And it's best if you know a good thing is going to happen, like an eclipse or getting a microscope for Christmas. And it's bad if you know a bad thing is going to happen, like having a filling or going to France. But I think it is worst if you don't know whether it is a good thing or a bad thing which is going to happen.

I've written 16 children's books and five unpublished novels. Some of the latter were breathtakingly bad.

Many childrens writers dont have children of their own

And it occurred to him that there were two parts to being a better person. One part was thinking about other people. The other part was not giving a toss what other people thought.

All the other children at my school are stupid. Except I'm not meant to call them stupid, even though this is what they are.

I like poetry when I don't quite understand why I like it. Poetry isn't just a question of wrapping something up and giving it to someone else to unwrap. It just doesn't work like that.

...and I wrote a book and that means I can do anything