Tales Quotations | Page 3

Fairy tales are really violent, the original ones.

Fairly tales are myths, and myths are only myths because there's a grain of truth in them.

...a tale of too many cooks in the defence.

He tells old wives' tales much to the point.

Why cover the same ground again? ... It goes against my grain to repeat a tale told once, and told so clearly.

I hate To tell again a tale once fully told.

The wordy tale, once told, were hard to tell again.

What so tedious as a twice-told tale?

No one spoke in terms of children's literature, as opposed to adult literature, until around the 1940s. It wasn't categorised much before then. Even Grimm's tales were written for adults. But it is true that ever since 'Harry Potter' there has been a renaissance in fantasy literature. J. K. Rowling opened the door again.

As I was writing, I realised I wasn't sufficiently extrovert to gather enough interesting souls with tall tales around me. I was no Louis Theroux. But neither was I interested in exploring my inner life in public, in the manner of a Jonathan Raban.