I did a lot of my writing as though I was an academic, doing some piece of research as perfectly as possible.

Narration is as much a part of human nature as breath and the circulation of the blood.

Ice burns, and it is hard to the warm-skinned to distinguish one sensation, fire, from the other, frost.

You can understand a lot about yourself by working out which fairytale you use to present your world to yourself in.

You know, it's a truism that writers for children must still be children themselves, deep down, must still feel childish feelings, and a child's surprise at the world.

Harm can come about without will or action. But will and action can avert harm.

I know that part of the reason I read Tolkien when I'm ill is that there is an almost total absence of sexuality in his world, which is restful.