144 Quotes by Michael Morpurgo

Don't worry about writing a book or getting famous or making money. Just lead an interesting life.

Wherever my story takes me, however dark and difficult the theme, there is always some hope and redemption, not because readers like happy endings, but because I am an optimist at heart. I know the sun will rise in the morning, that there is a light at the end of every tunnel.

By the time I sit down and face the blank page I am raring to go. I tell it as if I'm talking to my best friend or one of my grandchildren.

Write because you love it and not because it is something that you think you should do. Always write about something or somebody you know about - something that you feel deeply and passionately about. Never try and force it.

Animals are sentient, intelligent, perceptive, funny and entertaining. We owe them a duty of care as we do to children.

It is really important that focusing on things such as spelling, punctuation, grammar and handwriting doesn't inhibit the creative flow. When I was at school there was a huge focus on copying and testing and it put me off words and stories for years.

We all know that the great memories of our childhood are the little triumphs - it doesn't really matter whether that was in writing, art, on the hockey field or on the football field. It's something that makes you feel - 'I can do this stuff'.

The big relationships you make in your life are with those that you love and if things do go wrong then it's a source of great pain and that lasts.

It is the child's understanding that teaches the adults the way of the future. They're still doing it today with modern technology.