Top 201 Quotes & Sayings by Roald Dahl - Page 3

(Television) rots the senses in the head! It kills imagination dead! It clogs and clutters up the mind! It makes a child so dull and blind He can no longer understand A fantasy, a fairyland! His brain becomes as soft as cheese! His powers of thinking rust and freeze! He cannot think -he only sees!

It's a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful.

We all have our moments of brilliance and glory, and this was mine.

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For me, the pleasure of writing comes with inventing stories.

I've always said to myself that if a little pocket calculator can do it why shouldn't I?

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

You ignorant little slug!" the Trunchbull bellowed. "You witless weed! You empty-headed hamster! You stupid glob of glue!

Of course they're real people. They're Oompa-Loompas...Imported direct from Loompaland...And oh what a terrible country it is! Nothing but thick jungles infested by the most dangerous beasts in the world - hornswogglers and snozzwangers and those terrible wicked whangdoodles. A whangdoodle would eat ten Oompa-Loompas for breakfast and come galloping back for a second helping.

Obscurity is never a virtue.

Poor Earthworm,' the Ladybird said, whispering in James's ear. 'He loves to make everything into a disaster. He hates to be happy. He is only happy when he is gloomy.

Well, first of all," said the BFG, "human beans is not really believing in giants, is they? Human beans is not thinking we exist.

If my books can help children become readers then I feel I have accomplished something important.

I therefore invite you all," Mr Fox went on, 'to stay here with me for ever.' For ever!' they cried. 'My goodness! How marvellous!' And Rabbit said to Mrs Rabbit, 'My dear, just think! We're never going to be shot again in our lives!' We will make,' said Mr Fox, 'a little underground village, with streets and houses on each side - seperate houses for Badgers and Moles and Rabbits and Weasels and Foxes. And every day I will go shopping for you all. And every day we will eat like kings.' The cheering that followed this speech went on for many minutes.

The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives.

Wonka: But, Charlie, don't forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he always wanted. Charlie: What happened? Wonka: He lived happily ever after.

I'm wondering what to read next.

You should never, never doubt something that no one is sure of.

I want an Oompa-Loompa!' screamed Veruca.

Sex is like nose picking. It's fine as long as you practice it yourself, but it's disgusting watching someone else doing it.

Two rights don't equal a left.

The reason I collect good ideas is because plots themselves are very difficult indeed to come by.

I don't care if a reader hates one of my stories, just as long as he finishes the book.

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

... 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.

I was already beginning to realize that the only way to conduct oneself in a situation where bombs rained down and bullets whizzed past, was to accept the dangers and all the consequences as calmly as possible. Fretting and sweating about it all was not going to help.

But there was one other thing that the grown-ups also knew, and it was this: that however small the chance might be of striking lucky, the chance is there. The chance had to be there.

The life of a writer is absolute hell compared to the life of a businessman.

I'm wondering what to read next." Matilda said. "I've finished all the children's books.

A girl should think about making herself look attractive so she can get a good husband later on. Looks is more important than books, Miss Hunky..." "The name is Honey," Miss Honey said. "Now look at me," Mrs Wormwood said. "Then look at you. You chose books. I chose looks.

I is reading it hundreds of times,' the BFG said. 'And I is still reading it and teaching new words to myself and how to write them. It is the most scrumdiddlyumptious story.' Sophie took the book out of his hand. 'Nicholas Nickleby,' she read aloud. 'By Dahl's Chickens,' the BFG said.

You seemed so far away," Miss Honey whispered, awestruck. "Oh, I was. I was flying past the stars on silver wings," Matilda said. "It was wonderful.

Hooray!" said the Chief of the Army. "Let's blow everyone up! Bang-bang! Bang-bang!

Good writing is essentially rewriting.

Oh where, oh where had Snow White gone? She'd found it easy, being pretty To hitch a ride into the city.

There are many other little refinements too, Mr. Bohlen. You'll see them all when you study the plans carefully. For example, there's a trick that nearly every writer uses, of inserting at least one long, obscure word into each story. This makes the reader think that the man is very wise and clever. So I have the machine do the same thing. There'll be a whole stack of long words stored away just for this purpose." Where?" In the 'word-memory' section," he said, epexegetically.

Give us strength, oh Lord, to let our children starve.

When you're writing a book, it's rather like going on a very long walk, across valleys and mountains and things [...] The highest mountain on the walk is obviously the end of the book, because it's got to be the best view of all, when everything comes together and you can look back and see that everything you've done all ties up. But it's a very, very long, slow process.

It is preferable to incur a mild punishment than to perform an onerous task.

Good authour Good books

Now that I am alone, I don't have to hide it; I don't have to hide anything any longer. I can let my face go because no one can see me; because there's twenty-one thousand feet between me and them... No, I don't have to press my teeth together or tighten the muscles of my jaw.

You is getting nosier than a parker.

If the Good Lord intended for us to walk, he wouldn't have invented rollar skates.

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

I am suspicious of both facility and speed.

The little pig began to pray But Wolfie blew his house away. He shouted, "Bacon, Pork, and Ham! Oh what a lucky wolf I am!" And though he ate the pig quite fast, He carefully kept the tail till last.

I like enthusiasts of any kind.

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.

Fairy tales have always got to have something a bit scary for children - as long as you make them laugh as well.

The maid screamed. The Queen gasped. Sophie waved.

I am totally convinced that most grown-ups have completely forgotten what is it like to be a child between the ages of five and then... I can remember exactly what it was like. I am certain I can.

The snozberries taste like snozberries!

Rainbow drops - suck them and you can spit in six different colours.

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.

What a fortunate fellow I am, I kept telling myself. Nobody has ever had such a lovely time as this!

The cuss am I? Are you cussing with me?

When I first thought about writing the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I never originally meant to have children in it at all!

But it is impossible to replace a person one has loved to distraction.

It was slowly beginning to dawn upon Henry that nothing is any fun if you can get as much of it as you want. Especially money.

Perhaps it's chasing me. But I don't think it will ever catch me because I am moving fast.