Total non-retention has kept my education from being a burden to me.

Tennessee's a hillbilly dumping ground, and Georgia's a lousy state too.

The way to despair is to refuse to have any kind of experience.

I spend three hours a day writing and the rest of my day getting over it.

Harcourt sent my book to Evelyn Waugh and his comment was: “If this is really the unaided work of a young lady, it is a remarkable product.” My mother was vastly insulted. She put the emphasis on if and lady. Does he suppose you’re not a lady? she says.

There won't be any biographies of me because, for only one reason, lives spent between the house and the chicken yard do not make exciting copy.

A gift of any kind is a considerable responsibility. It is a mystery in itself, something gratuitous and wholly undeserved, something whose real uses will probably always be hidden from us.