Patricia MacLachlan Quotes
Born: March 3, 1938
Patricia MacLachlan, the beloved Newbery Medal-winning author of *Sarah, Plain and Tall*, was a quiet architect of the heart. Though celebrated in children’s literature, her deepest legacy lies in her profound embrace of mindfulness and peace. Her stories and reflections are gentle invitations to stillness, revealing the sacred in ordinary moments—a whisper of wind, the rhythm of a rocking chair, the unspoken love between souls. MacLachlan’s philosophy teaches that peace is not a destination, but a way of seeing, a tender attention to the world. Her quotes resonate because they offer a sanctuary, reminding us that the truest wisdom is found in simplicity and grace.
Patricia MacLachlan Quotes (13)
"I think it's important to remember where I began. I know that when I talk to other writers, say, writers from the South or writers from abroad, it's where they begin as children that is important to them."
— Patricia Maclachlan"I have great respect for children. And I have great respect for their ability as writers."
— Patricia Maclachlan"Each time I write a new piece, whether a novel, a picture book, a speech or anything, really, it has so much to do with what I'm going through personally or a problem I'm trying to work out. When I wrote my novel 'Baby,' my three children had all just gone out the door."
— Patricia Maclachlan"Being married to a psychologist, I realize that I learn more from imperfections."
— Patricia Maclachlan"I have great editors, and I always have. Somehow, great editors ask the right questions or pose things to you that get you to write better. It's a dance between you, your characters, and your editor."
— Patricia Maclachlan"I'm working on a bunch of things with my daughter Emily. In some ways, she's a smarter and better editor than I am."
— Patricia Maclachlan"I can always tell when I'm about to start writing. I go through cycles in reading. When I'm beginning to start to write something, I start reading what I think of as good literature. I read things with wonderful language."
— Patricia Maclachlan"I never work from an outline, and often I don't know how the story will end."
— Patricia Maclachlan"In a way, my childhood was one long bunch of pages... I read and read and read."
— Patricia Maclachlan"Looking back, I see that I write books about brothers and sisters, about what makes up a family, what works and what is nurturing."
— Patricia Maclachlan"I love to talk to children about making mistakes. It's important that I tell them about how I don't get it right the first time. We live in such a perfectionist society, and they see so many finished products and polished performances."
— Patricia Maclachlan"I have to write what I can write, and writing the text of a picture book is like walking a tightrope, if you ramble off... As my friend Julius Lester says, 'A picture book is the essence of an experience.'"
— Patricia Maclachlan"My mother, as a girl, had remembered this woman from Maine, someone who was part of the extended family somehow, and I recall her talking about this great, risk-taking woman. There are the most amazing, heroic stories in everybody's lives."
— Patricia Maclachlan