Reading, like writing, is a creative act. If readers only bring a narrow range of themselves to the book, then they'll only see their narrow range reflected in it.

Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart bigger.

I was going to be a scientist.

One human life is deeper than the ocean. Strange fishes and sea-monsters and mighty plants live in the rock-bed of our spirits. The whole of human history is an undiscovered continent deep in our souls. There are dolphins, plants that dream, magic birds inside us. The sky is inside us. The earth is in us.

To poison a nation, poison its stories. A demoralised nation tells demoralised stories to itself. Beware of the storytellers who are not fully conscious of the importance of their gifts, and who are irresponsible in the application of their art: they

One of the greatest gifts my father gave me - unintentionally - was witnessing the courage with which he bore adversity.

We have not yet arrived, but every point at which we stop requires a re-definition of our destination.