely mentioned in the same breath.

My husband, Clay Felker, died 17 years after his first cancer due to secondary conditions that developed from treatment.

It seems like, to me, somewhere between 30 and 35 is a really, really good time to turn your eggs into babies.

You have a new role: family caregiver. It’s a role nobody applies for. You don’t expect it. You won’t be prepared. You probably won’t even identify yourself as a caregiver.

It is a paradox that as we reach out prime, we also see there is a place where it finishes.

To be tested is good. The challenged life may be the best therapist.

Spontaneity, the hallmark of childhood, is well worth cultivating to counteract the rigidity that may otherwise set in as we grow older.

The secret of a leader lies in the tests he has faced over the whole course of his life and the habit of action he develops in meeting those tests.

There is no more defiant denial of one man’s ability to possess one woman exclusively than the prostitute who refuses to redeemed.

Like everyone else in the first weeks after the tragedy of 9/11, I was looking frantically for some way to help.

In the case of my husband, we found that facing a life-threatening illness prodded us to make a dramatic change in our lives.

Changes are not only possible and predictable, but to deny them is to be an accomplice to one’s own unnecessary vegetation.

Being a pathfinder is to be willing to risk failure and still go on.

No one can control the aging process or the trajectory of illness.

Character is what was yesterday and will be tomorrow.

Over the next few years the boardrooms of America are going to light up with hot flashes.

I do think women can have it all – but not all women. If you take daring steps and are smart about it, you can probably have it all. But you might have to wait a while.

No one can control the aging process or the trajectory of illness.

Married at 23, a mother at 24, and blindsided by divorce at 28, I found myself struggling, like many young women I meet today, to strike a balance between my personal life and my career.

I found the happiest woman in America is between 50 and 55, is happily married, has made significant progress in her career, and lives in a community where she can easily exercise outside. But the most important single thing was she had her last child before she was 35.

I do think taking the 20s to take the most chances you can is important, because you’re not going to hurt anyone else during that time. And if you do have a partner, you need a couple years to rehearse that relationship.

Being a pathfinder is to be willing to risk failure and still go on.

I found the happiest woman in America is between 50 and 55, is happily married, has made significant progress in her career, and lives in a community where she can easily exercise outside. But the most important single thing was she had her last child before she was 35.

I’m a liberal, but I think there’s so much that the private sector can do and does do.

Would that there were an award for people who come to understand the concept of enough. Good enough. Successful enough. Thin enough. Rich enough. Socially responsible enough. When you have self-respect, you have enough.

My husband, Clay Felker, died 17 years after his first cancer due to secondary conditions that developed from treatment.

The dream for many millennial women is to make a difference as social or political entrepreneurs. They are using the social media and marketing tools they have mastered to empower less fortunate women and direct them onto career tracks that women have traditionally avoided, like science and technology.

The secret of a leader lies in the tests he has faced over the whole course of his life and the habit of action he develops in meeting those tests.

Would that there were an award for people who come to understand the concept of enough. Good enough. Successful enough. Thin enough. Rich enough. Socially responsible enough. When you have self-respect, you have enough.

You have a new role: family caregiver. It’s a role nobody applies for. You don’t expect it. You won’t be prepared. You probably won’t even identify yourself as a caregiver.

This is something caregivers have to understand: You have to ask for help. You have to realize that you deserve to ask for help. Because you need to keep on working on your own life.

If every day is an awakening, you will never grow old. You will just keep growing.

It seems like, to me, somewhere between 30 and 35 is a really, really good time to turn your eggs into babies.

Very few women manage to have it all; certainly not all at once.

Changes are not only possible and predictable, but to deny them is to be an accomplice to one’s own unnecessary vegetation.

There is no more defiant denial of one man’s ability to possess one woman exclusively than the prostitute who refuses to redeemed.

Like everyone else in the first weeks after the tragedy of 9/11, I was looking frantically for some way to help.

I actually like getting out of my comfort zone. It shakes me up.

Growth demands a temporary surrender of security.

In the first phase of shock over, say, your mortgage being called in or your job washed out, it’s essential to engage with others and share the fear, release the feelings, do fun things to take your mind off it.

The first thing one notices about Jill Abramson is her short stature. The second is her intensity.

Adapting to our Second Adulthood is not all about the money. It requires thinking about how to find a new locus of identity or how to adjust to a spouse who stops working and who may loll, enjoying coffee and reading the paper online while you’re still commuting.

Eventually, all mentor-disciple relationships are meant to pull apart, usually sometime in the mid-30s. Those who hang on, eventually the mentor drops the disciple, and that’s no fun.

If you begin to think you are solely responsible for keeping your loved one alive and safe, you will eventually find yourself playing God. This phase can develop into an unhealthy, codependent relationship.

You don’t have to feel confident to act confident. In fact, it’s the most important acting job you can learn.

I was devastated when I got the review for my first book. The book came out a couple years before the women’s movement broke through, and people were putting it down, asking, ‘Why does the woman in this book need to get a divorce? Why can’t she just shut up and be happy?’

Creativity can be described as letting go of certainties.

I keep returning to the central question facing over-50 women as we move into our Second Adulthood. What are our goals for this stage in our lives?

Creativity can be described as letting go of certainties.

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter into another!

I’m a liberal, but I think there’s so much that the private sector can do and does do.

The first thing one notices about Jill Abramson is her short stature. The second is her intensity.

Growth demands a temporary surrender of security.

It was so naive to think that there was nothing interesting that happened after 55. Come on, there’s a whole second adulthood!

Jill Clayburgh’s life so closely paralleled mine, I feel as though a part of me lived a little through her and died a little with her.

The delights of self-discovery are always available.