At twenty life was like wrestling an octopus. Every moment mattered. At thirty it was a walk in the country. Most of the time your mind was somewhere else. By the time you got to seventy, it was probably like watching snooker on the telly.

Many childrens writers dont have children of their own

How pleased we are to have our eyes opened but how easily we close them again.

Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them.

And what he meant was that maths wasn't like life because in life there are no straightforward answers in the end

Lots of things are mysteries. But that doesn't mean there isn't an answer to them. It's just that scientists haven't found the answer yet.

...and there was nothing to do except to wait and to hurt.