There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they'll take you.

I hold an old-fashioned notion that a happy marriage is the crown of a woman’s life.

I do so hate finishing books. I would like to go on with them for years.

So much perfection argues rottenness somewhere.

Most people, after one success, are so cringingly afraid of doing less well that they rub all the edge off their subsequent work.

I cannot rest, I must draw, however poor the result, and when I have a bad time come over me it is a stronger desire than ever.

Peter was not very well during the evening. His mother put him to bed, and made some chamomile tea: "One table-spoonful to be taken at bedtime.