Never forget that children are at the heart of everything we do. Respect them, listen to them, talk to them as equals, and care about them.

Picture books are for everybody at any age, not books to be left behind as we grow older.

A lot of my characters are underdogs or sad or lonely, but I had a comfortable, golden sort of childhood.

You can never have 'equality' between two things that are not equal by definition. And so, for example, you can have equality among 'people', but not between 'men' and 'women'.

Maurice Sendak is the daddy of them all when it comes to picture books - the words, the rhythm, the psychology, the design.

As a boy, I devoured comics but never saw what we now describe as a picture book.

Stories come to me in mysterious ways, more like dreams than reasoned creations.

I'm impressed by the way some illustrators develop their images on computers, but it's too late for me to start, and I'm still in love with paper and paint and pencils.

After art college, I got a job as a medical illustrator, and I was pretty good. I had to imagine what was going on in the operations because the photographs just showed a mess.

When I was a boy, I was a worrier, and so was my son, Joe. I used to tell him that worrying meant he had an imagination and that one day he'd be pleased.

Inspiring passion in children for books, and the world of imagination and creativity fuelled by them, is a fundamental reason for why the Children's Laureate post exists.

The riders, clad in crimson and black, stopped to scan the maze. Blaise shrank into the hedge, but one keen-eyed hunter spied him. He raised his crossbow, took careful aim and fired.

...we can never attain a maximum love of God with only a minimum knowledge of God

One thing I can say about the Motown acts is that we were a family. That's not a myth.

A woman can be beautiful as well as intellectual.

It is doubtful that congress would pass the Bill of Rights if it were introduced today.

Strike the iron whilst it is hot.

I never liked living in Montreal. And I don't really like the music scene there. It was never my cup of tea, and I never felt like I ever fit in.

When Eudæmonidas heard a philosopher arguing that only a wise man can be a good general, "This is a wonderful speech," said he; "but he that saith it never heard the sound of trumpets.

I'd say it ["I Can't Drive 55"] has probably been the most successful song I've ever been involved with, including any Van Halen songs.

The lifestyle I lead as a footballer means I am always in the spotlight.