“Things were simpler then. And also very, very stupid.”

“Omens were all very well, but sometimes it would help if people just wrote things down.”

“Perhaps it would be simpler if you just did what you're told and didn't try to understand things.”

“On the dresser was a row of blue-and-white jars that weren't very useful for anything. They'd been left to her mother by an elderly aunt, and she was proud of them because they looked nice but were completely useless. There was little room on the farm for useless things that looked nice, so they were treasured.”

“He stared at his feet. “I’m still very ignorant,” he said, “but at least I’m ignorant about really important things.”

“The politics of wizardry were either very simple, and resolved by someone ceasing to breathe, or as complex as one ball of yarn in a room with three bright-eyed little kittens.”

“Witches knew that mysterious omens were around all the time. The world was always very nearly drowning in mysterious omens. You just had to pick the one that was convenient.”