"If the human condition were the periodic table, maybe love would be hydrogen at No. 1. Death would be helium at No. 2. Power, I reckon, would be where oxygen is."
"A man who won't die for something is not fit to live."
Martin Luther King, Jr. on Death"To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent."
Buddha on Death"The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead."
Albert Einstein on Death"The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time."
Mark Twain on Death"Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there's a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see."
Helen Keller on Death"I think all writers of my age who are brought up on films probably by the age of 16 have seen many more films than they have read classics of literature. We can't help but be influenced by film. Film has got some great tricks that it's taught writers."
"In the 1970s and 1980s there was so little decent fiction for young people, but we're now in a golden age that shows no sign of fading. Philip Pullman, J. K. Rowling, Lemony Snicket are only three of the best known among a good number of equals."
"A life can get knocked into a new orbit by a car crash, a lottery win or just a bleary-eyed consultant giving bad news in a calm voice."
"I've become a less brave traveller since I became a dad, but in the past I was more foolhardy than brave."
"Many children are natural fantasists, I think, perhaps because their imaginations have yet to be clobbered into submission by experience."