Truth Through Fantasy: 17 Roald Dahl Quotes

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Roald Dahl Quotes

Roald Dahl is an author famous for his imaginative children’s stories. Many of his works have dark tones not usually seen in the genre. A lot of his novels have also been adapted into movies. His most famous pieces of writing include Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, The Witches, Matilda, and Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Like many people, my first introduction to Roald Dahl’s work was with the 1971 Gene Wilder adaptation of Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory. After seeing that movie as a child, I ended up reading many of his books. Today, I want to go over some of my favorite Roald Dahl quotes. If we missed any of your favorites, let us know on social media!

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Roald Dahl Quotes

“A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.” – Roald Dahl

“A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom.” – Roald Dahl

“I began to realize how simple life could be if one had a regular routine to follow with fixed hours, a fixed salary, and very little original thinking to do.” – Roald Dahl

“An autobiography is a book a person writes about his own life and it is usually full of all sorts of boring details.” – Roald Dahl

“Nobody gets a nervous breakdown or a heart attack from selling kerosene to gentle country folk from the back of a tanker in Somerset.” – Roald Dahl

“Nowadays you can go anywhere in the world in a few hours, and nothing is fabulous any more.” – Roald Dahl

“All through my school life I was appalled by the fact that masters and senior boys were allowed quite literally to wound other boys, and sometimes very severely.” – Roald Dahl

“The writer walks out of his workroom in a daze. He wants a drink. He needs it.” – Roald Dahl

“I find that the only way to make my characters really interesting to children is to exaggerate all their good or bad qualities, and so if a person is nasty or bad or cruel, you make them very nasty, very bad, very cruel. If they are ugly, you make them extremely ugly. That, I think, is fun and makes an impact.” – Roald Dahl

“If my books can help children become readers, then I feel I have accomplished something important.” – Roald Dahl

“Had I not had children of my own, I would have never written books for children, nor would I have been capable of doing so.” – Roald Dahl

“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

“The adult is the enemy of the child because of the awful process of civilizing this thing that, when it is born, is an animal with no manners, no moral sense at all.” – Roald Dahl

“The writer has to force himself to work. He has to make his own hours and if he doesn’t go to his desk at all there is nobody to scold him.” – Roald Dahl

“Two hours of writing fiction leaves this writer completely drained. For those two hours, he has been in a different place with totally different people.” – Roald Dahl

“When you’re writing a book, with people in it as opposed to animals, it is no good having people who are ordinary, because they are not going to interest your readers at all. Every writer in the world has to use the characters that have something interesting about them, and this is even more true in children’s books.” – Roald Dahl

“I never get any protests from children. All you get are giggles of mirth and squirms of delight. I know what children like.” – Roald Dahl

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What Are Your Favorite Roald Dahl Quotes?

We hope you enjoyed the list of our favorite Roald Dahl quotes. Did we miss any of your favorites? Let us know on social media!

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