Genius of a kind has always been with me; an empty heart that has taken on a certain wooden quality; an excellent, strong woman's body and a pitiably starved soul.

I do not sing nor play, but I adore music, particularly Chopin. I like him because I cannot understand him.

Well, if I am not vulgar, neither is my book. I wrote myself. Suggestiveness is always vulgar. But truth never. My book is not even remotely suggestive. I call things by their names. That is all.

I write every day. Writing is a necessity - like eating.

I have read of women who have been strongly, grandly brave. Sometimes I have dreamed that I might be brave. The possibilities of this life are magnificent.

Of poets I put Virgil first - he was greatest.

It is with pain that I read of the dire effects of my book upon the minds of young girls.