“I was not a natural. . . . This is the story of becoming . . . the Hard Way.”

“Oh, for Thor's sake..." said Hiccup. "I thought that was just a story...""Stories come from somewhere," said the witch. "The past haunts the present in more ways than we realise.”

“The past haunts the present in more ways than we think. It certainly scares the living daylights out of ME"~ Old Wrinkly”

“I myself grew up to be not only a Hero, but also a Writer. When I was an adult, I rewrote A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons, and I included not only some descriptions of the various deadly dragon species, and a useful Dragonese Dictionary, but also this story of how the book came to be written in the first place.This is the book that you are holding in your hands right now.Perhaps you even borrowed it from a Library?If so, thank Thor that the sinister figure of the Hairy Scary Librarian is not lurking around a corner, hiding in the shadows, Heart-Slicers at the ready, or that the punishment for your curiosity is not the whirring whine of a Driller Dragon's drill.You, dear reader, I am sure cannot imagine what it might to be like to live in a world in which books are banned.For surely such things will never happen in the Future?Thank Thor that you live in a time and a place where people have the right to live and think and write and read their books in peace, and there are no need for Heroes anymore ...And spare a thought for those who have not been so lucky.”

“He looked as frightened as I was. I looked at him, and I saw myself."1,080 rount”

“I forget myself sometimes, but then I look up, as I am looking up now, and I see in my mind's eye a sheild, strangely changed by a rich encrusting of jewel-like barnacles and cold-water coral, with an eight foot tooth sticking right out of the middle of it. I reach out and the edge of that tooth is still so bitingly sharp after all these years that just a gentle brush with the fingers might send a rain of blood down on these pages. And I bend my head, not too close, and I am sure I can hear, very faintly:Once I set the sea alightWith a single fiery breath....Once I was so mighty that I thoughtMy name was Death....Sing out loud until you're eaten,Song of melancholy blisss,For the mighty and the middlingAll shall come to THIS....The Supper is still singing.”

“I NAME THIS LAND TOMORROW, FOR IT SHALL LAST FOREVERMORE!”