"From this moment forward…I stop the blame game and excuses. I am responsible for my life and for where I am today. I cannot blame the people and circumstances in my past, and I refuse to hide behind my past mistakes."

“My mother was a single working mother; she started having children very young. There was a tension inside her about who she wanted to be and what she wanted to do and how she couldn't achieve the things she wanted to.”

Source : "Natalie Merchant On Motherhood As Muse". Interview with Laura Rowley, www.huffingtonpost.com. January 31, 2012.

“If you are a good writer - and I think I am - you are able to handle any kind of group and imagine their lives.”

“There is no sorrow like a love denied. Nor any joy like love that has its will.”

Source : Richard Hovey (1907). “Launcelot and Guenevere: The marriage of Guenevere”

“When I meet a woman whose energy falters at the first barrier,she seems to fade beside my mother.”

“The precision of naming takes away from the uniqueness of seeing.”

“It would drive me crazy to be a guest in my own house.”

“Visualize what you want out of life and think big. Don’t feel undeserving. We're all deserving of living our dreams—some of us realize it and some don't. You’re not doing anyone any favors by living small. Embrace these truths and step up. The world is waiting.”

“It's horrible being ashamed of someone you care about; it eats away at you. And if you let it get to you, if you give up the fight and surrender, eventually that shame turns to hate.”

Source : Tabitha Suzuma (2012). “Forbidden”, p.39, Simon and Schuster