Both Matilda and Lavender were enthralled. It was quite clear to them that they were at this moment standing in the presence of a master. Here was somebody who had brought the art of skulduggery to the highest point of perfection, somebody, moreover, who was willing to risk life and limb in pursuit of her calling. They gazed in wonder at this goddess, and suddenly even the boil on her nose was no longer a blemish but a badge of courage.

You can write about anything for children as long as you've got humour.

Titchy little snapperwhippers like you should not be higgling around with an old sage and onions who is hundreds of years more than you.

Kindness - that simple word. To be kind - it covers everything, to my mind. If you're kind that's it.

When writing about oneself, one must strive to be truthful. Truth is more important than modesty.

Candy is dandy but liqueur is quicker.

I was observing her closely as I talked, and after a while I began to get the impression that she was not, in fact, quite so merry and smiling a girl as I had been led to believe at first. She seemed to be coiled in herself, as though with a secret she was jealously guarding. The deep-blue eyes moved too quickly about the room, never settling or resting on one thing for more than a moment; and over all her face, though so faint that they might not even have been there, those small downward lines of sorrow.