“Men love to wonder, and that is the seed of our science.”

“All the great speakers were bad speakers at first.”

“You can never do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.”

“The imitator dooms himself to hopeless mediocrity.”

“Give me health and a day, and I will make the pomp of emperors ridiculous.”

“What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have yet to be discovered.”

“Books are the mirrors of the soul.”

“Fiction is like a spider's web, attached ever so lightly perhaps, but still attached to life at all four corners.”

“A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.”

“When I'm writing, I am trying to find out who I am, who we are, what we're capable of, how we feel, how we lose and stand up, and go on from darkness into darkness.”

“You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”

“You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.”