“This is the difficulty with learning a language: not always knowing if words contain more than they say.”

“It is some accomplishment to suffer fear, but to plod on nonetheless. There is some pride in survival.”

“When will I ever learn to accept what is given instead of always yearning for more? My lavish expectations too often tarnish my blessings.”

“They feed back exactly what is given them. Because they do not believe in words - words are for "typeheads," Chester Anderson tells them, and a thought which needs words is just one more of those ego trips - their only proficient vocabulary is in the society's platitudes. As it happens I am still committed to the idea that the ability to think for one's self depends upon one's mastery of the language, and I am not optimistic about children who will settle for saying, to indicate that their mother and father do not live together, that they come from "a broken home." They are sixteen, fifteen, fourteen years old, younger all the time, an army of children waiting to be given the words.”

“You don't know what you don't know until someone who knows tells you about it. That's when you know that there's more to know than you'll ever know.”

“You know what we learned from living under the rule of Communism?""No.""We learned to get mad.”

“She thought about Penny’s stories. There was one about a man who had three wishes and married a swan. If I had three wishes, I know what I’d wish for, thought Is. I’d wish for those two boys to be found, and for us all to be back on Blackheath Edge. She thought about Penny teaching her to read. “What’s the point of reading?” Is had grumbled at first. “You can allus tell me stories, that’s better than reading.” “I’ll not always be here,” Penny had said shortly. “Besides, once you can read, you can learn somebody else. Folk should teach each other what they know.” “Why?” “If you don’t learn anything, you don’t grow. And someone’s gotta learn you.”Well, thought Is, if I get outta here, I’ll be able to learn some other person the best way to get free from a rolled-up rug.”