As her own words prove well, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis could be at times funny, buoyant, candid, irreverent, and of course poignant, too. This collection of quotes shares her thoughts on marriage, family, political life and ambition, publicity, privacy, and more as she confided them to intimate friends, family, and interviewers alike.

Memories of her childhood, her love for Jack, her children and grandchildren, the Kennedys, her often misunderstood marriage to Aristotle Onassis, her years as a widow, and her later companionship with Maurice Tempelsman are all represented here, as are some rather remarkable correspondences with the Johnsons, the Nixons, and the Khrushchevs.

A sampling of her wit and wisdom:

• "I was a tomboy. I decided to learn to dance and I became feminine."
• "Well, I think my biggest achievement is that, after going through a rather difficult time, I consider myself comparatively sane."
• "When Harvard men say they have graduated from Radcliffe, then we've made it."
• "If Jack proved to be the greatest president of the century and his children turned out badly, it would be a tragedy."

Forty years ago, when the nation was coming out from under a period of mourning, Bill Adler edited The Kennedy Wit and in so doing helped the world remember a man and a president, not just a sorrowful event. To commemorate the tenth anniversary of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's death, he has edited yet another book of quotes celebrating life -- this time the life of Jackie.

"I took the choicest bachelor in the Senate."

He's an idealist -- without illusions."

"All the talk over what I wear and how I fix my hair has me amused, but it also puzzles me. What does my hairdo have to do with my husband's ability to be president?"

"[It's] as though I have just turned into a piece of public property. It's really frightening to lose your anonymity at thirty-one."

"I'll be a wife and mother first, then first lady."

"If Jack proved to be the greatest president of the century and his children turned out badly, it would be a tragedy."

"My husband never made a sound. He had this sort of quizzical look on his face and his hand was up. I remember thinking he just looked as if he had a slight headache. And then he put his hand to his forehead and fell into my lap."

"Jack was the love of my life. No one will ever know a big part of me died with him."

"And it will never be that way again. There'll be great presidents again, but there'll never be another Camelot."

"I think my biggest achievement is that, after going through a rather difficult time, I consider myself comparatively sane."

So many people hit the White House with their Dictaphone running ... I never even kept a journal. I thought, 'I want to live my life, not record it.'"

"Like everybody else, I have to work my way up to an office with a window."

"When you get written about a lot, you just think of it as a little cartoon that runs along at the bottom of your life -- but one that doesn't have much to do with your life."

"What has been sad for many women of my generation is that they weren't supposed to work if they had families ... What were they going to do when the children were grown -- watch the raindrops coming down the windowpane?"

"If you produce one book, you will have done something wonderful in your life."

Bill Adler is the editor of four New York Times bestselling books, including The Kennedy Wit, and is also the president of Bill Adler Books, Inc., a New York literary agency whose clients have included Mike Wallace, Dan Rather, President George W. Bush, Bob Dole, Larry King, and Nancy Reagan.