Once upon a time – for that is how all stories should begin – there was a boy who lost his mother.

You mean they killed her?" asked David. They ate her," said Brother Number One. "With porridge. That's what 'ran away and was never seen again' means in these parts. It means 'eaten.'" Um and what about 'happily ever after'?" asked David, a little uncertainly. "What does that mean?" Eaten quickly," said Brother Number One.

42. Most people will spend their lives doing jobs that they don't particularly enjoy, and will eventually save up enough money to stop doing those jobs just in time to start dying instead. Don't be one of those people. There's a difference between living, and just surviving. Do something that you love, and find someone to love who loves that you love what you do. It really is that simple. And that hard.

She was plump, with dyed red hair and a face so caked with cosmetics that the floor of the Amazon jungle probably saw more natural light.

I'm a ghost," said the small figure, then added, a little uncertainly, "Boo?

Being scared isn't the problem. It's not running away that's the hard part.

We are not meant to know the time or the nature of our deaths (for all of us secretly hope that we may be immortal).