10 best Roald Dahl quotes

In honour of International Children’s Book Day, we pick some of our favourite Roald Dahl quotes from his fantastic books

1 A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.

The Twits

2 A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men.

– Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

3 It’s impossible to make your eyes twinkle if you aren’t feeling twinkly yourself.

Danny The Champion of the World

4 So please, oh please, we beg, we pray / Go throw your TV set away / And in its place you can install / A lovely bookshelf on the wall.

Charlie and The Chocolate Factory

5 Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog.

– Matilda

6 It doesn’t matter who you are or what you look like, so long as somebody loves you.

– The Witches

7  And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.

The Minpins

8 I understand what you’re saying, and your comments are valuable, but I’m gonna ignore your advice.

The Fantastic Mr Fox

9 You can fake a mouth-smile any time you want, simply by moving your lips. I’ve also learned that a real mouth-smile always has an eye-smile to go with it. So watch out, I say, when someone smiles at you but his eyes stay the same. It’s sure to be a phony.

 Danny the Champion of the World

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

Matilda