Matilda is a book by British writer Roald Dahl. It was published in 1988 by Jonathan Cape in London, with 232 pages and illustrations by Quentin Blake.. Profoundly inspirational Matilda quotes will make you look at life differently and help you live a meaningful life.
If you’re searching for inspiring quotes from children’s books that perfectly capture what you’d like to say or just want to feel inspired yourself, browse through an amazing collection of profound The Giving Tree quotes, amazing Where The Wild Things Are quotes and top Coraline quotes.
Famous Matilda Quotes
I’m right and you’re wrong, I’m big and you’re small, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Roald Dahl
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. Roald Dahl
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
Matilda said, Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog. Make sure everything you do is so completely crazy it’s unbelievable. Roald Dahl
Somewhere inside all of us is the power to change the world. Roald Dahl
I’m right and you’re wrong, I’m big and you’re small, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Roald Dahl
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. Roald Dahl
It’s a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful. Roald Dahl
There was a moment of silence, and Matilda, who had never before heard great romantic poetry spoken aloud, was profoundly moved. It’s like music, she whispered. Roald Dahl
All the reading she had done had given her a view of life that they had never seen. Roald Dahl
There is little point in teaching anything backwards. The whole object of life, Headmistress, is to go forwards. Roald Dahl
I’m wondering what to read next. Matilda said. I’ve finished all the children’s books. Roald Dahl
Because we are playing with mysterious forces, my child, that we know nothing about. I do not think they are evil. They may be good. They may even be divine. But whether they are or not, let us handle them carefully. Roald Dahl
If you are good life is good. Roald Dahl
Up to now, Miss Honey went on, I have found it impossible to talk to anyone about my problems. I couldn’t face the embarrassment, and anyway I lack the courage. Any courage I had was knocked out of me when I was young. But now, all of a sudden I have a sort of desperate wish to tell everything to somebody. I know you are only a tiny little girl, but there is some kind of magic in you somewhere. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Roald Dahl
I cannot for the life of me understand why small children take so long to grow up. I think they do it deliberately, just to annoy me. Roald Dahl
A precocious child, Miss Honey said, is one that shows amazing intelligence early on. You are an unbelievably precocious child. Roald Dahl
And don’t worry about the bits you can’t understand. Sit back and allow the words to wash around you, like music. Roald Dahl
It’s a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful. Roald Dahl
Fiona has the same glacial beauty of an iceburg, but unlike the iceburg she has absolutely nothing below the surface. Roald Dahl
By the time she was three, Matilda had taught herself to read by studying newspapers and magazines that lay around the house. At the age of four, she could read fast and well, and she naturally began hankering after books. Roald Dahl
Sometimes Matilda longed for a friend, someone like the kind, courageous people in her books. Roald Dahl
With frightening suddenness he now began ripping the pages out of the book in handfuls and throwing them in the waste paper basket. Matilda froze in horror. The father kept going. There seemed little doubt that the man felt some kind of jealousy. How dare she, he seemed to be saying with each rip of a page, how dare she enjoy reading books when he couldn’t? How dare she? Roald Dahl
From then on, Matilda would visit the library only once a week in order to take out new books and return the old ones. Her own small bedroom now became her reading room and there she would sit and read most afternoons, often with a mug of hot chocolate beside her. She was not quite tall enough to reach things around in the kitchen, but she kept a small box in the outhouse which she brought in and stood on in order to get whatever she wanted. Mostly it was hot chocolate she made, warming the milk in a saucepan on the stove before mixing it. Occasionally she made Bovril or Ovaltine. It was pleasant to take a hot drink up to her room and have it beside her as she sat in her silent room reading in the empty house in the afternoons. The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling. She traveled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village. Roald Dahl
Sometimes Matilda longed for a friend, someone like the kind, courageous people in her books. Roald Dahl
Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog. Make sure everything you do is so completely crazy it’s unbelievable. Roald Dahl
Parents never underestimated the abilities of their own children. Quite the reverse. Sometimes it was well nigh impossible for a teacher to convince the proud father or mother that their beloved offspring was a complete nitwit. Roald Dahl
All the reading she had done had given her a view of life that they had never seen. If only they would read a little Dickens or Kipling they would soon discover there was more to life than cheating people and watching television. Roald Dahl
Do any of us children, she wondered, ever stop to ask ourselves where our teachers go when school is over for the day? Do we wonder if they live alone, or if there is a mother at home or a sister or a husband? Roald Dahl
I have found it impossible to talk to anyone about my problems. I couldn’t face the embarrassment, and anyway I lack the courage. Any courage I had was knocked out of me when I was young. But now, all of sudden I have a sort of desperate wish to tell everything to somebody. Roald Dahl
I’m wondering what to read next, Matilda said. I’ve finished all the children’s books. You mean you’ve looked at the pictures? Yes, but I’ve read the books as well. Roald Dahl
You ignorant little slug! the Trunchbull bellowed. You witless weed! You empty headed hamster! You stupid glob of glue! Roald Dahl
All the reading she had done had given her a view of life that they had never seen. If only they would read a little Dickens or Kipling they would soon discover there was more to life than cheating people and watching television. Roald Dahl
I’m afraid men are not always quite as clever as they think they are. You will learn that when you get a bit older, my girl. Roald Dahl
She felt wildly excited. She had just met a small girl who possessed, or so it seemed to her, quite extraordinary qualities of brilliance. There had not been time yet to find out exactly how brilliant the child was, but Miss Honey had learnt enough to realize that something had to be done about it as soon as possible. It would be ridiculous to leave a child like that stuck in the bottom form. Roald Dahl
There is little point in teaching anything backwards. The whole object of life, Headmistress, is to go forwards. Roald Dahl
She didn’t in the least mind being accused of having done something she had actually done. She could see the justice of that. It was, however, a totally new experience for her to be accused of a crime that she definitely had not committed. Roald Dahl
What she needed was just one person, one wise and sympathetic grown up who could help her. Roald Dahl
If you are good, life is good. Roald Dahl
I’ve always said to myself that if a little pocket calculator can do it why shouldn’t I? Roald Dahl
Don’t worry about the bits you can’t understand. Sit back and allow the words to wash around you, like music. Roald Dahl
In any event, parents never underestimated the abilities of their own children. Quite the reverse. Sometimes it was well nigh impossible for a teacher to convince the proud father or mother that their beloved offspring was a complete nitwit. Roald Dahl
The human brain is an amazing thing. Roald Dahl
Both Matilda and Lavender were enthralled. It was quite clear to them that they were at this moment standing in the presence of a master. Here was somebody who had brought the art of skulduggery to the highest point of perfection, somebody, moreover, who was willing to risk life and limb in pursuit of her calling. They gazed in wonder at this goddess, and suddenly even the boil on her nose was no longer a blemish but a badge of courage. Roald Dahl
You seemed so far away, Miss Honey whispered, awestruck. Oh, I was. I was flying past the stars on silver wings, Matilda said. It was wonderful. Roald Dahl
These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message You are not alone. Roald Dahl
Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog. Make sure everything you do is so completely crazy it’s unbelievable. Roald Dahl
Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Roald Dahl
Children are not so serious as grown ups and they love to laugh. Roald Dahl
The only sensible thing to do when you are attacked is, as Napoleon once said, to counter attack. Roald Dahl
If you had a heart attack this minute and had to call a doctor, that doctor would be a university graduate. If you got sued for selling someone a rotten second hand car, you’d have to get a lawyer and he’d be a university graduate, too. Do not despise clever people, Mr. Wormwood. Roald Dahl
Matilda longed for her parents to be good and loving and understanding and honourable and intelligent. The fact that they were none of these things was something she had to put up with. It was not easy to do so. But the new game she had invented of punishing one or both of them each time they were beastly to her made her life more or less bearable. Being very small and very young, the only power Matilda had over anyone in her family was brain power. For sheer cleverness she could run rings around them all. But the fact remained that any five year old girl in any family was always obliged to do as she was told, however asinine the orders might be. Roald Dahl
She was feeling curiously elated. She felt as though she had touched something that was not quite of this world, the highest point of the heavens, the farthest star. She had felt most wonderfully the power surging up behind her eyes, gushing like a warm fluid inside her skull, and her eyes had become scorching hot, hotter than ever before, and things had come bursting out of her eye sockets and then the piece of chalk had lifted itself up and had begun to write. It seemed as though she had hardly done anything, it had all been so simple. Roald Dahl
With frightening suddenness he now began ripping the pages out of the book in handfuls and throwing them in the waste paper basket. Matilda froze in horror. The father kept going. There seemed little doubt that the man felt some kind of jealousy. How dare she, he seemed to be saying with each rip of a page, how dare she enjoy reading books when he couldn’t? How dare she? Roald Dahl
There was a moment of silence, and Matilda, who had never before heard great romantic poetry spoke aloud, was profoundly moved. It’s like music, she whispered. Matilda
Mr Hemingway says a lot of things I don’t understand, Matilda said to her. Especially about men and women. But I loved it all the same. The way he tells it I feel I am right there on the spot watching it all happen. A fine writer will always make you feel that, Mrs Phelps said. And don’t worry about the bits you can’t understand. Sit back and allow the words to wash around you, like music. Roald Dahl
By the time she was three, Matilda had taught herself to read by studying newspapers and magazines that lay around the house. At the age of four, she could read fast and well, and she naturally began hankering after books. Matilda
Perhaps his anger was intensified because he saw her getting pleasure from something that was beyond his reach. Roald Dahl
Parents never underestimated the abilities of their own children. Quite the reverse. Sometimes it was well nigh impossible for a teacher to convince the proud father or mother that their beloved offspring was a complete nitwit. Matilda
I libri le aprivano mondi nuovi e le facevano conoscere persone straordinarie che vivevano una vita piena di avventure. Viaggiava su antichi velieri con Joseph Conrad. Andava in Africa con Ernest Hemingway e in India con Kipling. Girava il mondo restando seduta nella sua stanza, in un villaggio inglese. Roald Dahl
With frightening suddenness, he now began ripping the pages out of the book in handfuls and throwing them in the waste paper basket. Matilda froze in horror. The father kept going. There seemed little doubt that the man felt some kind of jealousy. Matilda
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. Roald Dahl
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 traveled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village. Matilda
It was pleasant to take a hot drink up to her room and have it beside her as she sat in her silent room reading in the empty house in the afternoons. The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. Roald Dahl
I was flying past the stars on silver wings. I was wonderful. Matilda
We’ve got a lovely telly with a twelve inch screen and now you come asking for a book! You’re getting spoiled, my girl! Roald Dahl
Somewhere inside all of us is the power to change the world. Matilda
Well not exactly, the father said. Nobody could do that but it didn’t take me long. Roald Dahl
Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure. Matilda
She travelled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village. Roald Dahl
Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog. Make sure everything you do is so completely crazy it’s unbelievable. Matilda
This allowed her two glorious hours sitting quietly by herself in a cozy corner, devouring one book after another. When she had read every single children’s book in the place, she started wandering round in search of something else. Roald Dahl
You couldn’t spell difficulty if your life depended on it. Miss Trunchbull
What on earth were you trying to do, make yourself look handsome or something? You look like someone’s grandmother gone wrong! Roald Dahl
I’m right and you’re wrong. I’m big and you’re small, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Miss Trunchbull
Being very small and very young, the only power Matilda had over anyone in her family was brain power. Roald Dahl
What nonsense. You are not supposed to learn long words like that until you are at least eight or nine. Miss Trunchbull
I’m afraid men are not always quite as clever as they think they are. Roald Dahl
The Headmistress is very strict about everything. Make sure your clothes are clean, your faces are clean and your hands are clean. Speak only when spoken to. Miss Honey
What a nice child she is, Miss Honey thought. I don’t care what her father said about her, she seems very quiet and gentle to me. And not a bit stuck up in spite of her brilliance. Roald Dahl
I have never been able to understand why small children are so disgusting. They’re the bane of my life. They’re like insects they should be got rid of as early as possible. Miss Trunchbull
Matilda had never once stopped to think about where Miss Honey might be living. She had always regarded her purely as a teacher, a person who turned up out of nowhere and taught at school and then went away again. Do any of us children, she wondered, ever stop to ask ourselves where our teachers go when school is over for the day? Do we wonder if they live alone, or if there is a mother at home or a sister or a husband? Roald Dahl
I have discovered that a bad girl is a far more dangerous creature than a bad boy. What’s more, they’re much harder to squash. Nasty dirty things, little girls are. Glad I never was one. Miss Trunchbull
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