He [an earnest young reporter] seemed to share the view of many intelligent, well-educated, well-meaning people that, while adult literature may aim to be art, the object of children's books is to whip the little rascals into shape.

A good story is alive, ever changing and growing as it meets each listener or reader in a spirited and unique encounter, while the moralistic tale is not only dead on arrival, it's already been embalmed. It's safer that way. When a lively story goes dancing out to meet the imagination of a child, the teller loses control over meaning. The child gets to decide what the story means.

Kids often ask me if characters are real or made up - and I always tell them, 'I hope they're real but I made them up.'

What I really want to do is to write a hilarious farce.

If you could hold your nose to avoid a stink, or close your eyes to cut out a sight, why not shut off your brain to avoid a thought?

I have been mocked by beauty, too. But it was the beauty which cost me nothing that in the end turned upon me.

I can't believe there will ever be a time when the book is truly obsolete. It is the perfect technology and feeds the soul.