I completed my first novel when I was 19 years old.

People are much more inclined to believe and say bad things about you if you're famous.

I've shut myself inside these walls, and I'm going to be a very lonely old lady if I'm not careful.

My kids are more precious to me than anything. I'm with them all day, and I write all night.

I am endlessly busy, bringing up five young kids, and trying to keep up with the three older ones. I still spend most of my life driving car pools.

I try to write about the stuff that torments us all.

I did it at night because I loved it. I never did it to make money, as a job. I just did it because I had to.

I have these wonderful homes, and no one to share them with.

In my late teenage years, I developed a real passion for it, and wrote a lot of poetry.

I started writing stories as a child.

It's hard being visible, so I've made myself invisible.

The usual way - through a long series of rejections, revising my manuscripts, and kept trying again and again. Finally I was fortunate enough to find a good agent.

I think I'm very real as a person, and that comes across in my work.

A bad review is like baking a cake with all the best ingredients and having someone sit on it.

I move between San Francisco and Paris... I have a wonderful beach house in California.

I studied literature design and fashion design.

It's difficult to talk to people... I walk into a room and I'm Danielle Steel, and whatever I say is going to be taken apart.

The records of adopted children are sealed in California. That seal is considered inviolable... The judge ruled that, because I was famous, he didn't have the same rights as other kids.

If you see the magic in a fairy tale, you can face the future.

I wrote because I needed to and wanted to. It never occurred to me that I'd become famous.

I try to give people hope. Even though life is bleak, there's hope out there.

My early reviews were so bad that I decided I didn't want to read them again.

I like summer. I like warmer weather and long days. I'm one of those silly people who still enjoy lying in the sun - my children are horrified!

A book begins with an image or character or situation that I care about deeply.

I'm astonished by my success.

I decided I would never do interviews again.

I completed my first novel when I was 19 years old.

Sometimes, if you aren't sure about something, you have to just jump off the bridge and grow wings on your way down.

At the moment, I'm enjoying John Grisham quite a bit.

I believe in love at first sight for houses - but not for people.

I don't buy trends, because the pieces don't last and I wind up never wearing them. That's why I like to shop with my children; they'll always tell me the truth.

I want to be Miss Universe when I grow up.

I wish I were brave, although I try. I work too hard and don't play enough. Too much work ethic, not enough 'fun'.

I wish I were braver, although I try.

I work too hard and don't play enough.

I'm astonished by my success. I wrote because I needed to and wanted to. It never occurred to me that I'd become famous.

I'm not an aging gracefully type. But I do believe in aging with grace.

I'm surprisingly practical in much of my life, but not when it comes to my shoes.

If you can see the magic in a fairytale, you can face the future.

It's been very hard, after being mostly a mom, to develop an adult life of my own. And not being married anymore, I have to come up with challenges.

Lust is temporary, romance can be nice, but love is the most important thing of all. Because without love, lust and romance will always be short-lived.

People have entire relationships via text message now, but I am not partial to texting. I need context, nuance and the warmth and tone that can only come from a human voice.

Sometimes, if you aren't sure about something, you just have to jump off the bridge and grow your wings on the way down.

When people look at me outside, they think, 'She's so lucky,' but no one's exempt from tragedy.

Writing is a solitary endeavor, but not a lonely one. When you write, your world is populated by the characters you invent, and you feel those people filling your life.

You can't have nine children and not be organized. Otherwise it just looks like Appalachia.

Not all forms of abuse leave bruises.

I love you and I will until the end of time.And just as she said the words two bright stars drifted past them overhead and disappeared into the night sky together.

It just goes to show, never say never, or the next thing you know, you’ll be doing what you said you never would, owning a dog you swore you didn’t want and walking (or carrying) a tiny, totally enchanting little dog on a rhinestone-studded pink leash.