I found that my name signed to a check was even more welcome than when signed to a letter.

having considerable mind, changing it became almost as ponderous an operation as moving a barn, although not nearly so stable.

I have a great deal of mind. It takes a long time to change it.

Conflict is the very essence of life.

[On the Irish:] Strange race ... Don't know what they want, but want it like the devil.

I believe that the matter is automatically self-regulating; that those women who prefer the home and have an ability for it will eventually return to it; that others, like myself, will compromise; and that still others, temperamentally unfitted for it, will remain in the world to add to its productivity.

[When working on a book] I have an almost complete detachment from the world I live in, a sort of armor against distraction. I talk to people, move about, appear on the surface much as usual. But later on I have only a confused memory of what has happened during that period.