Barry Hines

He was aware of a change in his physical condition. His muscles were relaxed. So was his mind. Nowhere in particular to go, and so he’d better remember that this was the best time in all the school day. Without a doubt.

No, there wouldn't be another chance to fly him because the lorries would get him before he could build up his strength. He couldn't stand to have him killed, he just couldn't.

The important thing is that you must not let your life turn into one of those poems that I will quote.

The ridiculous thing about it was that they weren't all there for being naughty, like him. Some of them were thick, backward, and didn't know anything.

Pretending he wasn't frightened wouldn't make him unafraid. It was your mind that frightened you, not people.

I'm just going to tell you the names of those two birds. Ask you to remember them please. They're a hobby and a heron. The call of a hobby is 'kee, kee, kee' and a heron's call is 'crek, crek, crek.'

At least with animals, what you see is what you get, but with people, it’s not always that simple.

He had invented games but he didn’t know how to play them. He collected things, he didn’t know what to do with them.

Creatures were never there to be persecuted and harassed for no reason.

Seen from the rear windows of houses in Silver Birch and Elmstone Avenue, life could seem ordinary and unremarkable. No one would believe that wonders like Billy ever existed.

Some things you take to, others you don't. If it didn't work out, so what?

Sometimes it seems as though life's turning into a never-ending series of exams.