Niggle thought that he had never heard anything so generous as that Voice. It made Gentle Treatment sound like a load of rich gifts, and the summons to a King's feast. Then suddenly Niggle felt ashamed. To hear that he was considered a case for Gentle Treatment overwhelmed him, and made him blush in the dark. It was like being publicly praised, when you and all the audience knew that the praise was not deserved. Niggle hid his blushes in the rough blanket. There was a silence. Then the First Voice spoke to Niggle, quite close. 'You have been listening,' it said.

It is your task, of course, to put the best interpretation on the facts. Sometimes they will bear it. What do you propose?

Before long he found that the path on which he had started had disappeared, and the bicycle was rolling along over a marvellous turf. It was green and close; a…

He was a painter by nature. In a minor way, of course; still, a Leaf by Niggle has a charm of its own. He took a great deal of pains with leaves, just for thei…

Be nice to people on your way up, because you're going to meet them all on your way down.

The very day after I learned that I was the laureate for literature for 1983 I drove into a country town and parked my car where I should not. I only left the …

No man or woman of the humblest sort can really be strong, gentle and good, without the world being better for it, without somebody being helped and comforted …