Animals are sentient, intelligent, perceptive, funny and entertaining. We owe them a duty of care as we do to children.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the intelligence and emotional capacity of animals, suggesting we have a responsibility to care for them.
Michael Morpurgo's quote highlights the perspective that animals possess qualities such as sentience and intelligence, similar to those we recognize in children. He calls upon humans to acknowledge their duty to care for animals with the same gravity as that for vulnerable beings, emphasizing the ethical obligation we have to ensure their well-being and treat them with respect.
In practice
During a speech on animal rights, I could use this quote to emphasize our responsibility to protect vulnerable beings.
There is the myth that writing books for children is easier than writing books for grownups, whereas we know that truly great books for children are works of genius, whether it's 'Alice in Wonderland' or the 'Gruffalo' or 'Northern Lights.' When it's a great book, it's a great book, whether it's for children or not.
Strange questions are the more interesting ones. Children by and large don't try to trip you up... they want to find out how you do this funny thing that you do... if they've loved a story they love to know how it started.
Write because you love it and not because it is something that you think you should do. Always write about something or somebody you know about - something that you feel deeply and passionately about. Never try and force it.
It is really important that focusing on things such as spelling, punctuation, grammar and handwriting doesn't inhibit the creative flow. When I was at school there was a huge focus on copying and testing and it put me off words and stories for years.
The most important thing is to live an interesting life. Keep your eyes, ears and heart open. Talk to people and visit interesting places, and don't forget to ask questions. To be a writer you need to drink in the world around you so it's always there in your head.
Beyond Good and Evil, Aphorism 153
Surely the glory of journalism is its transience.
When you are fully present, you are truly living; the rest of the time, you are merely existing
I have a private theory, Sir, that there are no heroes and no monsters in this world. Only children should be allowed to use these words
Every little bit, every atom inside the universe, is in a constant state of change and motion, but the universe as a whole is unchangeable, because motion or change is a relative thing; we can only think of something in motion in comparison with something which is not moving.
Harmony comes gradually to a pilot and his plane. The wing does not want so much to fly true as to tug at the hands that guide it; the ship would rather hunt the wind than lay her nose to the horizon far ahead. She has a derelict quality in her character; she toys with freedom and hints at liberation, but yields her own desires gently.
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