“When you get right down to it, every collection of letters is a magic spell, even it it's a moronic proclamation ... Words have their impact, girl. Mind your manners. I may not know how to fly but I know how to read, and that's almost the same thing.”

“...but she wrote out some extra words on a piece of paper so Rain could practice reading. "Is this a magic spell?" the girl asked her."Don't let me get sappy on you, but when you get right down to it, every collection of letters is a magic spell, even if it is a moronic proclamation by the Emperor.  Words have their impact, girl.  Mind your manners.  I may not know how to fly but I know how to read, and that's almost the same thing."-Out of Oz”

“I may not know how to fly but I know how to read, and that's almost the same thing.”

“The mister days that letters are the key, but even when you know the whole family, there's so many combinations you can make. And they break their word.”

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

“We only have babies when we're young enough not to know how grim life turns out. Once we really get the full measure of it--we're slow learners, we women--we dry up in disgust and sensibly halt production.”

“Everyone dies. It's a question of where and how, that's all.”