Whenever I was upset by something in the papers, [Jack] always told me to be more tolerant, like a horse flicking away flies in the summer.
Jackie KennedyRead
I'll be a wife and mother first, then First Lady.
Interpretation
Prioritizing family roles over public identity.
Jackie Kennedy's quote emphasizes the significance she places on her roles as a wife and mother, suggesting that personal and familial responsibilities take precedence over her public role as First Lady. It reflects the belief that one's personal life and family duties are fundamental to one's identity, even when in a position of public prominence.
In practice
During a speech about family values, this quote can emphasize the importance of prioritizing family roles.
Whenever I was upset by something in the papers, [Jack] always told me to be more tolerant, like a horse flicking away flies in the summer.
Can anyone understand how it is to have lived in the White House and then, suddenly, to be living alone as the President's widow?
I think my biggest achievement is that, after going through a rather difficult time, I consider myself comparatively sane.
The only routine with me is no routine at all.
Even though people may be well known they still hold in their hearts the emotions of a simple person for the moments that are the most important of those we know on earth - birth, marriage, death.
Even though people may be well known, they hold in their hearts the emotions of a simple person for the moments that are the most important of those we know on earth: birth, marriage and death.
I don't want my kids to grow up with no father like I did. I came to the conclusion a while ago that you can work until midnight and not be finished or you can work until 6 or 7 and not be finished. I decided I'd rather work until 6 or 7.
What a child doesn't receive he can seldom later give.
Instruction, and advice, and commands will profit little, unless they are backed up by the pattern of your own life. Your children will never believe you are in earnest, and really wish them to obey you, so long as your actions contradict your counsel... Think not your children will practise what they do not see you do. You are their model picture, and they will copy what you are... will seldom learn habits which they see you despise, or walk in paths in which you do not walk yourself.
My father wasn't a cruel man. And I loved him. But he was a pretty tough character. His own father was even tougher - one of those Victorians, hard as iron - but my dad was tough enough.
Our heroine knew that the mother would always leave the window open for her children to fly back by; so they stayed away for years and had a lovely time.
Instead of needing lots of children, we need high-quality children.
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