510 Quotes by Roald Dahl

Don't gobblefunk around with words.

I don’t want a grown-up person at all. A grown-up won’t listen to me; he won’t learn.

The life of a writer is absolute hell compared to the life of a businessman. The writer has to force himself to work He has to make his own hours and if he doesn't go to his desk at all there is nobody to scold him...A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom. He has no master except his own soul, and that, I am sure, is why he does it.

The writer walks out of his workroom in a daze. He wants a drink. He needs it. It happens to be a fact that nearly every writer of fiction in the world drinks more whisky than is good for him. He does it to give himself faith hope and courage. A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom. He has no master except his own soul and that I am sure is why he does it.

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

I don’t care if a reader hates one of my stories, just as long as they finish the book.

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.

A stodgy parent is no fun at all. What a child wants and deserves is a parent who is SPARKY

If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.