Roald Dahl Best Quotes

Almost every line in Roald Dahl’s writings is indelible. Whether they are read by children or adults, they are bound to have a deep impact on one’s perspectives in life.

Matilda

The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. She went on olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling. She travelled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village.

Roald Dahl’s ‘Matilda’ is a cautionary tale that emphasizes the dangers of television and tries to steer children toward reading books. The above quote is especially powerful as it captures the magic of literature. Matilda is a voracious reader at just 5 years old, and she is fascinated by the manner in which books are able to transport her across the world.

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.

James and the Giant Peach

Action stations!’ James shouted. ‘Jump to it! There’s not a moment to lose!’ He was the captain now, and everyone knew it. They would do whatever he told them.

The above quote captures the message that Roald Dahl wishes to convey to each and every child in the world. This message is that children are not as helpless as adults tell them they are. Instead, they are smart, brave, and resourceful making them wonderful agents of peace and justice in the world. Here, James is the one taking action in order to save the day. The anthropomorphized insects within the peach simply accept his captaincy and allow him to steer the ship. Roald Dahl wishes for other children who read the book to take up the reins in a similar manner.

The Witches

“Down vith children! Do them in!

Boil their bones and fry their skin!

Bish them, sqvish them, bash them, mash them!

Brrreak them, shake them, slash them, smash them!

Offer chocs vith magic powder!

Say “Eat up!” then say it louder.

Crrram them full of sticky eats,

Send them home still guzzling sveets.

And in the morning little fools

Go marching off to separate schools.

A girl feels sick and goes all pale.

She yells, “Hey look! I’ve grrrown a tail!”

The above quote captures the creativity of Roald Dahl in curating imaginative poems in his novels. The poems have clever verses that not only entertain but also inform the reader and drive the plot forward. The poem above illustrates just how terrible the villains in his stories can be. In most of Roald Dahl’s stories, the villains are child-hating adults. They are terrifying and plan to get rid of children in the most gruesome ways possible. Here, the poem is about the wicket plan concocted by the Grand High Witch to turn all the children of the world into mice. 

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Mr Willy Wonka can make marshmallows that taste of violets, and rich caramels that change colour every ten seconds as you suck them, and little feathery sweets that melt away deliciously the moment you put them between your lips. He can make chewing-gum that never loses its taste, and sugar balloons that you can blow up to enormous sizes before you pop them with a pin and gobble them up. And, by a most secret method, he can make lovely blue birds’ eggs with black spots on them, and when you put one of these in your mouth, it gradually gets smaller and smaller until suddenly there is nothing left except a tiny little DARKRED sugary baby bird sitting on the tip of your tongue.

Roald Dahl is a master at describing characters in a fanciful and fantastic manner. Willy Wonka from ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ is one such character and arguably the best character ever written by Roald Dahl. In the above paragraph, Wonka’s genius and incredible talent for making chocolate is revealed. Wonka is capable of achieving things in his factory that no one has ever dreamed of. He is highly skilled at his craft. However, no one can understand how he is capable of creating such incredible and heavenly sweets. This adds to his persona as he becomes an enigmatic character that children respect and fear at the same time.

Dahl also attempts to reinforce in children the idea that reading is so much more powerful than watching Television in ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ as well.

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 BFG

‘The matter with human beans,’ the BFG went on, ‘is that they is absolutely refusing to believe in anything unless they is actually seeing it right in front of their own schnozzles.’

This is one of the world’s favourite Roald Dahl quotes, as it highlights the glory of fiction writing. Roald Dahl’s view of life is highly imaginative, inventive, and creative. This viewpoint is also reflected by the children of his stories, who are capable of arresting their senses of disbelief enough to enjoy the fruits of their imagination.

The witching hour, somebody had once whispered to her, was a special moment in the middle of the night when every child and every grown-up was in a deep deep sleep, and all the dark things came out from hiding and had the world all to themselves.

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

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

Roald Dahl constantly advocates for fun and games in his books. While this is mostly directed at children, he also wishes that adults could sometimes be as playful as children. Here, he postulates that with wisdom comes the knowledge that playfulness is healthy. However, not many adults are open to new ideas, as Willy Wonka rightfully states in the prequel:

I don’t want a grown-up person at all. A grownup won’t listen to me; he won’t learn. He will try to do things his own way and not mine. So I have to have a child. I want a good sensible loving child, one to whom I can tell all my most precious candy-making secrets-while I am still alive.

Boy: Tales of Childhood

A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom. He has no master except his own soul, and that, I am sure, is why he does it.

Roald Dahl was an enthusiast in life. He showcased several moments of brilliance in writing, and this is one of them. He believed that the whole point of becoming a writer is being willing to embrace at full speed the kind of freedom writing would bring to a person’s life.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

But Mr. Fox was too clever for them. He always approached a farm with the wind blowing in his face, and this meant that if any man were lurking in the shadows ahead, the wind would carry the smell of that man to Mr. Fox’s nose from far away.

Most of Roald Dahl’s famous children’s stories emphasize the importance of bravery. ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’ is one such story where Mr. Fox is ready to brave the farmers above ground in order to feed his family. He approaches the farmers head-on, just like Roald Dahl wishes for children to face their fears head-on. However, bravery is not enough to face the challenges of life. One also needs to have a strategic plan. Mr. Fox’s plan here is to use his nose to his advantage in smelling out any approaching farmers.

George’s Marvelous Medicine

George didn’t say a word. He felt quite trembly. He knew something tremendous had taken place that morning. For a few brief moments he had touched with the very tips of his fingers the edge of a magic world.

The children in Roald Dahl’s stories are sometimes able to experience supernatural powers. While Matilda is able to move objects with her mind, George is capable of producing magical effects with his medicines. However, Roald Dahl wishes to caution children against the dangers of having so much power in their hands. The responsibility that comes with magical abilities is huge, and each of his characters knows that. If not, they reap the consequences for taking their magic too far.

Danny, the Champion of the World

A message to the children who have read this book. When you grow up and have children of your own, do please remember something important. A stodgy parent is no fun at all! What a child wants -and DESERVES- is a parent who is SPARKY!

Roald Dahl often directly speaks to the reader in his stories. In the above quote from ‘Danny, the Champion of the World’, Roald Dahl sends a message to the children who are reading the book. He warns them against becoming lukewarm, dull, and boring parents when they have children of their own. Instead, he wishes for them to become bright, lively, and entertaining parents as he believes that this is what every child in the world deserves.

‘Danny, the Champion of the World’ also emphasizes the importance of courage in the face of fear. Danny is brave in his attempts to rescue his father and carry out his plan for vengeance.

‘I will not pretend I wasn’t petrified. I was. But mixed in with the awful fear was a glorious feeling of excitement. Most of the really exciting things we do in our lives scare us to death. They wouldn’t be exciting if they didn’t.’

The Twits

If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it. 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 it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.

Roald Dahl is known for believing in a person’s innate goodness as opposed to relying on appearances. Thus, in most of his stories, he preaches the importance of understanding a person’s personality rather than blindly worshiping good looks.

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