My greatest fear is disappointing the reader, so each book has to be better than the one before.

You must do what you want.

There are problems and there are children. It is our aim to separate the two.

I didn't set fire to the building." "No, but you did pull it into the river." "That put the fire out!

Alternatively you can twist the cylinder round twice clockwise; that turns it into a hand grenade. Five-second fuse. I tested it on one of my assistants. Poor old Bennett... he should be out of hospital in a couple of months.

The school even had a Latin motto: Pergo et Perago, which sounded like the story of two Italian cannibals but which actually meant “I try and I achieve.

You cannot defeat your enemies until you know who they are.