H.M. Forester

“There's nowhere else to escape to ... Except in a wooden box, that is.”

“We're all teased or pressured into conforming to the all-levelling social norms of mediocrity.”

“Why does there appear to be so little magic in the world these days? It is because people have stopped believing in it or lose touch with it as they grow up. It is because we have become so sophisticated and lost our ancient and natural roots. It is because religion, science and education have taught us that magic does not exist. That even supposing it does exist – which to many is far too big an 'if' – then it couldn't possibly work. Their self-fulfilling sophistry complete, they then turn round and say 'There you are you see, there is no magic in the world, just as we said.' And we and the world are all the poorer as a result of this. I mean, what are we left with? Santa, the Easter Bunny, Harry Potter and the Tooth Fairy.”

“Real patience is not the same as waiting impatiently for something for a long time. Patience is having patience with patience.”

“All those old myths and legends and fairytales didn't just appear out of nowhere for no good reason, you know.”

“Welcome to Level 2. Or, as it is sometimes affectionately referred to by the Friends: God's Little Joke.”

“Hey, lighten up ... This is only a game, you know.”

“Can I tempt you? Go on, be a devil.”

“These technical impediments [... things like ignorance, impatience, unexamined assumptions, habit ...] get in the way of what would otherwise occur or develop quite naturally, such as wakefulness, awareness, inspiration and infallible intuition. Things that should be our birth right. This preliminary stage, then, we call learning how to learn.”

“There really is more to this world than meets the casual or untutored eye.”

“There are universal laws at work, even here. The Law of Attraction; the Law of Correspondence; and the Law of Karma. That is: like attracts like; as within, so without; and what goes around comes around.”

“Sorcery rules the world. Of course, most don't call it sorcery; indeed, many would be horrified by such a notion.”

“Smoking is suicide by instalments.”

“There is no such thing as 'just one last cigarette' – except the last cigarette that you've already had.”

“An angry man will find himself in an angry world, and a swindler will find himself in a world of thieves whom he dare not trust. Like attracts and mirrors like.”

“Maybe like the never-ending stories within stories of the One Thousand and One Nights, life is dream within dream all the way through?”

“Of course the reason that the Authorities have banned the stuff is not so much the detrimental effect on one's health, however genuine that might be, but rather that those who regularly partake in the illicit herb tend to lose all interest in playing the game by other people's rules. And that is in direct contravention of the Commandments, the first of which is: Thou shalt play the Game by the rules; the second being: Thou shalt not drop out of the Game.”

“There comes a point when you stop thinking of you playing the game, and you simply become a part of – and merge into – and become lost in – the game.”

“Yes, we are in a real pickle. Welcome to the pan-galactic insane asylum.”

“I? This is the very root of all evil.”

“When it came to dealing with feral dissidents, there was only one unwritten law that superseded all others: "An' it secure a conviction, do what thou wilt.”

“The worst of all was to be faced with the interrogation technique of Thirty Seconds. The interrogator would say something and you had to respond quickly, without once repeating yourself or using the personal pronoun. Very few dissidents could last the full thirty seconds, and a refusal to comply was taken as equal proof of dissidence.”

“Their methods were especially crude and most of these former friends were now born again model citizens; lobotomized; or burnt out shells.”

“All you had to do was crack up and beg to see the Governor; grovel at his feet and admit to being a dissident; heartily repent your sins, and volunteer for elective brain surgery.”

“There was a great joke that was forever doing the rounds in the jail and it was probably funny not because it had a humorous punchline but because it was so very true at a deep psychological level. Put anyone in that jail and soon enough they'd actually become a cruel, twisted, sadistic and heartless thug. And some of the prisoners were just as bad.”

“Is that a banana in your lunch box, or are you just pleased to see me?”