“Never annoy an inspirational author or you will become the poison in her pen and the villian in every one of her books.”

“I’d write of people and places like I knew, and I’d make my characters talk everyday English; and I’d let the sun rise and set in the usual quiet way without much fuss over the fact. If I had to have villains at all, I’d give them a chance, Anne–I’d give them a chance. There are some terrible bad men the world, I suppose, but you’d have to go a long piece to find them…But most of us have got a little decency somewhere in us. Keep on writing, Anne.”

“The train is roaring toward you and the villain is twirling his moustache and you’re fussing that he’s tied you to the tracks with the wrong kind of rope.”