Hilary Mckay said this quote

On the board was a list of words and phrases which her mother considered not suitable for use in college T-shirt design. She had been asked about them so often that in the end she had started a blacklist of banned words to which everyone could refer. Every time someone thought of a new one, she unflinchingly wrote it down...Rose read through the list, and turned back to her letter.These are the words I learned to spell in Mummy's art class today, she wrote, and sighed a little as she began the tedious job of copying from the board.

~ Hilary Mckay

Oh, Micheal darling!Don't call me darling, I'm a driving instructor!

~ Hilary Mckay

They arrived home again to a most peculiar sight. The small garden at the front of the Banana House had been transformed. A tidal wave of cushions, beanbags, quilts, hearth rugs, and sleeping bags appeared to have swept up the lawn and broken at the wall. From Indigo's window a multicolored rope of knotted bedsheets came snaking out and ended among the cushions. As Micheal and Caddy watched, a mattress emerged and fell to the ground, followed by a rain of pillows.Indigo! shouted Caddy, jumping out of the car.Indigo's and Rose's heads appeared in the window above.It's all right, Caddy! Indigo called cheerfully. We've been doing it all the time you've been gone.We keep finding more stuff to land on! added Rose. Look!

~ Hilary Mckay

Very helpful, I must say. Look at them in the eye and shout, and they understand every word... (Mr. Warbeck in Sienna, talking about local Italians.)

~ Hilary Mckay