"For quiet, solitary and observant children create their own world and live in it, nourishing their imaginations on the material at hand." (15)

"Your Mayflower ancestors sailed to America; mine at the same time were sticking it out at home, probably rather enjoying persecution." (22)

"Thank goodness, my education was neglected; I was never sent to school ... The reason I am glad I did not go to school—it would have rubbed off some of the originality ...." (30)

"What we call the highest and the lowest in nature are both equally perfect. A willow bush is as beautiful as the human form divine." (40)

"I have just made stories to please myself, because I never grew up." (59)

"No more twist!" (69)

"But she thought their objections to Norman Warne unreasonable, and felt that her life's happiness was at stake." (84)

"The experience was brief. Norman Warne, who had never been robust, fell suddenly...