"Returning to South Carolina meant getting a normal job in a normal town with normal people and marrying a normal person. I wanted the glamour and opportunity of the world"
About this Quote
The intent reads as self-justification, but it also functions as a critique of the social script waiting for young women in conservative places: stability offered as destiny, marriage offered as completion. "Normal people" is the most revealing phrase, because it quietly admits the class and status hunger that polite autobiography tends to sand down. She wants not merely a different life, but a life that can be seen.
Context matters: Rice became a national fixation during the Gary Hart scandal, a moment when media learned how to turn a woman adjacent to power into the story itself. Against that backdrop, the quote lands with extra bite. It telegraphs the engine of celebrity culture - leaving the "normal" behind - while foreshadowing its cost. The world offers glamour and opportunity, yes, but it also offers surveillance. Her yearning reads both as aspirational and as an early warning: the same spotlight that promises reinvention can also freeze you into a symbol.
Quote Details
| Topic | New Beginnings |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Rice, Donna. (n.d.). Returning to South Carolina meant getting a normal job in a normal town with normal people and marrying a normal person. I wanted the glamour and opportunity of the world. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/returning-to-south-carolina-meant-getting-a-140839/
Chicago Style
Rice, Donna. "Returning to South Carolina meant getting a normal job in a normal town with normal people and marrying a normal person. I wanted the glamour and opportunity of the world." FixQuotes. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/returning-to-south-carolina-meant-getting-a-140839/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Returning to South Carolina meant getting a normal job in a normal town with normal people and marrying a normal person. I wanted the glamour and opportunity of the world." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/returning-to-south-carolina-meant-getting-a-140839/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.



