“I am only 8 years old, I told myself. No little boy of 8 has ever murdered anyone. It’s not possible.”

The life of a writer is absolute hell compared to the life of a businessman.

If you are good life is good.

If you are good life is good.

The walls were wet and sticky, and peach juice was dripping from the ceiling. James opened his mouth and caught some of it on his tongue. It tasted delicious.

A life is made up of a great number of small incidents, and a small number of great ones.

Obscurity is never a virtue.

I think probably kindness is my number one attribute in a human being. I’ll put it before any of the things like courage or bravery or generosity or anything else.

The writer has to force himself to work. He has to make his own hours and if he doesn’t go to his desk at all there is nobody to scold him.

Careful those who fight with monsters, that they might become monsters themeselves.

f I were a headmaster I would get rid of the history teacher and get a chocolate teacher instead.

I have a passion for teaching kids to become readers, to become comfortable with a book, not daunted. Books shouldn’t be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and wonderful; and learning to be a reader gives a terrific advantage.

When writing about oneself, one must strive to be truthful. Truth is more important than modesty.

I cannot for the life of me understand why small children take so long to grow up. I think they do it deliberately, just to annoy me.

It is preferable to incur a mild punishment than to perform an onerous task.

Watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you.

A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.

If any child of mine becomes an actor I will turn in my grave.

Pessimism is playing the sure game. You cannot lose at it; you may gain. It is the only view of life in which you can never be disappointed. Having reckoned what to do in the worst possible circumstances, when better arise, as they may, life becomes child’s play.

The global environment crisis is, as we say in Tennessee, real as rain, and I cannot stand the thought of leaving my children with a degraded earth and a diminished future.

The moral imperative to make big changes is inescapable…that what we take for granted may not be here for our children

Go practice if you please with men and women: leave a child alone for Christ’s particular love’s sake!

All children have to be deceived if they are to grow up without trauma.

I swear on my children’s lives that I never look at the statistics or look at beating anyone’s records. All I do is look to improve but not compete against any record. I want to win trophies and score goals because that’s my job as a forward.

Parents have to really talk to their children before they leave home.