But the beginning of things, of a world especially, is necessarily vague, tangled, chaotic, and exceedingly disturbing. How few of us ever emerge from such beginning! How many souls perish in its tumult!

It is greater than the stars - that moving procession of human energy; greater than the palpitating earth and the things growing thereon.

A person can't have everything in this world; and it was a little unreasonable of her to expect it.

Vienna is a handsome, lively city, and pleases me exceedingly.

To be an artist includes much; one must possess many gifts - absolute gifts - which have not been acquired by one's own effort. And, moreover, to succeed, the artist much possess the courageous soul.

I don't have goals when writing books, apart from getting to the end. I have rather vague ideas about how I want things to feel, I'm big on ambience. I have a title, a beginning and a probable ending and go from there.