Roald Dahl quotes:

I was a fighter pilot, flying Hurricanes all round the Mediterranean. I flew in the Western Desert of Libya, in Greece, in Syria, in Iraq and in Egypt.

If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.

I do have a blurred memory of sitting on the stairs and trying over and over again to tie one of my shoelaces, but that is all that comes back to me of school itself.

I shot down some German planes and I got shot down myself, crashing in a burst of flames and crawling out, getting rescued by brave soldiers.

When I was 2, we moved into an imposing country mansion 8 miles west of Cardiff, Wales.

The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. She went on olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling. She travelled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village.

Nobody gets a nervous breakdown or a heart attack from selling kerosene to gentle country folk from the back of a tanker in Somerset.

Prayers were held in Assembly Hall. We all perched in rows on wooden benches while teachers sat up on the platform in armchairs, facing us.

Two hours of writing fiction leaves this writer completely drained. For those two hours he has been in a different place with totally different people.

You seemed so far away," Miss Honey whispered, awestruck. "Oh, I was. I was flying past the stars on silver wings," Matilda said. "It was wonderful.

The Bristol Channel was always my guide, and I was always able to draw an imaginary line from my bed to our house over in Wales. It was a great comfort.

Do you know what breakfast cereal is made of? It's made of all those little curly wooden shavings you find in pencil sharpeners!

When I first thought about writing the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I never originally meant to have children in it at all!

When I walked to school in the mornings I would start out alone but would pick up four other boys along the way. We would set out together after school across the village green.

All through my school life I was appalled by the fact that masters and senior boys were allowed quite literally to wound other boys, and sometimes very severely.

The Alexander Technique works... I recommend it enthusiastically to anyone who has neck pains or back pain.

Oh where, oh where had Snow White gone? She'd found it easy, being pretty To hitch a ride into the city.

I've always said to myself that if a little pocket calculator can do it why shouldn't I?

A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom.

I find that the only way to make my characters really interesting to children is to exaggerate all their good or bad qualities, and so if a person is nasty or bad or cruel, you make them very nasty, very bad, very cruel. If they are ugly, you make them extremely ugly. That, I think, is fun and makes an impact.

It's a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful.

I go down to my little hut, where it's tight and dark and warm, and within minutes I can go back to being six or seven or eight again.

It doesn't matter who you are or what you look like, so long as somebody loves you.

So, please, oh please, we beg, we pray, go throw your TV set away, and in its place you can install, a lovely bookcase on the wall.

I don't care if a reader hates one of my stories, just as long as he finishes the book.

A stodgy parent is no fun at all. What a child wants and deserves is a parent who is SPARKY

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

The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives.

Had I not had children of my own, I would have never written books for children, nor would I have been capable of doing so.

An autobiography is a book a person writes about his own life and it is usually full of all sorts of boring details.

When you're old enough to write a book for children, by then you'll have become a grown up and have lost all your jokeyness. Unless you're an undeveloped adult and still have an enormous amount of childishness in you.

The greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.

A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.

The writer walks out of his workroom in a daze. He wants a drink. He needs it.

I asked my mum, who's a very clever psychotherapist, and she says that kids love stories about death; they need it, they need to have stories that deal with death and explain it, as a place to put their fears.

Though my father was Norwegian, he always wrote his diaries in perfect English.

And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.

Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.

A writer of fiction lives in fear. Each new day demands new ideas and he can never be sure whether he is going to come up with them or not.

My father was a Norwegian who came from a small town near Oslo. He broke his arm at the elbow when he was 14, and they amputated it.

Watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you.

Of course they're real people. They're Oompa-Loompas...Imported direct from Loompaland...And oh what a terrible country it is! Nothing but thick jungles infested by the most dangerous beasts in the world - hornswogglers and snozzwangers and those terrible wicked whangdoodles. A whangdoodle would eat ten Oompa-Loompas for breakfast and come galloping back for a second helping.

Matilda said, "Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog. Make sure everything you do is so completely crazy it's unbelievable...

A girl should think about making herself look attractive so she can get a good husband later on. Looks is more important than books, Miss Hunky..." "The name is Honey," Miss Honey said. "Now look at me," Mrs Wormwood said. "Then look at you. You chose books. I chose looks.

A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly.

I've heard tell that what you imagine sometimes comes true. -Grandpa Joe

My dear young fellow,' the Old-Green-Grasshopper said gently, 'there are a whole lot of things in this world of ours you haven't started wondering about yet.

If I were a headmaster, I would get rid of the history teacher and get a chocolate teacher instead and my pupils would study a subject that affected all of them.

The witching hour, somebody had once whispered to her, was a special moment in the middle of the night when every child and every grown-up was in a deep deep sleep, and all the dark things came out from hiding and had the world all to themselves.

If I had my way, I'd remove January from the calendar altogether and have an extra July instead.

Never mind about 1066 William the Conqueror, 1087 William the Second. Such things are not going to affect one?s life...but 1932 the Mars Bar and 1936 Maltesers and 1937 the Kit Kat - these dates are milestones in history and should be seared into the memory of every child in the country.

Perhaps it's chasing me. But I don't think it will ever catch me because I am moving fast.

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

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.

Writing is mainly perspiration, not inspiration.

Life is more fun if you play games.

When you grow up and have children of your own, do please remember something important: A stodgy parent is not fun at all! What a child wants - and DESERVES - is a parent who is SPARKY!

Whipped cream isn't whipped cream at all if it hasnt been whipped with whips, just like poached eggs isn't poached eggs unless it's been stolen in the dead of the night.

In any event, parents never underestimated the abilities of their own children. Quite the reverse. Sometimes it was well nigh impossible for a teacher to convince the proud father or mother that their beloved offspring was a complete nitwit.

Grown ups are complicated creatures, full of quirks and secrets.

We have so much time and so little to do. Strike that, reverse it.

The fine line between roaring with laughter and crying because it's a disaster is a very, very fine line. You see a chap slip on a banana skin in the street and you roar with laughter when he falls slap on his backside. If in doing so you suddenly see he's broken a leg, you very quickly stop laughing and it's not a joke anymore.

Pear Drops were exciting because they had a dangerous taste. All of us were warned against eating them, and the result was that we ate them more than ever.

A whizzpopper!" cried the BFG, beaming at her. "Us giants is making whizzpoppers all the time! Whizzpopping is a sign of happiness. It is music in our ears! You surely is not telling me that a little whizzpopping if forbidden among human beans?

Then suddenly, he was struck by a powerful but simple little truth, and it was this: that English grammar is governed by rules that are almost mathematical in their strictness!

We are all a great deal luckier that we realize, we usually get what we want - or near enough.

Sebagian besar hal seru yang kita lakukan dalam hidup ini membuat kita takut setengah mati. Hal-hal itu tidak akan seru kalau tidak menakutkan-Danny

Don't gobblefunk around with words.

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.

I began to realize how simple life could be if one had a regular routine to follow with fixed hours, a fixed salary, and very little original thinking to do.

Words," he said, "is oh such a twitch-tickling problem to me all my life.

Pain was something we were expected to endure. But I doubt very much if you would be entirely happy today if a doctor threw a towel in your face and jumped on you with a knife.

Mr. Twit was a twit. He was born a twit. And, now at the age of sixty, he was a bigger twit than ever.

There's nothin' you can get from a book that you can't get from a television fastah!" -Harry Wormwood

If my books can help children become readers, then I feel I have accomplished something important.

All Norwegian children learn to swim when they are very young because if you can't swim it is difficult to find a place to bathe.

I never get any protests from children. All you get are giggles of mirth and squirms of delight. I know what children like.

The adult is the enemy of the child because of the awful process of civilizing this thing that, when it is born, is an animal with no manners, no moral sense at all.

Unless you have been to boarding-school when you are very young, it is absolutely impossible to appreciate the delights of living at home.

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.

'Dexter' is a very well-oiled machine; it's just a great show and great to be part of.

Dexter' is a very well-oiled machine; it's just a great show and great to be part of.

Did they preach one thing and practice another, these men of God?

(Television) rots the senses in the head! It kills imagination dead! It clogs and clutters up the mind! It makes a child so dull and blind He can no longer understand A fantasy, a fairyland! His brain becomes as soft as cheese! His powers of thinking rust and freeze! He cannot think -he only sees!

... and when he put his mind to it, he could make his words coil themselves around and around the listener until they held her in some sort of a mild hypnotic spell.

...the more risks you allow children to take, the better they learn to take care of themselves. If you never let them take any risks, then I believe they become very prone to injury. Boys should be allowed to climb tall trees and walk along the tops of high walls and dive into the sea from high rocks... The same with girls. I like the type of child who takes risks. Better by far than the one who never does so.

...there are no secrets unless you keep them to yourself, and this was the greatest secret I had ever had to keep in my life so far.

A BOOK?! WHAT D'YOU WANNA FLAMING BOOK FOR?...WE'VE GOT A LOVELY TELLY WITH A 12-INCH SCREEN AND NOW YA WANNA BOOK!

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

A little magic can take you a long way.

All the reading she had done had given her a view of life that they had never seen.

All you do is to look / At a page in this book / Because that's where we always will be. / No book ever ends / When it's full of your friends / The Giraffe and the Pelly and me.

And don't worry about the bits you can't understand. Sit back and allow the words to wash around you, like music.

Badger: The cuss you are. Mr. Fox: The cuss am I? Are you cussing with me?

Books shouldn't be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and wonderful.

Both Matilda and Lavender were enthralled. It was quite clear to them that they were at this moment standing in the presence of a master. Here was somebody who had brought the art of skulduggery to the highest point of perfection, somebody, moreover, who was willing to risk life and limb in pursuit of her calling. They gazed in wonder at this goddess, and suddenly even the boil on her nose was no longer a blemish but a badge of courage.

Bunkum and tummyrot! You'll never get anywhere if you go about what-iffing like that. Would Columbus have discovered America if he'd said 'What if I sink on the way over? What if I meet pirates? What if I never come back?' He wouldn't even have started.

But it is impossible to replace a person one has loved with distractions.

But there was one other thing that the grown-ups also knew, and it was this: that however small the chance might be of striking lucky, the chance is there. The chance had to be there.

By the time I am nearing the end of a story, the first part will have been reread and altered and corrected at least one hundred and fifty times. I am suspicious of both facility and speed. Good writing is essentially rewriting. I am positive of this.

Candy is dandy but liqueur is quicker.

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

Come right up close to me and I will show you something wonderful.

Do you like vegetables?" Sophie asked, hoping to steer the conversation towards a slightly less dangerous kind of food. "You is trying to change the subject," the Giant said sternly. "We is having an interesting babblement about the taste of the human bean. The human bean is not a vegetable.

Eschew all those beastly adjectives...

Fairy tales have always got to have something a bit scary for children - as long as you make them laugh as well.

Fiona has the same glacial beauty of an iceburg, but unlike the iceburg she has absolutely nothing below the surface.

For me, the pleasure of writing comes with inventing stories.

Give us strength, oh Lord, to let our children starve.

Good authour Good books

Good writing is essentially rewriting.

Having power is not nearly as important as what you choose to do with it.

He turned and reached behind him for the chocolate bar, then he turned back again and handed it to Charlie. Charlie grabbed it and quickly tore off the wrapper and took an enormous bite. Then he took another"¦and another"¦and oh, the joy of being able to cram large pieces of something sweet and solid into one's mouth! The sheer blissful joy of being able to fill one's mouth with rich solid food! 'You look like you wanted that one, sonny,' the shopkeeper said pleasantly. Charlie nodded, his mouth bulging with chocolate.

Here it is,' Nigel said. Mrs D, Mrs I, Mrs FFI, Mrs C, Mrs U, Mrs LTY. That spells difficulty.' How perfectly ridiculous!' snorted Miss Trunchbull. 'Why are all these women married?

Homesickness is a bit like seasickness. You don't know how awful it is unti you get it, and when you do, it hits you right in the top of the stomach and you want to die.

Hooray!" said the Chief of the Army. "Let's blow everyone up! Bang-bang! Bang-bang!

I am suspicious of both facility and speed.

I am the maker of music, the dreamer of dreams!

I am totally convinced that most grown-ups have completely forgotten what is it like to be a child between the ages of five and then... I can remember exactly what it was like. I am certain I can.

I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. He taught me that if you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it at full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good. Hot is no good either. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be