“A very, terribly long time ago, before such things as televisionand good table manners or evenchildren, ferocious monstersroamed a younger, angrier world.”

“My manners have always been the first thing to go when I get upset, and some people say that they stopped coming back a long time ago.​”

“I learned a long time ago that the honest and just don't always win. Good doesn't always conquer. Sometimes the bad guys win. Sometimes they win for a very long time, because the masses are afraid to challenge them.”

“A very long time ago, Grandmother had wanted to tell about all the things they did, but no one had bothered to ask. And now she had lost the urge.”

“But this small episode is as good an illustration as any of the hazards of uttering witticisms. By the very nature of a witticism, one is given very little time to assess its various possible repercussions before one is called to give voice to it, and one gravely risks uttering all manner of unsuitable things if one has not first acquired the necessary skill and experience.”

“Call me a schoolmarm, but few things make me angrier than people not taking good care of library materials.”