I am always asking myself how I can improve the lives of my customers, my colleagues, my shareholders, my family and my friends.

Who are these bloggers? They're not trained editors at Vogue magazine. There are bloggers writing recipes that aren't tested that aren't necessarily very good, or are copies of what really good editors have created and done. Bloggers create a kind of a popularity but they are not the experts. We have to understand that.

Giving information that will help everybody live better. That's a teacher's dream - to accumulate information and disperse it in a form that allows people to choose the way they're going to use it. That's what I think I do best.

The homes I like the best are totally occupied, busy, and useful, whether it's a tiny little house or a great big one. Rarely do you find a great big house that's used in a good way. So I prefer smaller spaces that are full of books, full of things that people are doing.

I live in the same house I’ve lived in for 25 years. I haven’t gone off and bought mansions, you know, even though my subject is living… living in a mansion wouldn’t do for my readers. I have to keep my credibility alive with my readers, so we’re in the same place. I just make that place nicer and nicer. And… and that’s a secret. And people don’t know that. People think, oh, she lives in this fabulous place, it’s the same old place. It started out like a farm, it got to be a farmette, then it got to be an estatelet. I built a wall, it helped a lot. But it’s the same place, the same grounded nature.

I get up really early, and I go to bed really late. Sometimes I get tired, but it's not important. I have an exciting existence, and there's so much to do.

I don't even like firing people. I don't think I've ever said, 'You're fired' to anybody.