Roald Dahl Quotes

So Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone.

A little magic can take you a long way.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

You’ll never get anywhere if you go about what-iffing like that.

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

No book ever ends, when it’s full of your friends.

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

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

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.

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

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.

Watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you.