“A few minutes after he arrived, Lee was talking to a group of astronomers eager to learn what news he could bring them, for there are few natural philosophers as frustrated as astronomers in a fog.”

“Lee was too cool by nature to rage at fate; his manner was to raise an eyebrow and greet it laconically.”

“Lee saw the fireball and head through the roar in his ears Hester saying, "That's the last of 'em Lee."He said, or thought, "Those poor men didn't have to come to this, nor did we."She said, "We held 'em off. We held out. We're a-helping Lyra."Then she was pressing her little proud broken self against his face, as close as she could get, and then they died.”

“He dared to do what men and women don't even dare to think. And look what he's done already: he's torn open the sky, he's opened the way to another world. Who else has ever done that? Who else could think of it?”

“...his face bore an expression that mingled haughty disdain with a tender, ardent sympathy, as if he would love all things if only his nature could let him forget their defects.”

“Symbols and emblems were everywhere. Buildings and pictures were designed to be read like books. Everything stood for something else; if you had the right dictionary, you could read Nature itself. It was hardly surprising to find philosophers using the symbolism of their time to interpret knowledge that came from a mysterious source.”

“For a human being, nothing comes naturally,' said Grumman. 'We have to learn everything we do.”