In the time of swords and periwigs and full-skirted coats with flowered lappets - when gentlemen wore ruffles, and gold-laced waistcoats of paduasoy and taffeta - there lived a tailor in Gloucester.

I hold that a strongly marked personality can influence descendants for generations.

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.

We cannot stay home all our lives, we must present ourselves to the world and we must look upon it as an adventure.

Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality.

Once upon a time there were three kittens, and their names were Mitten, Tom Kitten, and Moppet. They had dear little fur coats of their own; and they tumbled about the doorstep and played in the dust.