“For everyone and everything, there is a time to die. Some do not know it, or would delay it, but its truth cannot be denied. Not when you look into the stars of the ninth gate.”

“Let this be my final lesson. Everyone and everything has a time to die.”

“I'll sing you a song of the long ago - Seven shine the shiners, oh!What did the Seven do way back when?Why, they wove the Charter then!Five for the warp, from beginning to end.Two for the woof, to make and mend.That's Seven, but what of the Nine - What of the two who chose not to shine?The Eighth did hide, hide all away,But the Seven caught him and made him pay.The Ninth was strong and fought with might,But lone Orannis was put out of the light,Broken in two and buried under hill,For ever to lie there, wishing us ill.”

“...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.”

“A Kiss," said Mogget sleepily. "Actually, just a breath would do. But you have to start kissing someone sometime, I suppose.""A breath?" she asked. She didn't want to kiss just any wooden man. He looked nice enough, but he might not be like his looks. A kiss seemed too forward.”

“Knowledge, like all things, is best in moderation," intoned the Will. "Knowing everything means you don't need to think, and that is very dangerous.”

“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.”