I still find it quite easy to find my way into a child's

“I still find it quite easy to find my way into a child’s imagination. We’re all Peter Pan ourselves in some respects. Everybody should keep some grip on childhood, even as a grownup.” — thus speaks Tim Curry, the great performer whose voice and presence have stirred both laughter and wonder across generations. Beneath this gentle reflection lies a truth older than art itself — that within every human heart there dwells a child, bright with imagination, unspoiled by cynicism, and forever capable of wonder. Curry’s words remind us that to live fully, one must never let that child perish beneath the weight of years.

He speaks first as an artist, yet his message belongs to all. The imagination of a child is not bound by logic or fear; it is wild, fluid, infinite. In the eyes of a child, a cardboard box is a castle, a puddle an ocean, and a shadow a friend or a dragon. Such imagination is not naivety — it is the purest form of creativity, a way of perceiving the world as alive with possibility. Curry confesses that he can still “find his way” into that realm, suggesting that the path to imaginative truth is never lost, only forgotten by those who trade wonder for weariness.

When he says, “We’re all Peter Pan ourselves in some respects,” Curry invokes one of the most beloved symbols of eternal youth — Peter Pan, the boy who refused to grow up. But Peter Pan is not merely a child’s fantasy; he is the eternal spirit of curiosity and play that resists the dullness of conformity. To be “Peter Pan” in spirit is not to deny adulthood, but to preserve within it the spark of wonder that keeps the soul from stagnation. Curry’s words remind us that while we must grow older in body, we can remain young in imagination, keeping alive the ability to dream, to play, and to create without fear.

Consider the story of Albert Einstein, who once said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Though he was one of the greatest scientists who ever lived, he never ceased to think like a child — asking “Why?” and “What if?” with the same joy and curiosity that filled his youth. As a boy, he imagined riding on a beam of light; as a man, he turned that vision into the theory of relativity, forever changing our understanding of the universe. His discoveries were not born from equations alone, but from the childlike imagination that dares to see what others cannot. Thus, in Curry’s spirit, Einstein too “kept his grip on childhood.”

In our age of distraction and disillusionment, this wisdom is more vital than ever. The adult world often teaches us to suppress the imagination, to value practicality over wonder, and to see dreaming as immaturity. But those who abandon the child within become hollow, trading joy for efficiency, curiosity for comfort. The greatest innovations, the deepest art, and the most compassionate hearts all spring from those who have preserved their inner child. To keep a “grip on childhood” is not to live in the past — it is to keep hold of the qualities that make life vivid: playfulness, empathy, curiosity, and awe.

Curry’s reflection also carries a gentle warning: adulthood without imagination is a kind of death. When we lose the ability to dream or laugh, we become prisoners of routine and fear. But to revisit the child’s world — through art, through storytelling, through laughter — is to breathe life back into the soul. It is to remember that seriousness is not wisdom, and that joy, too, is a form of intelligence. The child within is not an enemy of maturity; it is its guide, keeping us honest, creative, and human.

Thus, the teaching is clear: guard the child within you. Let it speak, let it play, let it dream. When you work, imagine; when you struggle, hope; when you love, do so with the wholeheartedness of youth. Spend time with children and remember how they see the world. Create something not for gain, but for joy. Laugh more. Wonder more. For in doing so, you touch the timeless part of yourself — the Peter Pan that never truly grows old.

And so, as Tim Curry reminds us, the secret to staying alive in spirit is not to flee childhood but to carry it with us. The world will always try to make us forget, but imagination will always lead us home — back to the bright island of Neverland that lives within every heart, where dreams still fly and everything remains possible.