Roald Dahl Quotes - Page 6

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

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

Poor Earthworm,' the Ladybird said, whispering in James's ear. 'He loves to make everything into a disaster. He hates to be happy. He is only happy when he is gloomy.

I like enthusiasts of any kind.

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

You ignorant little slug!" the Trunchbull bellowed. "You witless weed! You empty-headed hamster! You stupid glob of glue!

I want an Oompa-Loompa!' screamed Veruca.

Rainbow drops - suck them and you can spit in six different colours.

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

What a fortunate fellow I am, I kept telling myself. Nobody has ever had such a lovely time as this!

To shipbrokers, coal was black gold.

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

You can write about anything for children as long as you've got humour.

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

I'm wondering what to read next.

I is reading it hundreds of times,' the BFG said. 'And I is still reading it and teaching new words to myself and how to write them. It is the most scrumdiddlyumptious story.' Sophie took the book out of his hand. 'Nicholas Nickleby,' she read aloud. 'By Dahl's Chickens,' the BFG said.

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

I'm right and you're wrong, I'm big and you're small, and there's nothing you can do about it.

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.

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.

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

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.

My darling," she said at last, are you sure you don't mind being a mouse for the rest of your life?" "I don't mind at all" I said. It doesn't matter who you are or what you look like as long as somebody loves you.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

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.