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" Everyone is interested in war, in that people don't want it to happen. I'm much more interested in peace than in war but it's important to understand why we fight. "
Michael Morpurgo
War
People
Peace
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" The big relationships you make in your life are with those that you love and if things do go wrong then it's a source of great pain and that lasts. "
Michael Morpurgo
Pain
Wrong
You
" Some writers - most, I suspect - write in isolation. I think I'd always found that quite difficult. "
Michael Morpurgo
Difficult
Isolation
Think
" Animals are sentient, intelligent, perceptive, funny and entertaining. We owe them a duty of care as we do to children. "
Michael Morpurgo
Pet
Animals
Care
" There is the myth that writing books for children is easier than writing books for grownups, whereas we know that truly great books for children are works of genius, whether it's 'Alice in Wonderland' or the 'Gruffalo' or 'Northern Lights.' When it's a great book, it's a great book, whether it's for children or not. "
Michael Morpurgo
Genius
Book
Children
" I'm still not sure I want to be a writer. I think of myself as a storyteller more. "
Michael Morpurgo
Want
More
Writer
" It's the teacher that makes the difference, not the classroom. "
Michael Morpurgo
Difference
Makes
Teacher
" I was an overly young father, is the most polite way of putting it. I think I was rather immature and all I can say is that I think I've made a much better grandfather... I don't think I was ready to be a father to be honest. "
Michael Morpurgo
Better
Think
Say
" We all know that the great memories of our childhood are the little triumphs - it doesn't really matter whether that was in writing, art, on the hockey field or on the football field. It's something that makes you feel - 'I can do this stuff.' "
Michael Morpurgo
Football
Memories
Know
" When I was growing up in the Forties and Fifties, you could hide your children from the difficulties of life, but today you can't separate children's contact with the adult world today. "
Michael Morpurgo
Growing Up
Today
Life
" Admitting failure is quite cleansing, but never - pleasurable. "
Michael Morpurgo
Failure
Cleansing
Admitting
" The most important thing is to live an interesting life. Keep your eyes, ears and heart open. Talk to people and visit interesting places, and don't forget to ask questions. To be a writer you need to drink in the world around you so it's always there in your head. "
Michael Morpurgo
People
Eyes
World
" It is the child's understanding that teaches the adults the way of the future. They're still doing it today with modern technology. "
Michael Morpurgo
Child
Today
Doing
" 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. "
Michael Morpurgo
Two
Down
Fast
" Perhaps it is partly that we need to love books ourselves as parents, grandparents and teachers in order to pass on that passion for stories to our children. It's not about testing and reading schemes, but about loving stories and passing on that passion to our children. "
Michael Morpurgo
Love
Children
Loving
" It is really important that focusing on things such as spelling, punctuation, grammar and handwriting doesn't inhibit the creative flow. When I was at school there was a huge focus on copying and testing and it put me off words and stories for years. "
Michael Morpurgo
Words
Focus
Flow
" When I was very little my mother would read to me in bed. She gave me a fascination for stories, and for the music in words. "
Michael Morpurgo
Music
Mother
Bed
" I become my characters, and then try to allow events in the story to take their own course. I try not to play God, but to let them work out their own destiny. "
Michael Morpurgo
Work
Destiny
God
" 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. "
Michael Morpurgo
Elephant
Best
Child
" I write fiction. I make things up, it's what I do. "
Michael Morpurgo
Up
Write
Fiction
" I fill up the well of stories in my head - without ever knowing I'm doing it. "
Michael Morpurgo
Doing
Stories
Head
" A notion for a story is for me a confluence of real events, historical perhaps, or from my own memory to create an exciting fusion. "
Michael Morpurgo
Story
Own
My Own
" Strange questions are the more interesting ones. Children by and large don't try to trip you up... they want to find out how you do this funny thing that you do... if they've loved a story they love to know how it started. "
Michael Morpurgo
Children
Funny
Love
" You know, I really wish now I'd had the nerve to become an actor. Because I'd have been Robert Redford, no question. "
Michael Morpurgo
Know
You
Question
" Read a lot - poems, prose, stories, newspapers, anything. Read books and poems that you think you will like and some that you think might not be for you. You might be surprised. "
Michael Morpurgo
Will
Books
You
" 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?' "
Michael Morpurgo
You
Wife
War
" 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. "
Michael Morpurgo
Children
Sleep
World
" With all editing, no matter how sensitive - and I've been very lucky here - I react sulkily at first, but then I settle down and get on with it, and a year later I have my book in my hand. "
Michael Morpurgo
React
Settle
Matter
" I was rather a poor student, too easily distracted - did a lot of gazing out of windows, fine for training to be a writer, but not a great way to achieve in the classroom. The truth is that I was happy to bumble along and do enough to avoid detention, but not much more. "
Michael Morpurgo
Great
Truth Is
Truth
" Remember to write for yourself, not for a market and give yourself time to develop your own style, your own voice. It takes a lifetime. Enjoy it! "
Michael Morpurgo
Time
Style
Yourself
" Children have to be motivated to want to learn to read. Reading must not be taught simply as a school exercise. "
Michael Morpurgo
School
Reading
Children