Humphrey Carpenter Quotes

I see the world as a magical place. Therefore, it was only natural that magic wafted from my fiction like smoke.

… a fairyland to us, for all intents and purposes—a land of enchantment and awful mystery.

Magic provides a way of still having room for possibilities, an unlimited sense of what the world offers. Magic is always there when science is found wanting.

This is magic we're talking about. It's supposed to go places science can't, defy logic, wink at technology, fill us all with the sensawunda that comes of gazing upon a fictional world and seeing something truly different from our own.

I believe that a world that doesn't have some kind of magic in it wouldn't be worth living in.

We must not let daylight in upon the magic.

In creating the Harry Potter artwork, I try to bring a certain amount of realism and believability to the characters and setting, but still add an element of wonder and the unknown.

There's no subtext in 'Harry Potter,' really; it's all magic - anything can happen. Why do I say this? Because it's a magic spell. It's quite nice in a way. There is a real freedom to it. Doesn't say much for acting, does it?

Every book that you pick up takes you a step away from your real world, but if you read a book about magic, it takes you an extra two steps.

I never imagined myself in a movie with magic.

I've read up on magic, and I think it sets you free, and it gives you hope. You can explore worlds you didn't know existed. It stretches your imagination, and I like my own imagination to be stretched and also the children I'm telling the story to. It gives you a sense of wonder.

I think I've really exhausted the magical. It was a lot of fun, but I've put it behind me for the time being.

Anyone who has set out to invent a purely imaginary story knows that the whole thing is fantasy, from beginning to end; there must be a sense of magic created about the most restrained of naturalism.

I have always been a romantic, one of those people who believes that a woman in pink circus tights contains all the secrets of the universe.

Genius is another word for magic, and the whole point of magic is that it is inexplicable.

I don't want realism. I'll tell you what I want. Magic! Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don't tell the truth. I tell what ought to be truth. And if that is sinful, then let me be damned for it!

I would like to evoke the sense of wonder and magic in the reader but without invoking the mystical, the supernatural or the transcendent.

I love witches and magic and dress-up and make-believe.

For me, art is make-believe. It's enchantment. It's a fable. I'm enjoying that and playing with it. Of course it's serious, and art is serious, but I'm not going to rarefy it.

First of all, writing at best - certainly fiction writing - more and more I think is magic.

Pretty much anything you care to imagine can happen in a fantasy, which in turn means you can really crank up the intensity of the tale you're telling.

I definitely love fantasy and would want to be in a fantasy project.

I am a fan of magic and fantasy, particularly when it's grounded in reality.

One of the things I've discovered at my age is I must have enchantment. And that was not clear to me in my earlier years. When I look at my favorite films, the Frank Capra - even Scorsese, even 'Goodfellas,' what makes that movie so remarkable is there's enchantment in their world.

Let the little fairy in you fly!