There is in every human being, I think, a native country of the mind, where, protected by inaccessible barriers, the sensitive dream life may exist safely.

a successful politician does not have convictions; he has emotions.

Cruelty is the only sin.

Experience has taught me that the only cruelties people condemn are those with which they do not happen to be familiar.

Surely the novel should be a form of art - but art was not enough. It must contain not only the perfection of art, but the imperfection of nature.

I suppose I am a born novelist, for the things I imagine are more vital and vivid to me than the things I remember.

As far back as I remember, long before I could write, I had played at making stories. But not until I was seven or more, did I begin to pray every night, "O God, let me write books! Please, God, let me write books!"