“The king sleeps still, under a mountain , and around him is assembledhis warriors and his herds and his riches. By his right hand is his cup,filled with possibility. On his breast nestles his sword, waiting, too, to wake.Fortunate is the soul who finds the king and is brave enough to call him to wakefulness, for the king will grant him a favour, as wondrous as can be imagined by a mortal man.”

“So here, patient listener: your soothing epilogue. Imagine him happy. Imagine him spinning in circles... Imagine his heaven, where he can float through characters and books at will. (Let's dream him up a king, a giant, a boy who can fly.) Imagine him already there, under his covers with the flashlight.”

“Quickly, the dragon came at him, encouragedAs Beowulf fell back; its breath flared,And he suffered, wrapped around in swirlingFlames -- a king, before, but nowA beaten warrior. None of his comradesCame to him, helped him, his brave and nobleFollowers; they ran for their lives, fledDeep in a wood. And only one of themRemained, stood there, miserable, remembering,As a good man must, what kinship should mean.”

“At first, man was enslaved by the gods. But he broke their chains. Then he was enslaved by the kings. But he broke their chains. He was enslaved by his birth, by his kin, by his race. But he broke their chains. He declared to all his brothers that a man has rights which neither god nor king nor other men can take away from him, no matter what their number, for his is the right of man, and there is no right on earth above this right. And he stood on the threshold of freedom for which the blood of the centuries behind him had been spilled.”

“a child is most powerful person of his times though he needs everything but people around him are bound to kneel down and provide him everything satisfying his demands. 'thorn on his parents ,king of his world”

“At that moment his soul is fuller of the tomb and him who lies there than of the altar and Him of whom it speaks. Such stages have to be gone through, I believe, by all young and brave souls, who must win their way through hero-worship to the worship of Him who is the King and Lord of heroes.”