Roald Dahl Quotes

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

To me, writing is fun. It doesn't matter what you're writing, as long as you can tell a story.

Writing for children is my... that's my medium, you know, and the medium is the picture book, which is a very particular kind of book. I try to give children what I would give anybody, you know. I become interested in something. I find something fascinating. It has to fascinate me, and then I want to give it to them.

I wanted to be an actor. That was my real goal. But I wasn't any good at it, so I wrote my own material and acted through that. That's my idea of fun. I get to be all these things in the songs.

I get giddy with the idea of stringing words together that make people laugh.

Young readers have to be entertained. No child reads fiction because they think it's going to make them a better person.

It's a wonderful thing to write for children.

I have two children. They are more fun than anything in the world, and it's more immediate fun than the hard slog of writing.

I remember laughing an inordinate amount of time. Setting up scenes that involve ooze coming out basements, or pigs' heads flying through windows is really fun. How could you not laugh?

Roald Dahl pioneered a new kind of literature for youngsters, one that dispensed with cant and solemnity, favoring anarchy and joy over duty and humbuggery while acknowledging that oftentimes no good deed goes unpunished. But ultimately, it was his sheer joie de vivre that carried the day.

If I ever have children of my own, they will read 'Matilda.' They will watch the movie. And you can bet they will see 'Matilda: The Musical.'

Writing for children may have kept me young at heart.

There are so many fun things that you live that you can write about and people of all ages can connect to.

Children are funny.

In my opinion, animation will continue to thrive as long as there are children, parents, television, movies and the need to laugh.

Children's books aren't textbooks. Their primary purpose isn't supposed to be "Pick this up and it will teach you this." It's not how literature should be. You probably do learn something from every book you pick up, but it might be simply how to laugh.

I love being an author. I love actual writing, and I love communicating with children. And it keeps me young.

Many adults feel that every children's book has to teach them something.... My theory is a children's book... can be just for fun.

The difficulty in the way of writing a children's play is that Barrie was born too soon. Many people must have felt the same about Shakespeare. We who came later have no chance. What fun to have been Adam, and to have had the whole world of plots and jokes and stories at one's disposal.

I still retain a bit of a child's focus on things, so we [with my sister] figure if we're going to write books, our best shot is to write children's books, because we relate pretty readily on that level.

And so I write the way I myself would like the book to be – if I were a child. I write for the child within me.

If somebody can act out one of the books as a play, if they can see a play, film, or television show that's related, that can be so stimulating for them. Anything that makes children engage and think - and love what the story is about - can only bring the most enormous rewards.

Read a lot. Write a lot. Have fun.

I still can't decide which is more fun - reading or writing.

I love kids; I think they are fun and funny.