Michael Morpurgo

“Marry someone who flatters you. Because I've written 80 books since 'War Horse' but when my wife reads one, all she says is, 'It's quite good, but it's not as good as 'War Horse,' is it?'”

“I was never a great reader, but there were two stories I loved best: Kipling's 'The Elephant's Child' and 'The Jungle Book.' Deep down, I've always wanted to write a book about a wild child and an elephant.”

“You know, I really wish now I'd had the nerve to become an actor. Because I'd have been Robert Redford, no question.”

“When children are very young, you read them books that are positive to help them go to sleep. But there comes a moment when they begin to understand the difficulties of the world. They know there are problems and the books they read should reflect that, not gloss over them.”

“When I sit down I write very fast... if I haven't finished a book in two or three months then I think it's not going well.”

“He never reckoned much to schooling and that. He said you could learn most what was worth knowing from keeping your eyes and ears peeled. Best way of learning, he always said, was doing.”

“But look after yourself - there will be great dangers on the way. Remember, the right road is never the easy road.”

“If I'm serious, yes, I'd like to have done what Shakespeare did... to act and write. You learn so much from acting. One of our great writers, Alan Bennett, does both supremely well. When I write a story, I tend to speak it aloud as I'm writing it.”

“One day," she told us, "you'll have to leave here and go out into the big world out there and earn your living like everyone else. To do that you need to learn. The more you learn now, the more interesting your life will be.”

“Some writers - most, I suspect - write in isolation. I think I'd always found that quite difficult.”

“Live an interesting life. Meet people. Read a lot and widely, learn from the great writers.”

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

“When I write I try as far as possible to forget I'm writing it at all. I tell it down onto the page, as if I'm telling it to one person only, my best friend.”