I remember I used to half believe and wholly play with fairies when I was a child. What heaven can be more real than to retain the spirit-world of childhood, tempered and balanced by knowledge and common-sense...

It sometimes happens that the town child is more alive to the fresh beauty of the country than a child who is country born

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

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.

What we call the highest and the lowest in nature are both equally perfect. A willow bush is as beautiful as the human form divine.

I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding

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