“For all my longer works (i.e. the novels) I write chapter outlines so I can have the pleasure of departing from them later on.”

“...I've been thinking that it's as if my ancestors are saying it's all right to make things. That's what I'm meant to do. Make things, and help the Abhorsen and the King. So I'll do that, and I'll do my best, and if my best isn't good enough, at least I will have done everything I could, everything that is in me. I don't have to try to be someone else, someone I could never be.”

“So I'll do that, and I'll do my best and if my best isn't good enough, at least I will have done everything I could, everything that is in me. I don't have to try to be someone else, someone I could never be.”

“Please," said Lirael..."I think I would like to work in this Library.""The Library," repeated Sanar, looking troubled. "That can be dangerous to a girl of fourteen. Or a woman of forty, for that matter.”

“Often, I get the feeling that the story is really happening somewhere and all I'm doing is trying to work out the best way to tell it.”

“I can see time," whispered Mogget, so softly that his words were lost.”

“Ow do you knock out a Denizen?" asked Suzy. "I tried it myself once or twice, but just hitting them never works.""It is not the force of the blow, but the authority with which it is delivered," quoth the raven.”