It seems inevitable that the magic of the written word will fade.

The copycat effects of media violence, similar to those previously attributed to westerns, radio serials and comic books, are easy to exaggerate.

Nothing is perfect. Life is messy. Relationships are complex. Outcomes are uncertain. People are irrational.

So, if falling crime rates coincide with the rise of violent video games and increasing violence on TV and at the cinema, should we conclude that media violence is causing the drop in crime rates?

Actually, I can't imagine anything more tedious than a perfect person, especially if it was someone who also demanded perfection from me.

I suspect the secret of personal attraction is locked up in our unique imperfections, flaws and frailties.

Universal literacy was a 20th-century goal. Before then, reading and writing were skills largely confined to a small, highly educated class of professional people.

The thing we need most is each other.

Obviously, every child should be given the best possible opportunity to acquire literacy skills.

It's Australian to do such things because, however uncivilised they may seem, it's human to do them.

One reason we resist making deliberate choices is that choice equals change and most of us, feeling the world is unpredictable enough, try to minimise the trauma of change in our personal lives.

Whatever you want, you must have the desire to work for it.

I think the younger kids need to realize there's this whole forgotten 90s that people don't really talk about.

Wo ai ni, Tessa,” he whispered. “Wo bu xiang shi qu ni.” She knew, without knowing how she knew, what the words meant. I love you. And I don’t want to lose you.

There's no human remedy for sin.

Brains like that, you could be a Death Eater, son.

The leaders come and go, but the people remain. Only the people are immortal.

The waves have rolled upon me, the billows are repeatedly broken over me, yet I am not sunk down.

The essential in this time of moral poverty is to create enthusiasm.

Taste in comedy, like fashion, changes all the time.

My willingness to fail gives me the ability to succeed.