Roald Dahl: British novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter, fighter pilot and one of the most celebrated authors of ALL TIME would have celebrated his 100th birthday today (13th September).
He taught us so much: that friendships can come from the strangest of places, the power of dreams and imagination, how to be confident in our abilities, the importance of not judging others by their appearence and that just being yourself would always be good enough.
Roald Dahl inspired a generation of writers and will go on to inspire so many more. So in ode of his 100th birthday, and is ever-impressive body of work, here's 50 of our favourite magical quotes from the man himself...
50. “Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” – The Minpins
49. “Never grow up...always down.” - George's Marvellous Medicine
48.
47. “Don’t worry about the bits you can’t understand. Sit back and allow the words to wash around you, like music.” - Matilda
45. "It's impossible to make your eyes twinkle if you aren't feeling twinkly yourself." - Danny, the Champion of the World
**44. ** "If I were a headmaster I would get rid of the history teacher and get a chocolate teacher instead." - Roald Dahl
43.
**42. **"A life is made up of a great number of small incidents and a small number of great ones." – Going Solo
41. "If I had my way, I would remove January from the calender altogether and have an extra July instead." – Roald Dahl
40. "A writer of fiction lives in fear. Each new day demands new ideas and he can never be sure whether he is going to come up with them or not." – Roald Dahl
39. "You should never, never doubt something that no one is sure of." - Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
38.
37. "I've always said to myself that if a little pocket calculator can do it why shouldn't I?"- Matilda
36. "‘Well, maybe it started that way. As a dream, but doesn’t everything. Those buildings. These lights. This whole city. Somebody had to dream about it first. And maybe that is what I did. I dreamed about coming here, but then I did it." - James And The Giant Peach
**35. ** " I think my favourite book of Roald Dahl's to illustrate is 'The BFG', because I spent a long time talking to Roald Dahl about it and spent a long time thinking about the drawings; so by the time I finished, I knew the book very well." - Quentin Blake, Illustrator -
34. "So please, oh please, we beg, we pray
Go throw your TV set away
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall..."
33.
**32. **"There are a whole lot of things in this world of ours you haven’t started wondering about yet young fellow’." - James And The Giant Peach
31. "My mum used to read it to me - all the characters came to life. But I still can't eat Heinz spaghetti for fear I'm actually eating worms." - Radio Presenter Fearne Cotton on The Twits
30. “His books don’t age. They’re all still so popular. For me, it’s the tension between the darkness and the humour which is so extraordinary.” - David Walliams
29. "‘So Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone." - Matilda
28. "I have a passion for teaching kids to become readers, to become comfortable with a book, not daunted. Books shouldn't be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and wonderful; and learning to be a reader gives a terrific advantage." - Roald Dahl
27.
26. "Most of the really exciting things we do in our lives scare us to death. They wouldn’t be exciting if they didn’t." - Danny, the Champion of the World
25.
24. "‘He thought for the thousandth time how pretty she was, how sweet and gentle and full of kindness, and his heart ached with love." - Esio Trot
23.
22. "Mice, I felt pretty certain, all like each other. People don’t." - The Witches
21. "I'm right and you're wrong, I'm big and you're small, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Matilda
20. "I understand what you're saying, and your comments are valuable, but I'm gonna ignore your advice." - Fantastic Mr Fox
19. "A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men." - Roald Dahl
18.
17. "A little magic can take you a long way.”
16. "We have so much time and so little to do. Strike that, reverse it." - Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
15. "We all have our moments of brilliance and glory." - Boy
14. "There is no life I know to compare with pure imagination. Living there, you'll be free if you truly wish to be." - Roald Dahl
13. "The secret of life,” he said, “is to become very very good at somethin’ that’s very very ‘ard to do." - The Hitch Hiker
12.
11. "All you do is to look / At a page in this book / Because that’s where we always will be / No book ever ends / When it’s full of your friends." - The Giraffe And The Pelly And Me
10. "When writing about oneself, one must strive to be truthful. Truth is more important than modesty." - Boy
9. "Mr. Twit was a twit. He was born a twit. And, now at the age of sixty, he was a bigger twit than ever." - The Twits
**8. ** "Meanings is not important, said the BFG. I cannot be right all the time. Quite often I is left instead of right." - The BFG
7. "There's nothin' you can get from a book that you can't get from a television fastah!" -Harry Wormwood, Maltilda
6. "However small the chance might be of striking lucky, the chance was there." - Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
5. "My candle burns at both ends it will not last the night but arh my friends and oh my foes it gives a lovely light" - Boy
**4. ** "The snozberries taste like snozberries!" - Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
3. "When you're old enough to write a book for children, by then you'll have become a grown up and have lost all your jokeyness. Unless you're an undeveloped adult and still have an enormous amount of childishness in you." - Roald Dahl
2. "Nowadays you can go anywhere in the world in a few hours, and nothing is fabulous any more." - Roald Dahl
1. "A BOOK?! WHAT D'YOU WANNA FLAMING BOOK FOR?...WE'VE GOT A LOVELY TELLY WITH A 12-INCH SCREEN AND NOW YA WANNA BOOK!" - Matilda
What's your favourite Roald Dahl quote? Let us know over on Facebook and Twitter (@CloserOnline).
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