I've always thought of the book as a visual art form, and it should represent a single artistic idea, which it does if you write your own material.

The Polar Express began with the idea of a train standing alone in the woods. I asked myself, What if a boy gets on that train? Where does he go?

I write for what's left of the eight-year-old still rattling around inside my head

its not bad to be different. Sometimes it's the mark of being very very talented.

The idea of the extraordinary happening in the context of the ordinary is what's fascinating to me

Following my muse has worked out pretty well so far. I can't see any reason to change the formula now.

I don't think ordinary things are very interesting, so I try to imagine a world that is less ordinary.

The opportunity to create a small world between two pieces of cardboard, where time exists yet stands still, where people talk and I tell them what to say, is exciting and rewarding.

I pore over every word on the cereal box at breakfast, often more than once. You can ask me anything about shredded wheat.

Santa is our culture's only mythic figure truly believed in by a large percentage of the population. It's a fact that most of the true believers are under eight years old, and that's a pity.

Certain peer pressures encourage little fingers to learn how to hold a football instead of a crayon. I confess to having yielded to these pressures.

Because all her feelings for him – hot and beautiful in her heart – turned to gobbledygook in her mouth.

Travel, which was once either a necessity or an adventure, has become very largely a commodity, and from all sides we are persuaded into thinking that it is a social requirement, too.

I want to live darkly and richly in my femaleness.

Once politics become a tug-of-war for shares in the income pie, decent government is impossible.

The proverbe saith that many a smale maketh a grate.

Every word has consequences. Every silence, too.

The precept, "Know yourself," was not solely intended to obviate the pride of mankind; but likewise that we might understand our own worth.

If one job doesn't pay all the bills, don't worry. You can get another one and another one and another one.

I just want them to keep bringing guys on and I'am going to strip them of their health. I bring pain a lot of pain.

When I race my mind is full of doubts - who will finish second, who will finish third?