All the reading she had done had given her a view of life that they had never seen.

It's impossible to make your eyes twinkle if you aren't feeling twinkly yourself

You chose books, I chose looks . Now see the difference?

Unless you have been to boarding-school when you are very young, it is absolutely impossible to appreciate the delights of living at home.

A writer of fiction lives in fear. Each new day demands new ideas and he can never be sure whether he is going to come up with them or not.

The reason I collect good ideas is because plots themselves are very difficult indeed to come by.

Bunkum and tummyrot! You'll never get anywhere if you go about what-iffing like that. Would Columbus have discovered America if he'd said 'What if I sink on the way over? What if I meet pirates? What if I never come back?' He wouldn't even have started.