They were small, brightly coloured, happy little creatures who secreted some of the nastiest toxins in the world, which is why the job of looking after the large vivarium where they happily passed their days was given to first-year students, on the basis that if they got things wrong there wouldn't be too much education wasted.

People don't like to say Fantasy they say Magic Realism which means Fantasy written by somebody I went to university with.

A weapon you held and didn't know how to use belonged to your enemy.

Knowing how bad you could be is a great encouragement to being good.

The English were notoriously unenthusiastic about burning witches. I suppose ours were too soggy.

It's still magic even if you know how it's done.

A marriage is always made up of two people who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores.