In any event, parents never underestimated the abilities of their own children. Quite the reverse. Sometimes it was well nigh impossible for a teacher to convince the proud father or mother that their beloved offspring was a complete nitwit.

The cuss am I? Are you cussing with me?

I asked my mum, who's a very clever psychotherapist, and she says that kids love stories about death; they need it, they need to have stories that deal with death and explain it, as a place to put their fears.

... and when he put his mind to it, he could make his words coil themselves around and around the listener until they held her in some sort of a mild hypnotic spell.

...there are no secrets unless you keep them to yourself, and this was the greatest secret I had ever had to keep in my life so far.

careful those who fight with monsters, that they might become monsters themeselves.

I'm right and you're wrong, I'm big and you're small, and there's nothing you can do about it.