Our Favourite Roald Dahl Quotes

Matilda

“Matilda said, "Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog. Make sure everything you do is so completely crazy it's unbelievable...” 

The BFG

“Don't gobblefunk around with words.” 

The Witches

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

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

“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.

Then fill the shelves with lots of books.” 

The Twits

"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."

Fantastic Mr Fox (Colour Edn)

“I understand what you're saying, and your comments are valuable, but I'm gonna ignore your advice.” 

The BFG

“Two rights don't equal a left.” 

Danny the Champion of the World

“I was glad my father was an eye-smiler. It meant he never gave me a fake smile because it's impossible to make your eyes twinkle if you aren't feeling twinkly yourself. A mouth-smile is different. 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.” 

James and the Giant Peach

“A little magic can take you a long way.”

George's Marvellous Medicine

"Never Grow Up…always down.”