He suddenly became convinced that if he didn’t do something sensible, something to put his mind to some use, then before he knew it he would be wondering round the streets having fights with himself and inviting domestic animals to social occasions too.

I think i'm just breathing, that's all. And there's a difference between breathing and being alive.

There's things that happen in a person's life that are so scorched in the memory and burned into the heart that there's no forgetting them.

The dot that became a speck that became a blob that became a figure that became a boy

I don't change the language for children books. I don't make the language simpler. I use words that they might have to look up in the dictionary. The books are shorter, but there's just not that much difference other than that to be honest. And the funny thing is, I have adult writer friends [to whom I would say], "Would you think of writing a children's book?" and they go, "No, God, I wouldn't know how." They're quite intimidated by the concept of it. And when I say to children's books writers, would they write an adult book, they say no because they think they're too good for it.

You’re my best friend, Shmuel,’ he said. ‘My best friend for life.

Bruno: We're not supposed to be friends, you and me. We're meant to be enemies. Did you know that?