"When I'm writing the book I'm laughing at just how overblown the characters seemed. How full of himself he seems. But I didn't get far enough in the series to really drive the joke of it home"

"Years teach us more than books"

"Characters do not change. Opinions alter, but characters are only developed"

"I sort of try to read the books when they come out impartially and not make up my mind, but the fact is when I was reading the sixth, 'Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince', there were bits in there where I was going, 'God, I would love to do that because it's so good'"

"When one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language"

"I put heavy emphasis on the characters"

"Never loan a book to someone if you expect to get it back. Loaning books is the same as giving them away"

"The impulse to dream was slowly beaten out of me by experience. Now it surged up again and I hungered for books, new ways of looking and seeing"

"I always wanted to go to the Chavez school but I could never afford it when I was growing up so a lot of my learning came from magic books and watching other magicians. I was also very lucky that I had a couple of really good magic teachers"

"I have written about 10 books, all just practical encouragement for moms"

"Amongst Women concentrated on the family, and the new book concentrates on a small community. The dominant units in Irish society are the family and the locality. The idea was that the whole world would grow out from that small space"