Quotes from Norton Juster

And when I'm writing, I write a lot anyway. I might write pages and pages of conversation between characters that don't necessarily end up in the book, or in the story I'm working on, because they're simply my way of getting to know the characters.

When you're very young and you learn something - a fact, a piece of information, whatever - it doesn't connect to anything.

You see, to tall men I'm a midget, and to short men I'm a giant; to the skinny ones I'm a fat man, and to the fat ones I'm a thin man.

There are good books and there are bad books, period, that's the distinction.

I think really good books can be read by anybody.

It has been a long trip," said Milo, climbing onto the couch where the princesses sat; "but we would have been here much sooner if I hadn't made so many mistakes. I'm afraid it's all my fault.

...it's not just learning that's important. It's learning what to do with what you learn and learning why you learn things that matters.

I think kids slowly begin to realize that what they're learning relates to other things they know. Then learning starts to get more and more exciting

I remember when I was a kid in school and teachers would explain things to me about what I read, and I'd think, Where did they get that? I didn't read that in there. Later you look at it and think, That's kind of an interesting idea.

A good book written for children can be read by adults.

It's bad enough wasting time without killing it.

You can't improve sound by having only silence. The problem is to use each at the proper time.

It was really written as most, I think, books are by writers - for themselves. There was something that just had to be written, in a way that it had to be written. If you know what I mean.

People always ask about my influences, and they cite a bunch of people I've never heard of.

The only other thing which I think is important is: Don't write a book or start a book with the expectation of communicating a message in a very important way.

One of the problems you have when you read with kids is that once they like something they want you to read it a hundred times.

In this box are all the words I know…Most of them you will never need, some you will use constantly, but with them you may ask all the questions which have never been answered and answer all the questions which have never been asked. All the great books of the past and all the ones yet to come are made with these words. With them there is no obstacle you cannot overcome. All you must learn to do is to use them well and in the right places.

I'll continue to see things as a child. It's not so far to fall.

What you can do is often simply a matter of what you will do.

it's not just learning that's important. It's learning what to do with what you learn and learning why you learn things that matters.

Since you got here by not thinking, it seems reasonable to expect that, in order to get out, you must start thinking.

I never knew words could be so confusing, Milo said to Tock as he bent down to scratch the dog's ear. Only when you use a lot to say a little, answered Tock. Milo thought this was quite the wisest thing he'd heard all day.

Expect everything so that nothing comes unexpected.

You see, to tall men I'm a midget, and to short men I'm a giant; to the skinny ones I'm a fat man, and to the fat ones I'm a thin man.