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When I was young I longed to write a great novel that should win me fame. Now that I am getting old my first book is written to amuse children.

— L. Frank Baum Personal inscription on a copy of Mother Goose in Prose (1897)

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Writing

More quotes by L. Frank Baum

Some of my youthful readers are developing wonderful imaginations. This pleases me.

Introduction to The Lost Princess of Oz (1917)

Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)

I never deal in transformations, for they are not honest, and no respectable sorceress likes to make things appear to be what they are not.

The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904)

I think the world is like a great mirror, and reflects our lives just as we ourselves look upon it.

Aunt Jane’s Nieces and Uncle John (1911)

The Tin Woodman knew very well he had no heart, and therefore he took great care never to be cruel or unkind to anything.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)

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Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

Francis Bacon Meditationes sacræ (1597)

Strength of creative writing lies in the skill of handling words and articulating artistic expression of feelings.”

Suman Pokhrel

The free-lance writer is a man who is paid per piece or per word or perhaps.

Robert Benchley

Three sleepless nights I passed in sounding on,
Through words and things, a dim and perilous way.

William Wordsworth Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed (1919)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: L. Frank Baum (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.