At twenty-five, girls begin to talk about being old maids, but secretly resolve that they never will. At thirty, they say nothing about it, but quietly accept the fact.

…because talent isn't genius, and no amount of energy can make it so. I want to be great, or nothing.

I'm afraid I couldn't like him without a spice of human naughtiness.

. . . for when women are the advisers, the lords of creation don't take the advice till they have persuaded themselves that it is just what they intended to do. Then they act upon it, and, if it succeeds, they give the weaker vessel half the credit of it. If it fails, they generously give her the whole.

…proved that woman isn't a half but a whole human being, and can stand alone.

books have been my greatest comfort, castle-building a never-failing delight, and scribbling a very profitable amusement.

The small hopes and plans and pleasures of children should be tenderly respected by grown-up people, and never rudely thwarted or ridiculed.