Old people, who have felt blows and toil and known the world's hard hand, need, even more than children do, a woman's tenderness.

I have not much faith in women in fiction.... Women are so horribly subjective and they have such scorn for the healthy commonplace. When a woman writes a story of adventure, a stout sea tale, a manly battle yarn, anything without wine, women, and love, then I will begin to hope for something great from them, not before.

If [the writer] achieves anything noble, anything enduring, it must be by giving himself absolutely to his material. And this gift of sympathy is his great gift; is the fine thing in him that alone can make his work fine.

Old men are like that, you know. It makes them feel important to think they are in love with somebody.

A pioneer should have imagination, should be able to enjoy the idea of things more than the things themselves.

The sincerity of feeling that is possible between a writer and a reader is one of the finest things I know.

Religion is different from everything else; because in religion seeking is finding.