“The poor are always rich in children, and in the dirt and ditches of this street there are groups of them from morning to night, hungry, naked and dirty. Children are the living flowers of the earth, but these had the appearance of flowers that have faded prematurely, because they grew in ground where there was no healthy nourishment.”

“You must write for children the same way you write for adults, only better.”

“But I'm not to be caught with such poor bait! I'm a big fish, I am.”

“once there was a crow, it flew from the field to the hill, from hedge to hedge, and lived its life. then it died and rotted away. -what's the sense in it? there just ISN'T any!”

“What I'd like is to meet a man I could take off my hat to and say: "Thank you for having got born, and the longer you live the better.”

“One word of praise from a woman is dearer to me than a whole ode from a man . .”

“Happiness always looks small while you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and you learn at once how big and precious it is.”