"Occasionally one comes across parents... who show no interest at all in their children, and these of course are far worse than the doting ones. Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood were two such parents. They had a son called Michael and a daughter called Matilda, and the parents looked upon Matilda in particular as nothing more than a scab" (The Reader of Books, pg. 10.)

"It was a formidable list [of books] and by now Mrs. Phelps was filled with wonder and excitement, but it was probably a good thing that she did not allow herself to be completely carried away by it all...She was someone who minded her own business and had long since discovered it was seldom worth while to interfere with other people's children" (The Reader of Books, pg. 18.)

"'But that's dishonest, daddy,' Matilda said. 'It's cheating.' 'No one ever got rich being honest...