There are certain narrow, umimaginative, and autocratic old people who seem to call out the most mischievous and sometimes the worst traits in children.

Every child born into the world is a new thought of God, an ever-fresh and radiant possibility.

There is a kind of magicness about going far away and then coming back all changed.

There is nothing so debilitating to a naturally weak sense of humor as selling tickets behind a grating.

It was not long after sunrise, and Stephen Waterman, fresh from his dip in the river, had scrambled up the hillside from the hut in the alder-bushes where he had made his morning toilet.

If you make children happy now, you will make them happy twenty years hence by the memory of it.

Some folks mistakes all they see for all there is.

Why is it that the people with whom one loves to be silent are also the very ones with whom one loves to talk?

Lord, I do not ask that Thou shouldst give me wealth; only show me where it is, and I will attend to the rest.

Father doesn't think very sudden, but he thinks awful strong.

Bear figs for a season or two, and the world outside the orchard is very unwilling you should bear thistles.

Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.

She decided to free herself, dance into the wind, create a new language. And birds fluttered around her, writing “yes” in the sky.

Four out of five doctors prescribe baseball for whatever ails you. The fifth guy is a quack.

Every time I'm in Georgia, I eat a peach for peace.

I take space to be the central fact to man born in America. I spell it large because it comes large here. Large and without mercy.

Losing my mind sounds so pessimistic. I prefer the term winning my insanity.

I'm a risk-taker. It's where my passion lies, so I don't want to play it safe. That means I'm going to fail sometimes.

The critics who love are the severe ones . . . we know our relationship must be based on honesty.

Is there not glory enough in living the days given to us? You should know there is adventure in simply being among those we love and the things we love, and beauty, too.

It is a good idea to know which publishers publish which stories. For example, there is no sense in sending a picture book text to a publisher who does not publish picture books.