Top 50 Quotes by Beverly Cleary

I didn't start out writing to give children hope, but I'm glad some of them found it.

I wrote books to entertain. I'm not trying to teach anything! If I suspected the author was trying to show me how to be a better behaved girl, I shut the book.

I was a great reader of fairy tales. I tried to read the entire fairy tale section of the library.

I read my books aloud before they were published.

I rarely read children's books.

People are inclined to say that I am Ramona. I'm not sure that's true, but I did share some experiences with her.

I'm just lucky. I do have very clear memories of childhood. I find that many people don't, but I'm just very fortunate that I have that kind of memory.

I don't necessarily start with the beginning of the book. I just start with the part of the story that's most vivid in my imagination and work forward and backward from there.

Writers are good at plucking out what they need here and there.

I don't think children's inner feelings have changed. They still want a mother and father in the very same house; they want places to play.