If it's by an American it's certain to be filth. That's all they write about.

You chose books. I chose looks.

This allowed her two glorious hours sitting quietly by herself in a cozy corner, devouring one book after another. When she had read every single children's book in the place, she started wandering...

She travelled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village.

What on earth were you trying to do, make yourself look handsome or something? You look like someone's grandmother gone wrong!

It was pleasant to take a hot drink up to her room and have it beside her as she sat in her silent room reading in the empty house in the afternoons. The books transported her into new worlds and...

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.

Mr Hemingway says a lot of things I don't understand, Matilda said to her. 'Especially about men and women. But I loved it all the same. The way he tells it I feel I am right there on the spot...

We've got a lovely telly with a twelve-inch screen and now you come asking for a book! You're getting spoiled, my girl!

Perhaps his anger was intensified because he saw her getting pleasure from something that was beyond his reach.

Well not exactly," the father said."Nobody could do that. but it didn't take me long...

Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous...

The only sensible thing to do when you are attacked is, as Napoleon once said, to counter-attack.

These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone.

With frightening suddenness he now began ripping the pages out of the book in handfuls and throwing them in the waste-paper basket. Matilda froze in horror. The father kept going. There seemed little...

You mean you live down here?' Matilda asked.'I do', Miss Honey replied, but she said no more.Matilda had never once stopped to think about where Miss Honey might be living. She had always regarded her...

What she needed was just one person, one wise and sympathetic grown-up who could help her.

I've always said to myself that if a little pocket calculator can do it why shouldn't I?

Both Matilda and Lavender were enthralled. It was quite clear to them that they were at this moment standing in the presence of a master. Here was somebody who had brought the art of skulduggery to...

In any event, parents never underestimated the abilities of their own children. Quite the reverse. Sometimes it was well nigh impossible for a teacher to convince the proud father or mother that their...

There's nothin' you can get from a book that you can't get from a television fastah! -Harry Wormwood

There is little point in teaching anything backwards. The whole object of life, Headmistress, is to go forwards.

I'm afraid men are not always quite as clever as they think they are. You will learn that when you get a bit older, my girl.

There aren't many funny bits in Mr Tolkien either,' Matilda said.'Do you think that all children's books ought to have funny bits in them?' Miss Honey asked.'I do,' Matilda said. 'Children are not so...

Did you know", Matilda said suddenly, "that the heart of a mouse beats at the rate of ?"I did not," Miss Honey said smiling. "How absolutely fascinating. Where did you read that?"In a book from the...

You ignorant little slug!" the Trunchbull bellowed. "You witless weed! You empty-headed hamster! You stupid glob of glue!

I have found it impossible to talk to anyone about my problems. I couldn't face the embarrassment, and anyway I lack the courage. Any courage I had was knocked out of me when I was young. But now, all...

All the reading she had done had given her a view of life that they had never seen. If only they would read a little Dickens or Kipling they would soon discover there was more to life than cheating...

Sometimes Matilda longed for a friend, someone like the kind, courageous people in her books.

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!