21 Quotes & Sayings By Gail Sheehy

Gail Sheehy is a journalist and author of 15 books. Her most recent book, Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life, was a New York Times best seller. She has also written Passages: A Memoir of My Mother and Two Worlds, which was a New York Times best seller. She lives in Connecticut with her husband, Richard Solomon, who is a professor emeritus at Harvard Business School.

1
Creativity could be described as letting go of certainties. Gail Sheehy
2
To be tested is good. The challenged life may be the best therapist. Gail Sheehy
3
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. Gail Sheehy
4
Changes are not only possible and predictable but to deny them is to be an accomplice to one's own unnecessary vegetation. Gail Sheehy
5
Growth demands a temporary surrender of security. Gail Sheehy
6
Changes are not predictable but to deny them is to be an accomplice to one's own unnecessary vegetation. Gail Sheehy
7
To hear how special and wonderful we are is endlessly enthralling. Gail Sheehy
8
When men reach their sixties and retire they go to pieces. Women just go right on cooking. Gail Sheehy
9
The source of continuing aliveness was to find your passion and pursue it with whole heart and single mind. Gail Sheehy
10
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. Gail Sheehy
11
Transformation also means looking for ways to stop pushing yourself so hard professionally or inviting so much stress. Gail Sheehy
12
The delights of self-discovery are always available. Gail Sheehy
13
In rough times, pathfinders rely on work, friends, humor and prayer. They develop a support network. Gail Sheehy
14
In my memoir, I admit that I've been as fearful of success as of failure. In fact, when 'Passages' was published, I so dreaded bad reviews that I ran away to Italy with a girlfriend and our children to hide out. Gail Sheehy
15
Being a pathfinder is to be willing to risk failure and still go on. Gail Sheehy
16
The perceptions of middle age have their own luminosity. Gail Sheehy
17
When men reach their sixties and retire, they go to pieces. Women go right on cooking. Gail Sheehy
18
We really only have two choices. Play it safe, or take a chance. For me, pulling back because of fear has always made me feel worse. Gail Sheehy
19
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. Gail Sheehy
20
I found that female pathfinders generally integrate characteristics commonly associated with being women - like the capacity to be intimate - with 'male' ones like ambition and courage. Gail Sheehy