“Such silly things, children -- and so embarrassing -- because they keep changing themselves out of shame, out of a need to be loved or something. While animals are born who they are, accept it, and that is that. They live with greater peace than people do.”

“Animals are born who they are, accept it, and that is that. They live with greater peace than people do.”

“A notion of character, not so much discredited as simply forgotten, once held that people only came into themselves partway through their lives. They woke up, were they lucky enough to have consciousness, in the act of doing something they already knew how to do…”

“Children talk themselves out of their convictions as they grow up and become distracted by their huge selfish selves. All the literature is consistent on this point. Children begin to think they've imagined us.”

“Elphaba looked like something between an animal and an Animal, like something more than life but not quite Life.”

“How children love the broken thing! And a puzzle is for the piecing together, especially for the young, who still believe it can be done.”

“Weren't you just doing the same thing, trying to maximize what had in order to get what you wanted? People who claim that they're evil are usually no worse than the rest of us. It's people who claim that they're good, or anyway better than the rest of us, that you have to be wary of.”