“His own image; no longer a dark, gray bird, ugly and disagreeable to look at, but a graceful and beautiful swan. To be born in a duck's nest, in a farmyard, is of no consequence to a bird, if it is hatched from a swan's egg.”

“It doesn't matter if you're born in a duck yard, so long as you are hatched from a swan's egg!”

“Being born in a duck yard does not matter, if only you are hatched from a swan's egg.”

“Farewell, farewell," said the swallow, with a heavy heart, as he left the warm countries, to fly back into Denmark. There he had a nest over the window of a house in which dwelt the writer of fairy tales. The swallow sang "Tweet, tweet," and from his song came the whole story.”

“‎"Does all the beauty of the world stop when you die?""No," said the Old Oak; "it will last much longer - longer than I can even think of.""Well, then," said the little May-fly, "we have the same time to live; only we reckon differently.”

“Everything you look at can become a fairy tale and you can get a story from everything you touch.”

“Life is like a beautiful melody, only the lyrics are messed up.”