Every government secretary of state or minister should jolly well go to the theatre, go to a concert, go to an art gallery, go to a museum, become somehow interested in these things. If they're not interested, they shouldn't be in government, full stop.

Philip Pullman

True education flowers at the point when delight falls in love with responsibility.

Philip Pullman

We don't need lists of rights and wrongs, tables of do's and don'ts: we need books, time, and silence. Thou shalt not is soon forgotten, but Once upon a time lasts forever.

Philip Pullman

Being in love was like China: you knew it was there, and no doubt it was very interesting, and some people went there, but I never would. I'd spend all my life without ever going to China, but it wouldn't matter, because there was all the rest of the world to visit.

Philip Pullman

I write in pen because it works. A fountain pen is no good for writing in the way I do because I'd have to decide, each time I stopped, how long I was likely to stop for in order to know whether or not to put the cap on. But I never know. So instead, I use a ballpoint - a Montblanc, to be precise - the most comfortably balanced pen I've ever found.

Philip Pullman

Trying to understand superstition rationally is like trying to pick up something made of wood by using a magnet.

Philip Pullman

That's the duty of the old, to be anxious on behalf of the young. And the duty of the young is to scorn the anxiety of the old.

Philip Pullman

One curious thing about growing up is that you don't only move forward in time; you move backwards as well, as pieces of your parents' and grandparents' lives come to you.

Philip Pullman

Everything has a meaning, if only we could read it.

Philip Pullman

The only instrument I play myself is the ukulele.

Philip Pullman

Argue with anything else, but don't argue with your own nature.

Philip Pullman

Men pass in front of our eyes like butterflies, creatures of a brief season. We love them; they are brave, proud, beautiful, clever; and they die almost at once. They die so soon that our hearts are continually racked with pain.

Philip Pullman

For that reason you can't write with music playing, and anyone who says he can is either writing badly, or not listening to the music, or lying. You need to hear what you're writing, and for that you need silence.

Philip Pullman

For a long time I thought I was a poet, but that's a high title to claim.

Philip Pullman

Adam and Eve are like imaginary numbers, like the square root of minus one... If you include it in your equation, you can calculate all manners of things, which cannot be imagined without it.

Philip Pullman

The best sort of activity is one that combines mental effort with sensuous delight. That's why I love drawing.

Philip Pullman

What I do say is that I can write verse, and that the writing of verse in strict form is the best possible training for writing good prose.

Philip Pullman

One handy piece of equipment, which I recommend to any writer of fiction, is a set of Myriorama cards. I consult them frequently.

Philip Pullman

Education and health were always matters of charity. You educated children and you helped the sick because they were good things to do, not because you were going to make money out of them. If you let the money-making principle, the profit-seeking motive, anywhere near education and health, things go bad.

Philip Pullman

The arts are beyond price; they're beyond value. They're of incalculable worth in what it means to be a human being.

Philip Pullman

I have a desk that I can raise or lower according to the state of my aching back. Sometimes I stand at it, and sometimes I have it high up to write at and sometimes a bit lower to type.

Philip Pullman