Perhaps the most important thing that has come out of my life is the discovery that if you prepare yourself at every point as well as you can, with whatever means you may have, however meager they may seem, you will be able to grasp opportunity for broader experience when it appears. Without preparation, you cannot do it. The fatal thing is the rejection. Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.
NOTES
She looked up to her father a lot, even at an early age. She would always carry his letters. “Rereading some letters of my father’s, which I always carried with me, and I came across one in which he spoke of making the most of one’s appearance, and from that day forward, my nails were allowed to grow.”
Another thing I did notice is that she traveled a lot her whole life. This explains why she was well cultured and open-minded for her time.
Without a doubt, Eleanor Rosevelt was her entire life a learning Machine.
Quotes
The most important thing in any relationship is not what you get but what you give.
“I used the quickness of my mind to pick the minds of other people and use their knowledge as my own.”
She mentions this was a bad habit of her, but I like to think of it otherwise. In my perspective, this makes her a more exciting an interesting person. Elon Musk, one of the wealthiest people in the world, has a similar habit. During the hiring process, he picks the minds of his future engineers for his company by asking them questions or just hearing what they have to say.
I decided that I would learn to cook, and I found an ex-cook, now married, who had an apartment of her own, and I went twice a week and cooked an entire meal which I left with her for her family to criticize. I also attended a business school and took a course in typewriting and shorthand every day while I was in New York.
I found it interesting that while she was a stay-at-home mother, she was still trying to keep her brain active. During this time, she did say she read a lot took language lessons to help her from forgetting how to speak German, Italian, and French.
Nothing we learn in this world is ever wasted, and I have come to the conclusion that practically nothing we do ever stands by itself. If it is good, it will serve some good purpose in the future. If it is evil, it may haunt us and handicap our efforts in unimagined ways.
“No matter what you do, some people will criticize you, and if you are entirely sure that you would not be ashamed to explain your action to someone whom you loved and who loved you, and you are satisfied in your own mind that you are doing right, then you need not worry about criticism nor need you ever explain what you do.”
Attention and admiration were the things through all my childhood which I wanted, because I was made to feel so conscious of the fact that nothing about me would attract attention or would bring me admiration.
Book Review 3.5 Stars
Erika Funny 
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