I will never stop writing. People often ask when I will retire, but I say it's none of their business. Writing defines who I am. I love the feeling of holding a finished book in my hands, and then I can't wait to start the great adventure of writing the next one.

Love is a handful of seeds, marriage the garden, and like your gardens, Paula, marriage requires total commitment, hard work, and a great deal of love and care. Be ruthless with the weeds. Pull them out before they take hold. Bring the same dedication to your marriage that you do to your gardens and everything will be all right. Remember that a marriage has to be constantly replenished too, if you want it to flourish.

The past was always there, lived inside of you, and it helped to make you who you were. But it had to be placed in perspective. The past could not dominate the future.

Priceless things matter not for their value, but because they offer us an enduring reminder of stability and permanence.

A person with taste is merely one who can recognize the greatest beauty in the simplest things.

I am a huge admirer of Elizabeth I, and this intriguing biography gives a wonderful picture of the era.

My dear girl, you must cultivate a taste for the finer things. Civilized pleasures give meaning to life.