Though I’ve grown old, the bell still rings for me as it does for all who truly believe.

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.

Forgiving was the hardest thing. Sometimes forgiving was the hardest thing in the whole world.

For much of its existence, design was all about convenience. We wanted to hide technology so that users are not distracted into thinking about the tools they use.

There are too many things to count that I like about London.

the greatest learning of the ages lies in accepting life exactly as it comes to us.

The moment of near despair is quite often the moment that precedes courage.

The cello is not one of my favourite instruments. It has such a lugubrious sound, like someone reading a will.

However, if I ever were in a position to choose who would play me, I think I'd choose Johnny Depp.

In the actual world--the painful kingdom of time and place--dwell care, and canker, and fear. With thought, with the ideal, is immortal hilarity, the rose of joy.

I really look forward to knowing that something is always possible.

Life's bare as a bone.