“Lovers are rarely the most rational beings in creation...”

“He smiles but rarely and watches other men to see when they laugh and then does the same.”

“It would need someone very remarkable to recover your name, Stephen, someone of rare perspicacity, with extraordinary talents and incomparable nobility of character. Me, in fact.”

“It may be laid down as a general rule that if a man begins to sing, no one will take any notice of his song except his fellow human beings. This is true even if his song is surpassingly beautiful. Other men may be in raptures at his skill, but the rest of creation is, by and large, unmoved. Perhaps a cat or a dog may look at him; his horse, if it is an exceptionally intelligent beast, may pause in cropping the grass, but that is the extent of it. But when the fairy sang, the whole world listened to him. Stephen felt clouds pause in their passing; he felt sleeping hills shift and murmur; he felt cold mists dance. He understood for the first time that the world is not dumb at all, but merely waiting for someone to speak to it in a language it understands. In the fairy's song the earth recognized the names by which it called itself.”

“I know magicians and I know magic and I say this: all magicians lie and this one more than most.”

“Sometimes you my graciously permit all the most beautiful ladies in the land to wait in line to kiss your hands and fall in love with you.”

“He screamed.Mmm?' inquired the gentleman.I...I would never presume to interrupt you, sir. But the ground appears to be swallowing me up.'It is a bog,' said the gentleman, helpfully.It is certainly a most terrifying substance.”