“Be prepared to be enlightened, enraged, amused, engaged, and above all provoked.”

A society in which adults are estranged from the world of children, and often from their own childhood, tends to hear children’s speech only as a foreign language, or as a lie. Children have been treated. as congenital fibbers, fakers and fantasisers.

The world of sexual abuse is quintessentiall y secret. It is the perfect crime.

In the context of the great debates about identity politics – are you gay or straight, nationalist or republican, British or English and so on.

I would ask, “Do you ride a bike?” I love everything about the machine – the sensation of the tyres on the road, the mobility – and I love the fact that you have this intimate relationship with the elements, and the landscape.

Children’s bodies aren’t like automobiles with the assailant’s fingerprints lingering on the wheel.

Tacos.” “tacos?” i echoed. This seemed to amuse him. “tomatoes, lettuce, cheese.” “i know what a taco is!

When I play with my cat, who knows whether she is not amusing herself with me more than I with her.

Be amusing: never tell unkind stories; above all, never tell long ones.

I write and write and write, and then I edit it down to the parts that I think are amusing, or that help the storyline, or I’ll write a notebook full of ideas of anecdotes or story points.

Be sincere. Be simple in words, manners, and gestures. Amuse as well as instruct.

I cut my teeth playing rock songs on the accordion when I was a teenager and my friends always thought that was extremely amusing.

The duty of comedy is to correct men by amusing them.

Fate seemed to be playing a series of extraordinarily unamusing jokes.