I never wanted to write. I just wrote letters home from a kibbutz in Israel to reassure my parents that I was still alive and well fed and having a great time. They thought these letters were brilliant and sent them to a newspaper. So I became a writer by accident.

I'm pleased to have outsold great writers. But I'm not insane - I realize I am a writer people buy to take on vacation.

Money doesn't make you happy, but it gives a zone of comfort around you.

Happiness is knowing and appreciating what you've got. I am very, very, very grateful for what, to me, is dead easy.

I discovered that men were just like everyone else, really. They liked you if you were good-tempered and easy to talk to. And being a big girl meant other females trusted you more and confided in you.

The whole art of life is knowing the right time to say things.

I have great family and good friends; the stories I told became popular, and people all over the world bought them.