My mother is probably the wisest person I've ever known. She's not schooled, she's not well read. But she has a philosophy of life that makes well-read people seem like morons.
It follows that if you are not a mother you are not a grandmother. Your life has become unpunctuated, whereas the lives of other women around you have these distinct phases.
My mother didn't want me to be a feminist, a radical, political person, because she was scared. She wanted me to be protected and safe, but my life never was.
My mother always told me that as you go through life, no matter what you do, or how you do it, you leave a little footprint, and that's your legacy.
Mother Teresa was asked what was the meaning of life, and she said to help other people, and I thought, 'What a strange thing to say' - but maybe it's the right thing to say.
Obviously, I got very lucky that even though I lost my mother, I lost her later in life, but it's still had a profound effect on me.
My very first recollection of life on earth was waking up in bed with my mother, and she was showing me a picture of my father, Charles Jackson, with a group of soldiers.
What distinguished my life from my brother's is that my mother didn't like me. When I became a woman, I seemed to repel her.
When I was growing up, my mother would take me to plays and museums, and we'd talk about life. Those times helped shape who I became.
As the mother of a grown son with a traumatic brain injury, I couldn't be more excited about the prospect of finding out how to repair even a small part of the damage that changed his life.
I've always dreamed of becoming a mother. I thought I would get married and do it all the traditional way, but life kept going on, my career kept me busy - and I had not stopped to become a mommy.
My mother always told me not to handle a buffalo by its tail, but always catch it by its horns. And I have used that lesson in everything in my life, including the Railways.
All my life I've had a weight problem. As a child, I loved to eat. I would hide from my mother and drink whole cans of condensed milk in my room.
My mother really loved me. And one of the gifts that I have been given is that I have never thought for one second of my life that I was not greatly beloved.
When I was 11, I realised that I did not have to live the life my mother had: school, marriage, children, apartment, summer house.
When I found out I was pregnant, my mother said, 'Don't separate your life, the life that you're going to make with this child, from the things that you are and what you want to do.'
My mother always told me if you write about life, you will always be in the game. Just don't write songs... write life. I decided to take her up on that.
Not one day of my mother's adult life passed without some critical demand on her maternal role, without some urgent response from her.
'Be passionate about your work and your life' was instilled in me by my mother Dada, who was a potter. She also introduced me to the arts and encouraged me to embrace the new.
Like any working mother I find it hard to have a social life. But my kids are so well adjusted. There isn't a brat bone in their body so I haven't done anything that bad.
When it came to using elements of your personal life in your work, my mother was the master, or the mistress. There were three or four songs she wrote about my father - songs about failed love.
