John Marsden

Too much thinking, not enough feeling.

— John Marsden

“How funny are dogs?”

— John Marsden

Blame it on Peer Pressure.

— John Marsden

“The biggest risk, is to take no risks”

— John Marsden

“Ask for Forgiveness, Not Permission”

— John Marsden

“Let’s go home,’ Homer said, ‘to Hell.”

— John Marsden

“We’re home already.”

— John Marsden

“In the midst of death we are in life”

— John Marsden

The only true test of friendship is the time your friend spends on you.

— John Marsden

“The human eye doesn’t look above its own height.”

— John Marsden

“We weren't creatures from another planet. We were creatures from Hell.”

— John Marsden

Sometimes I got worried that my memory was falling apart.

— John Marsden

Some people wake up drowsy. Some people wake up energized. I wake up dead.

— John Marsden

Never cry over something that can't cry over you.

— John Marsden

“Dying's a fearful popular activity these days so we often double 'em up.”

— John Marsden

We kill all the caterpillars, then complain there are no butterflies.

— John Marsden

“I don't want them hanging a double murder on me. It wouldn't look good on my school record.”

— John Marsden

Let no stranger intrude here, no invader trespass. This was ours, and this we would defend.

— John Marsden

“Being brave is a choice you make. You've got to say to yourself: I'm going to think brave. I refuse to think…

— John Marsden

“I felt that my life was permanently damaged, that I could never be normal again, that the rest of my life would…

— John Marsden

“I make people uncomfortable. The kind ones get angry because their kindness doesn't work. The unkind ones get angry because they think…

— John Marsden

There are some things that once you've lost, you never get back. Innocence is one. Love is another. I guess childhood is…

— John Marsden

When you're scared you can either give in to the panic and let your mind fall apart, or you can take charge…

— John Marsden

“I wondered how long an adult could talk to a kid without using the word "but." About forty seconds'd be the record…

— John Marsden

“I guess our fate is up to us now. And we’ve been there before, of course. There’s something quite comforting about it…

— John Marsden

“A bad black horse steals Steals into my head And moves across the landscape Of my mind, while I sleep. He does…

— John Marsden

This is the most complicated relationship since Romeo and Juliet," she complained. "You're both hopeless. I mean, what is the big problem?…

— John Marsden

…"we saw this big dark red leech hanging off his back. We were dancing round yelling: ‘We’ll burn it off! Get the…

— John Marsden

“If people are either mountain people or ocean people then I'm a mountain person. I love the ocean, the few times I…

— John Marsden

“People, shadows, good, bad, Heaven, Hell: all of these were names, labels, that was all. Humans had created these opposites: Nature recognised…

— John Marsden

My pen.’ Funny, I wrote that without noticing. ‘The torch’, ‘the paper’, but ‘my pen’. That shows what writing means to me,…

— John Marsden

So I found myself telling my own stories. It was strange: as I did it I realised how much we get shaped…

— John Marsden

Life's about a hell of a lot more than being happy. It's about feeling the full range of stuff: happiness, sadness, anger,…

— John Marsden

“Why did people call it Hell?" I wondered. [...] No place was Hell, no place could be Hell. It's the people calling…

— John Marsden

“That night in bed I was thinking about the way creeks and streams operate. They start off little, gurgling and bubbling and…

— John Marsden

I feel like I'm dropping such a long way down again." "I seem to be dropping into a cold dark wet place,…

— John Marsden

Writing is not a job or activity. Nor do I sit at a desk writing for inspiration to strike. Writing is like…

— John Marsden

Light is important to us humans. It influences our moods, our perceptions, our energy levels. A face glimpsed among trees, dappled by…

— John Marsden

We had enough years in front of us to be serious and grown-up and respectable. Why rush it? But on the other…

— John Marsden

“Dad always said there were three types of workers. The ones who stood there saying "Is there anything I can do "…

— John Marsden