The most important thing to realize is that everyone is capable of telling a story.

I don't think you're happier if you're thin or beautiful or rich or married. You have to make your own happiness. My heroines do not become beautiful elegant swans, they become confident ducks and get on with life.

My memory of my home was that it was very happy, and that there was more fun and life there than there was anywhere else.

I think you've got to play the hand that you're dealt and stop wishing for another hand.

I have been luckier than anyone I know or even heard of. I had a very happy childhood, a good education, I enjoyed working as a teacher, journalist and author. I have loved a wonderful man for over 33 years, and I believe he loves me, too.

Everybody is a hero in their own story if you just look.

You say to yourself: 'What could people, in all these countries, find in my books?' and yet I think we're all the same, anywhere. Everybody is a hero or a dramatic person in their own story if you just know where to look.