I don’t overwork – a couple of hours a day is fine for me.

The older you get, the lesser you are bothered by what others think.

The transition from an English father to a Punjabi stepfather demanded an adjustment that was far from easy for a 10-year-old boy who had just lost his father.

I had a bad habit of falling in love with any girl who was nice to me.

I have been naturally inclined towards mountains, trees, flowers, and rivers.

One has to be ambitious to start writing.

Whenever I run out of people to write about, I cook up a few ghosts, or they appear before me.

My desk is right next to my bed. So I sit on my bed. I write in a big notebook which is on the desk. And if I feel drowsy, I just have to slide into bed.

There will always be books as long as I am mentally capable of it.

The more you write, the better you will write! So – keep at it!

For the film ‘Saat Khoon Maaf,’ which was adapted from my story ‘Susanna’s Seven Husbands,’ I did collaborate on the screenplay. I even took a small role in the film, of a priest.

I have come to believe that the best kind of walk, or journey, is the one in which you have no particular destination when you set out.

I fortunately have a good memor, and that helps a lot in the way I write.

Sometimes good stories are created while documenting dreams.

I use a ball pen because fountain pens are clumsy, and I get ink all over my fingers by the time I finish with it.

When I ventured into writing at the age of 17, I wanted to be a good and successful writer. I just wanted to write good stuff – poems, prose, stories, essays, everything.

Solitude helps you reflect.

Holidays can become tedious without something to read.

The past is always with us, for it feeds the present.

I am a compulsive writer.

I think every writer wants future generations to read what he has written.

To return to my own trees, I went among them often, acknowledging their presence with a touch of my hand against their trunks.

When I was younger, I took life much more seriously.

Red roses for young lovers. French beans for longstanding relationships

Films and books have been intertwined as far as my growing up is concerned.

As you grow older, life seems funnier.

I have been apolitical all my life.

I love to sleep.

I liked the old comic books, especially the funny ones like ‘Popeye‘ and ‘Beetle Bailey.’

I am a very personal writer. I write direct to the reader. I don’t hold back.

I write a story in my head. I see the story like a movie.

Change has to come. It’s not always what you’d like. It’s what other people like.

Normally writers do not talk much,because they are saving their conversations for the readers of their book- those invisible listeners with whom we wish to strike a sympathetic chord.

I’ve never written specifically for children as such. I write to please myself, and if it is suitable, it gets printed as a children’s book.

If you live in America, you need a gun, and I am not very fast with a gun, so I think I would walk out very quickly.

I enjoy writing personal essays in the way of Charles Lamb because it goes back to the school days when I was good in writing essays.

Hapiness is as exclusive as a butterfly, and you must never pursue it. If you stay very still, it may come and settle on your hand. But only briefly. Savour those moments, for they will not come in your way very often.

I get inspiration from a lot of things around me – nature, hills, people, and even insects.

A lot of school-going children are familiar with my writing. I am basically very much a children books author.

Readers want more of the same from you. So stick to one genre.

I suppose in the long run, it’s the good work that outlasts the shoddy work, but there’s enough room for all kinds of writing.

I am a storyteller from a personal viewpoint. When I run out of people I invent ghosts. I don’t believe in ghosts. Never saw one.

As a schoolboy, I loved Charles Dickens. His ‘David Copperfield’ has had the strongest influence on me – I looked up to David Copperfield as a role model.

I have always discouraged young writers from self-publishing, by which I mean going to a vanity publisher and spending your hard earned savings – say, some two-three lakhs – and getting your book printed. It’s not published; it’s printed!

I think I’m from the 18th century, not even the 19th. I don’t even use a typewriter. I prefer longhand, and that’s how I submit my manuscripts to my publishers.

The India I Love, does not make the headlines, but I find it wherever I go – in field or forest, town or village, mountain or desert – and in the hearts and minds of people who have given me love and affection for the better part of my lifetime.

Children haven‘t changed – the world around them has. Their basic natures haven’t changed. They like ice creams. They like to have fun, play games if they get space.

In my twenties, I wrote a lot of romantic stories in which I always lost the girl.

My mother wanted me to join the Indian army, as the army was seen as a decent and respectable career to have. I shocked my mother by telling her that I wanted to be a writer.

But the trees seemed to know me. They whispered among themselves and beckoned me nearer.

When I was growing up, I remember having read all the books in the library. I often tried to emulate my favourite writers.

Writing for children may have kept me young at heart.

Many people told me such convincing ghost stories that I felt that there really were ghosts, though I hadn’t seen any. And though I still haven’t seen a ghost, I feel that they are all around us; we are just not aware of them being there.

A few years after my father’s death, my mother sent me to the United Kingdom for ‘better prospects‘ in 1951. Those four years were not easy.

I’m not very good at writing fantasy or even reading it.

It’s nice to have awards from time to time. There was a time when I had to make a living from my writing, and it wasn’t always easy. I value awards a lot – and more so if there is a little cash with them!

I can’t live in a room without a window.

I wanted to be a tap dancer when I was very young.

If you enjoy your journey as a writer, you will never find it difficult to write.

You may not enjoy loneliness, because loneliness is sad. But solitude is something else; solitude is what you look forward to when you want to be alone, when you want to be with yourself. So, solitude is something we all need from time to time.

The Nehru years were rather very peaceful years. A lot happened in those years: dams were built, five-year plans were made, Chandigarh was built in front of my eyes. Those were the years I grew up in.

I may not have become a good writer, but I managed to make a living out of writing.

Ghosts are all around us. Look for them, and you will find them.

I’m a pickle fiend. I like all kinds of pickles: garlic pickle, lemon pickle, mango pickle, jackfruit pickle, you name it.

I wrote ‘Time Stops at Shamli’ in 1956, shortly after ‘The Room on the Roof‘ was published, and I couldn’t find anyone to publish it.

I have no real regrets.

and when all the wars are over, a butterfly will still be beautiful.

I am a sleepy fellow. I will take a nice long nap the first chance I get.

There are two kinds of authors – subjective and objective. Introverts are more inward looking.

If four or five days go by, and I haven’t written anything, I feel incomplete.

I used to type, but now, typing or working with a computer, I get a stiff neck. So I prefer writing longhand.

Respect the language in which you write. Be kind, develop good vocabulary, and be creative in writing beautiful sentences. Your prose should be your poetry when you write.

I used to consider myself a loner.

To be able to laugh and to be merciful are the only things that make man better than the beast

In India, not enough importance is given to writing for children. And what could be more important than the enrichment of young minds with great literature?