A book which is left on a shelf is a dead thing but it is also a chrysalis, an inanimate object packed with the potential to burst into new life.

For I see that then I was still all in a state of innocence, but that innocence, once lost, is lost forever.

Of all human activities, apart from the procreation of children, gardening is the most optimistic and hopeful. The gardener is by definition one who plans for and believes and trusts in a future, whether in the short or the longer term.

A book which is left on a shelf is a dead thing but it is also a chrysalis, an inanimate object packed with the potential to burst into new life.

I like going into a school matinee. I like to be behind the stage because there's a spy-hole and what you see is the best moment in all theatre.

I'm really quite hard to scare so it was about mining times when I have jumped, and what creeps me out.

Ghost stories ... tell us about things that lie hidden within all of us, and which lurk outside all around us.