Shakespeare, Dickens, Mark Twain, and so many others were my dearest friends and greatest teachers.

Just because you've seen something doesn't mean you'll stop looking. There's always something you didn't see before.

My family pleaded with me to forget literature and do something sensible, such as find some sort of useful work.

Every man is a hero if he strives more for others than for himself alone.

Any fool can tell a story. Take a few odds and ends of things that happen to you, dress them up, shuffle them about, add a dash of excitement, a little color, and there you have it.

All that writers can do is keep trying to say what is deepest in their hearts.

Fantasy is, I believe, the great nourisher of imagination. To paraphrase Einstein on how to develop intelligence in young people: Read fairy tales. Then read more fairy tales.