every act of one's life is the unavoidable result of every act that has preceded it.

People that trust themselves a dozen miles from the city, in strange houses, with servants they don't know, needn't be surprised if they wake up some morning and find their throats cut.

Patience and endurance were not virtues in a woman; they were necessities, forced on her. Perhaps some day things would change and women would renounce them. They would rise up and say: 'We are not patient. We will endure no more.' Then what would happen to the world?

[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.

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

I have always regarded divorce as essentially disagreeable, like castor oil, but necessary.

There is nothing for the modern man or woman to fear about most cases of cancer. Nothing except delay.