Lloyd Alexander

“Are you slow-witted? I'm so sorry for you. It's terrible to be dull and stupid.”

“Who but lovers dream alike?”

“A taste for adventure is by no means a masculine monopoly.”

“And thus did an Assistant Pig-Keeper become High King of Prydain.”

“How easy it is to think well of ourselves. Until the moment is upon us, we can never be certain.”

“There is more honor in a field well plowed than in a field steeped in blood.”

“Namaste, Prince of Naga-loka. I'm grateful. You're a fine fellow." He stuck out his tongue and grinned wickedly. "For a royal wriggler.""Namaste, O flea-ridden tree-climber," Shesha replied, with a fond glint in his eyes. "May your life be as long as you insolence is great.”

“Go back' Taran shouted at the top of his voice.'Have you lost your wits?'Eilonwy, for it was she, half-halted. She had tucked her plaited hair under a leather helmet. The Princess of Llyr smiled cheerfully at him. 'I understand you're upset,' she shouted back, 'but that's no cause to be rude.' She galloped on.For a time, Taran could not believe he had really seen her.”

“Hope is an essential thread in the fabric of all fantasies, an Ariadne's thread to guide us out of the labyrinth ... Human beings have always needed hope, and surely now more than ever.”

“For Wayfarers still journeying, for Wanderers at rest.”

“I have never known courage to be judged by the length of a man's hair. Or, for the matter of that, whether he has any hair at all.”

“I decided that adventure was the best way to learn about writing.”

“The ocean filled the footprints where a boy and cat had stood.”

“I can't make sense out of that girl," he said to the bard, "Can you?" "Never mind," Fflewddur said, "We aren't really expected to.”

“No, no," said Taran slowly, "It would be folly to think of attacking them." He smiled quickly at Fflewddur. "The bards would sing of us," he admitted, "but we'd be in no position to appreciate it.”

“If life is a loom, the pattern you weave is not so easily unraveled.”

“If I fret over tomorrow, I'll have little joy today.”

“True allegiance is only given willingly.”

“You know how chickens are, imagining the world coming to an end one moment, then pecking corn the next.”

“-"He loved her...It was noble of him. It was beautiful."-"It was stupid.”

“Forgive me....I called you an idiot. I spoke too hastily. You are not. Had I given it more thought, I would have called you a scoundrel.”

“All agreed that Quickset was the cleverest cat in the world. And, since Quickset had the same opinion, it was surely true.”

“Since no one has mentioned it,' said Eilonwy, 'it seems I'm not being asked to come along. Very well, I shan't insist.''You, too, have gained wisdom, Princess,' said Dallben. 'Your days on Mona were not ill-spent.''Of course,' Eilonwy went on, 'after you leave, the thought may strike me that it's a pleasent day for a short ride to go picking wildflowers which might be hard to find, especially since it's almost winter. Not that I'd be following you, you understand. But I might, by accident, lose my way, and mistakenly happen to catch up with you. By then, it would be too late for me to come home, through no fault of my own.”

“All that writers can do is keep trying to say what is deepest in their hearts. ”

“I saw myself.... In the time I watched, I saw strength—and frailty. Pride and vanity, courage and fear. Of wisdom, a little. Of folly, much. Of intentions, many good ones; but many more left undone. In this, alas, I saw myself a man like any other. But this, too, I saw.... Alike as men may seem, each is different as flakes of snow, no two the same. You told me you had no need to seek the Mirror, knowing you were Annlaw Clay-Shaper. Now I know who I am: myself and none other. I am Taran.”

“He will not succeed in this," Taran said. "Somehow, we must find a way to escape. We dare not lose hope." "I agree absolutely," Fflewddur answered. "Your general idea is excellent; it's only the details that are lacking...”

“Dealing with the impossible, fantasy can show us what may be really possible. If there is grief, there is the possibility of consolation; if hurt, the possibility of healing; and above all, the curative power of hope. If fantasy speaks to us as we are, it also speaks to us as we might be.”

“Torrens kicked at the door until it was finally opened. The farm couple and three youngsters had been eating breakfast in the common room. The yard dog would have bounded in had not Torrens kicked the door shut.'I want a bed. Quilts. A hot drink. I am a doctor. This woman is my patient.'The farm couple was terrified. The look on the face of Torrens cut short any questions. They did as he ordered. One of the children ran to fetch his medical kit from the cart. The woman motioned for Torrens to set Caroline on a straw pallet. The farmer kept his distance, but his wife, shyly, fearffully, ventured closer. She glanced at Torrens, as if requesting his permission to help. Between them, they made Caroline as comfortable as they could.Torrens knelt by the pallet. Caroline reached for his hand. 'Leave while you can. Do not burden yourself with me.''A light burden.''I wish you to find Augusta.''You have my promise.''Take this.' Caroline had slipped off a gold ring set with diamonds. 'It was a wedding gift from the king. It has not left my finger since then. I give it to you now - ' Torrens protested, but Caroline went on - 'not as a keepsake. You and I have better keepsakes in our hearts. I wish you to sell it. You will need money, perhaps even more than this will bring. But you must stary alive and find my child. Help her as you have always helped me.''We shall talk of this later, when you are better. We shall find her together.''You have never lied to me.' Caroline's smile was suddenly flirtacious. 'Sir, if you begin now, I shall take you to task for it.'Her face seemed to grow youthful and earnest for an instant. Torrens realized she held life only by strength of will.'I am thinking of the Juliana gardens,' Caroline said. 'How lovely they were. The orangerie. And you, my loving friend. Tell me, could we have been happy?''Yes.' Torrens raised her hand to his lips. 'Yes. I am certain of it.'Caroline did not speak again. Torrens stayed at her side. She died later that morning. Torrens buried her in the shelter of a hedgerow at the far edge of the field. The farmer offered to help, but Torrens refused and dug the grave himself. Later, in the farmhouse, he slept heavily for the first time since his escape. Mercifully, he did not dream.Next day, he gave the farmer his clothing in trade for peasant garb. He hitched up the cart and drove back to the road. He could have pressed on, lost himself beyond search in the provinces. He was free. Except for his promise.He turned the cart toward Marianstat.”

“...Writings can be stolen, or changed, or used for evil purposes. But isn't the risk worth taking? The more people who share knowledge, the greater safeguard for it. Isn't there more danger in ignorance than knowledge?”

“Keep out of this," Lucian said. "I'm not smiting anybody.""You're showing mercy." Catch-a-Tick nodded. "That's heroic, too. But not as good as smiting.”

“She has given you something of value: the truth in her heart.”

“If a storyteller worried about the facts - my dear Lucian, how could he ever get at the truth?”

“Any fool can tell a story. Take a few odds and ends of things that happen to you, dress them up, shuffle them about, add a dash of excitement, a little color, and there you have it.”

“Seize the day, whatever's in it to seize, before something comes along and seizes you.”

“You have a point," said Fronto, "and even a poet must occasionally bow to logic.”

“The journey is the treasure.”

“I only suggest to you: Will you dwell on killing this man? You wish for revenge? If you do, he has already killed you by slow poison. So, let it go. Why waste your time? His life will see to his death.”

“Is there worse evil than that which goes in the mask of good?”

“Craftsmanship isn't like water in an earthen pot, to be taken out by the dipperful until it's empty. No, the more drawn out the more remains.”

“Perhaps,' Taran said quietly, watching the moon-white riverbank slip past them, 'perhaps you have the truth of it. At first I felt as you did. Then I remember thinking of Eilonwy, only of her; and the bauble showed its light. Prince Rhun was ready to lay down his life; his thoughts were for our safety, not at all for his own. And because he offered the greatest sacrifice, the bauble glowed brightest for him. Can that be its secret? To think more for others than ourselves?'That would seem to be one of its secrets, at least,' replied Fflewddur. 'Once you've discovered that, you've discovered a great secret indeed--with or without the bauble.”

“Llonio said life was a net for luck; to Hevydd the Smith life was a forge; and to Dwyvach the Weaver-Woman a loom. They spoke truly, for it is all of these. But you,' Taran said, his eyes meeting the potter's, 'you have shown me life is one thing more. It is clay to be shaped, as raw clay on a potter's wheel.”

“Trust your luck, Taran Wanderer. But don't forget to put out your nets!”

“Miss Vesper Holly has the digestive talents of a goat and the mind of a chess master. She is familiar with half a dozen languages and can swear fluently in all of them. She understands the use of a slide rule but prefers doing calculations in her head. She does not hesitate to risk life and limb- mine as well as her own. No doubt she has other qualities as yet undiscovered. I hope not.”

“...righteousness [is] always more believable when combined with dreariness.”

“I intend to follow the path of virtue. It will not be overcrowded.”

“Behind one truth there is always yet another.”

“No matter what has happened, you're not a pig-boy; you're an Assistant Pig Keeper!”

“Find what you want. I will find you.”

“King Constantine IX of Regia had been killed three times and was bored with it. He wanted a bath.”

“I'm trying to make myself invisible.""That's an odd thing to attempt.”