I would write of the universal, not the provincial, in human nature.... I would write of characters, not of characteristics.

And where was happiness if it sprung not from the soil? Where contentment if it dwelt not near to Nature?

Give the young half a chance and they will create their own future, they will even create their own heaven and earth.

There is a terrible loneliness in the spring.

Most women want their youth back again; but I wouldn't have mine back at any price. The worst years of my life are behind me, and my best ones ahead.

Life has taught me that the greatest tragedy is not to die too soon but to live too long.

I have written chiefly because, though I have often dreaded the necessity, I have found it more painful, in the end, not to write.