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" Live an interesting life. Meet people. Read a lot and widely, learn from the great writers. "

Michael Morpurgo

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" Some writers - most, I suspect - write in isolation. I think I'd always found that quite difficult. "

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" War continues to divide people, to change them forever, and I write about it both because I want people to understand the absolute futility of war, the 'pity of war' as Wilfred Owen called it. "

Michael Morpurgo

" Books that kids read should be about what is going on in the world. "

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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. "

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" Only the best books are special. Why? Because they open our eyes, touch us, excite us, extend us. "

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" As a young child my attention span was, as I remember it, rather short. "

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" Paying more heed to the lessons of the past might teach us to be a little more cautious about some of the political decisions taken today. "

Michael Morpurgo

" Characters are the key to a good book. It took me several novels to comprehend that. "

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" It's the teacher that makes the difference, not the classroom. "

Michael Morpurgo

" 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

" I really can't write fantasy. I cannot invent a world which does not exist. And I can't read fantasy either. As soon as I realise I'm reading a book that hasn't got its roots in a reality I can comprehend, I switch off. "

Michael Morpurgo

" 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

" I think there's something about studying a book which will kill it if you're not careful. "

Michael Morpurgo

" One of the great failings of our education system is that we tend to focus on those who are succeeding in exams, and there are plenty of them. But what we should also be looking at, and a lot more urgently, is those who fail. "

Michael Morpurgo

" To write something you have to feel it and know it, and that's not comfortable. "

Michael Morpurgo

" I'm still not sure I want to be a writer. I think of myself as a storyteller more. "

Michael Morpurgo

" Something I learn every time I stand in front of a bunch of children, I learn never, never to underestimate them or patronise them. "

Michael Morpurgo

" 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

" I got married young, far too young, but it is fine. We are still married 48 years later. I got married at 19. "

Michael Morpurgo

" I fill up the well of stories in my head - without ever knowing I'm doing it. "

Michael Morpurgo

" 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

" 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

" 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

" Don't worry about writing a book or getting famous or making money. Just lead an interesting life. "

Michael Morpurgo

" 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

" Write because you love it and not because it is something that you think you should do. Always write about something or somebody you know about - something that you feel deeply and passionately about. Never try and force it. "

Michael Morpurgo

" I write fiction. I make things up, it's what I do. "

Michael Morpurgo

" 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

" 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

" 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