I write books that seem more suitable for children, and that's OK with me. They are a better audience and tougher critics. Kids tell you what they think, not what they think they should think.

I can't believe I've turned into a typical old man. I can't believe it. I was young just minutes ago.

As a kid, all I thought about was death. But you can't tell your parents that.

If I have an unusual gift, it's not that I draw particularly better than other people - I've never fooled myself about that. Rather it's that I remember things other people don't recall: the sounds and feelings and images - the emotional quality - of particular moments in childhood. Happily an essential part of myself - my dreaming life - still lives in the light of childhood.

I became a set designer for opera. I'm a great opera buff, I love classical music, and I needed a time-out.

It's only adults who read the top layers most of the time. I think children read the internal meanings of everything.

I'm scared of watching a TV show about vampires. I can't fall asleep.