He had read books, newspapers and magazines. He knew that if you ran away you sometimes met bad people who did bad things to you; but he had also read fairy tales, so he knew that there were kind people out there, side by side with the monsters.

In Hollywood, lying is something that people do like breathing.

Finish what you're writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it.

I lived in books more than I lived anywhere else.

That doesn't happen," she explained. "Stars fall. They don't go back up again." "You could be the first," he told her.

How do I know you'll keep your word?" asked Coraline. "I swear it," said the other mother. "I swear it on my own mother's grave." "Does she have a grave?" asked Coraline. "Oh yes," said the other mother. "I put her in there myself. And when I found her trying to crawl out, I put her back.

You have to finish things - that's what you learn from, you learn by finishing things.