“The overdressed traveler betrays more interest in being seen than in seeing, while the true traveler knows that the novel world about her serves as the most appropriate accessory.”

“At its most elemental, a spell is no more than a recipe for change.”

“Galinda didn't see the verdant world through the glass of the carriage; she saw her own reflection instead. She had the nearsightedness of youth. She reasoned that because she was beautiful she was significant, though what she signified, and to whom, was not clear yet...She was, after all, on her way to Shiz because she was smart. But there was more than one way to be smart.”

“It isn't hard to find evil in this world. Evil is always more easily imagined than good, somehow.”

“The thing about a mirror is this: The one who stares into it is condemned to consider the world from her own perspective.”

“It's hard to find evil in this world,' said the Witch. Evil is always more easily imagined than good, somehow.”

“. . . this girl who seemed, increasingly, to be interested in learning to read everything except how human beings talked to one another.”