Ruskin Bond

“I have an excellent memory - for books and authors, that is. I remember all the books I've read.”

“As a boy, reading was my religion. It helped me to discover my soul. Later, writing helped me to record its journey.”

“love is undying,of that I feel certain.I mean deep,abiding,cherishing love.The love that gives protection even as you,my guardian angel,gave me protection long after you had gone-and continue to give this very day...A love beyond Death-a love that makes Life alive!”

“When I was younger, I took life much more seriously.”

“I had a bad habit of falling in love with any girl who was nice to me.”

“I've lived in small rooms, flats, growing plants in pots on window sills. I'd have liked to have had a full-fledged garden with all kinds of flowers and plants. I've never had enough money to buy a big enough garden space.”

“I enjoy writing personal essays in the way of Charles Lamb because it goes back to the school days when I was good in writing essays.”

“And when the rains were over and it was October and the birds were in song again, I could lie in the sun on sweet-smelling grass and gaze up through a pattern of oak leaves into a blind-blue heaven. And I would thank my God for leaves and grass and the smell of things, the smell of mint and myrtle and bruised clover, and the touch of things, the touch of grass and air and sky, the touch of the sky's blueness.”

“If you enjoy your journey as a writer, you will never find it difficult to write.”

“Solitude helps you reflect.”

“In India, not enough importance is given to writing for children. And what could be more important than the enrichment of young minds with great literature?”

“One of the very first ghost stories I read - and that was in a forest rest house, where it is a bit scarier - was by M.R. James. He is one of the pioneers of ghost stories. And the book was called 'Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary.'”

“I am a very personal writer. I write direct to the reader. I don't hold back.”

“I keep a big, fat dictionary with me while writing.”

“I've never written specifically for children as such. I write to please myself, and if it is suitable, it gets printed as a children's book.”

“It is okay to experiment with language. Writers such as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf experimented with writing, but basically, one must have a familiarity with the language. And to have that, one must respect it.”

“You may not enjoy loneliness, because loneliness is sad. But solitude is something else; solitude is what you look forward to when you want to be alone, when you want to be with yourself. So, solitude is something we all need from time to time.”

“Holidays can become tedious without something to read.”

“Ghosts are all around us. Look for them, and you will find them.”

“My first, 'Room on the Roof,' was the longest book I've written.”