People don't know the consolations of being unsuccessful ... If I had been successful I should have had no peace or time.

I loved Mr. Darcy far more than any of my own husbands.

Most grown people are like icebergs, three-tenths showing, seven-tenths submerged - that is why a collision with one of them is unexpectedly hurtful.

As one gets older being sad and miserable can become a bit of a habit. To counteract this, she suggests making a point of savoring such things as the tastiness of a piece of fruit, or other small things we might have been prone to overlook during our younger, busier days.

In good company your thoughts run, in solitude your thought is still ... In talk your mind can be stretched, widened, exhilarated to heights, but it cannot be deepened; you have to deepen it yourself.

Every time a child, any child, is born, it is new - and different; that is the wonder.

Of course one never knows in draft if it's going to turn out, even with my age and experience.