Kirby Larson quotes:

The year has held its ups and downs for me; I'm sure it has for you, too. I'm counting on the year ending on a note of joy (and gingerbread!) and look forward to a new year brimming with promise and peace.

Why couldn't I be more like other girls my age? Take Mrs. Brown's niece. She spent every waking hour sizing up this beau or that, stitching tea towels and petticoats and putting aside a little each month for a set of Spode Buttercup dishes.

Why did I keep hitching myself to dreams as big as that Montana sky? I was like Rooster Jim's chickens, with no way to fly that high.

Hattie.' Grace patted my arm. 'My cows sing better than you do.

I think if you find your passion and you go with it you are rewarded.

[Rejection] made me quit writing once. For six months. I started up again when my then seven-year-old son asked me to start writing again because I was too grumpy when I wasn't writing.

There should be fireworks at last, when a dream dies.

I will have to rely on that painful teacher, experience.

Our actions make the fragrance of our lives...Would you smell of plums? Or Vinegar?

Sir if I was your daughter I would wait until this train started again and throw myself in front of it!

The lessons this life has planted in my heart pertain more to caring than crops, more to Golden Rule than gold, more to the proper choice than to the popular choice.

The worst thing of all is standing by when folks are doing something wrong.

Isn't it fascinating how long a few minutes seem when you are completely alone with not a familiar face in sight?

Remember picture books are the closest form of writing to a poem. Even though they don't have to rhyme, they must be poetic. They must be written so the worst actress can read with comfort and expression.

Well, before writing became all-consuming, I was a quilter, like Hattie and Perilee. I don't do that anymore, but I do knit, garden and watch the birds in my backyard. I also take lots of walks, do yoga and talk my husband into taking me out to dinner as often as possible.

Character is everything, especially these days when that's what publishers are asking for. Make sure that yours have child appeal. Also don't have a huge cast of characters. One or two is best, four, the maximum.

Hon, when someone's a true friend, there's no need to miss 'em." She patted her chest. "'Cause they're always right here.

I am the richest person alive (or at least one of!) because I get to do what I love as a career.

I gotta pound the keys for the ideas to flow.

I have an office in my house, with a comfy red print reading chair and a soft cream-colored desk. After I walk Winston the Wonder dog and have my breakfast, I head to my office. Every single day. Sometimes, when I'm working on revisions, I print off my manuscript and go to a coffee shop to work. But mostly you can find me in my office.

I love visiting new places but am not overly fond of the travel to get to them.

If I ruled supreme, there would be big problems.

It's the company, not the cooking, that makes a meal.

I've always been a bookworm. As I mentioned, I moved around a lot, and one of the problems with being the new kid is it takes a while to make new friends. But I always had my books.

Life was like a batch of biscuits without the baking powder: flat, flat, flat.

My bounce-around life had taught me that dreams were dangerous things - they look solid in your mind, but you just try to reach for them. It's like gathering clouds.

The truth can both lift up and knock down.

The wren and the nightingale sound nothing alike, but think how dull the world would be without the songs of both birds.-Miss Kanagawa

There is nothing like the occasional outburst of profanity to calm jangled nerves.

It seems the misfortune of one can plow a deeper furrow in the heart than the misfortune of millions.