Pregnancy is a process that invites you to surrender to the unseen force behind all life.

Life is tough enough without having someone kick you from the inside.

A mother does not become pregnant in order to provide employment to medical people. Giving birth is an ecstatic jubilant adventure not available to males. It is a woman’s crowning creative experience of a lifetime.

Giving birth and being born brings us into the essence of creation, where the human spirit is courageous and bold and the body, a miracle of wisdom.

Now my belly is as noble as my heart.

A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten and the future worth living for.

A baby is something you carry inside you for nine months, in your arms for three years, and in your heart until the day you die.

You are the closest I will ever come to magic.

Pregnancy is getting company inside one’s skin.

Whether your pregnancy was meticulously planned, medically coaxed, or happened by surprise, one thing is certain – your life will never be the same.

A baby fills a place in your heart that you never knew was empty.

Everything grows rounder and wider and weirder, and I sit here in the middle of it all and wonder who in the world you will turn out to be.

He plough’d her, and she cropp’d

If pregnancy were a book they would cut the last two chapters.

We have a secret in our culture, and it’s not that birth is painful. It’s that women are strong.

Giving birth should be your greatest achievement not your greatest fear.

Before you were born I carried you under my heart. From the moment you arrived in this world until the moment I leave it, I will always carry you in my heart.

Everything grows rounder and wider and weirder, and I sit here in the middle of it all and wonder who in the world you will turn out to be.

The most important thing she’d learned over the years was that there was no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.

Of course I can do this. I’m pregnant, not brain-damaged. My condition doesn’t change my personality.

People always say that pregnant women have a glow. And I say it’s because you’re sweating to death.

I’m never as happy as when I’m pregnant. I literally would have 10 babies if I could!

A woman has two smiles that an angel might envy, the smile that accepts a lover before words are uttered, and the smile that lights on the first born babe, and assures it of a mother’s love

There is such a special sweetness in being able to participate in creation.

I usually claim that pregnant women should not read books about pregnancy and birth. Their time is too precious. They should, rather, watch the moon and sing to their baby in the womb.

Truthfully, being pregnant is changing me as a person. Each day is part of this amazing journey that has completely shifted the focus of my life and made me reevaluate my personal and professional goals.

Feeling fat lasts nine months but the joy of becoming a mom lasts forever.

It’s an established fact. Some women can’t stand being pregnant, getting big and bloated, and hauling around a giant stomach, and some women, for reasons probably understood by Darwin, love it.

In giving birth to our babies, we may find that we give birth to new possibilities within ourselves.

You do a lot of growing up when you’re pregnant. It’s suddenly like, “Yikes. Here it is, folks. Playtime is over.

When you moved, I felt squeezed with a wild infatuation and protectiveness. We are one. Nothing, not even death, can change that.

Of course I can do this. I’m pregnant, not brain-damaged. My condition doesn’t change my personality.

I fell in love with a beautiful girl, got her pregnant, and then I got married. I wonder whatever happened to that beautiful girl I got pregnant.

Making a decision to have a child–it’s momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.

Birthing is the most profound initiation to spirituality a woman can have.

You are the closest, I'll ever come to magic.

A baby fills a place in your heart that you never knew was empty.

Yeah, well that's the best thing about it, I think, is knowing kids and kids getting mental when they know you're in it. Any kid you meet and anyone I know tells the kid you're in it and they get short of breath.

If we got into a situation where people start burning our records, then bring it on. That's the whole point. The gloaming has begun. We're in the darkness. This has happened before. Go read some history.

I want to do a documentary about strippers, 'cause it's a moneymaker.

A group is as healthy as its 'social contract' is clear; a congregation as faithful as its covenant is mutually understood; a pastor as effective as the pastor's and people's commitment to trust and integrity is honored, guarded, and fulfilled.

A penny saved is worthless

As far as what I do, my value as a writer is certainly not to try to recapitulate a 19th century form. Certain styles of narrative don't conform to my style of experiencing the world.

I believe that some of us who were kept by God a long while before we found Him love Him better perhaps than we should have done if we had received Him directly, and we can preach better to others - we can speak more of His loving-kindness and tender mercy.

Whenever I sing 'Total Eclipse of the Heart,' the way people sing along with me still excites me. It's one of the songs that audiences know all the lyrics to, and they sing along with me, and it makes me so happy. People also know my songs 'Holding out for a Hero' and 'Lost in France,' and this gives me so much joy on stage.

I've been working straight since 2003, so I might just want to take an improv or theater class. That excites me. I can't wait to do different characters - not necessarily the leading chick who gets the guy, but the weird, freaky cousin.

If I'd had some set idea of a finish line, don't you think I would have crossed it years ago?

I am a big fan of the Impressionists, and in my school days, I was inspired by Caravaggio, Velazquez and Rembrandt.

Running has taught me to always push forward, especially in the most difficult times.