Lloyd Alexander Quotes

I saw myself.... In the time I watched, I saw strength—and frailty. Pride and vanity, courage and fear. Of wisdom, a little. Of folly, much. Of intentions, many good ones; but many more left undone. In this, alas, I saw myself a man like any other. But this, too, I saw.... Alike as men may seem, each is different as flakes of snow, no two the same. You told me you had no need to seek the Mirror, knowing you were Annlaw Clay-Shaper. Now I know who I am: myself and none other. I am Taran.
Lloyd Alexander
Gwydion stood as a wolf at bay, his green eyes glittering, his teeth bared.
Lloyd Alexander
Until the thirst for power parched his throat, he was a fearless and noble lord.
Lloyd Alexander
My luck's no greater than yours or any man's. You need only sharpen your eyes to see your luck when it comes, and sharpen your wits to use what falls into your hands.
Lloyd Alexander
Trust your luck, Taran Wanderer. But don't forget to put out your nets!
Lloyd Alexander
Every man is a hero if he strives more for others than for himself alone.
Lloyd Alexander
But, alas, in most of us good and bad are closely woven as the threads on a loom; greater wisdom than mine is needed for the judging.
Lloyd Alexander
The ocean filled the footprints where a boy and cat had stood.
Lloyd Alexander
Keep out of this," Lucian said. "I'm not smiting anybody.""You're showing mercy." Catch-a-Tick nodded. "That's heroic, too. But not as good as smiting.
Lloyd Alexander
I, too, shall seek honor. But I shall seek it where I know it will be found.
Lloyd Alexander
The only thing a cat worries about is what's happening right now. As we tell the kittens, you can only wash one paw at a time.
Lloyd Alexander
Do you not believe that animals know grief and fear and pain? The world of men is not an easy one for them.
Lloyd Alexander
Any fool can tell a story. Take a few odds and ends of things that happen to you, dress them up, shuffle them about, add a dash of excitement, a little color, and there you have it.
Lloyd Alexander
If a storyteller worried about the facts - my dear Lucian, how could he ever get at the truth?
Lloyd Alexander
That is why your sacrifice was all the more difficult. You chose to be a hero not through enchantment but through your own manhood.
Lloyd Alexander
The art is more important than the artist. The work is more important than the person who does it. You must be prepared to sacrifice all the you could possibly have, be, or do; you must be willing to go all the way for your art. If it is a question between choosing between your life and a work of art -- any work of art -- your decision is made for you.
Lloyd Alexander
No matter what has happened, you're not a pig-boy; you're an Assistant Pig Keeper!
Lloyd Alexander
Every living thing deserves our respect... be it humble or proud, ugly or beautiful.
Lloyd Alexander
Surely you can entrust your task to your friends." "No," said Taran, after a long pause, "I have taken it on myself through my own choice.""If that is so," answered Medwyn, "then you can give it up through your own choice.
Lloyd Alexander
You must know nothing before you can learn something, and be empty before you can be filled. Is not the emptiness of the bowl what makes it useful? As for laws, a parrot can repeat them word for word. Their spirit is something else again. As for governing, one must first be lowest before being highest.
Lloyd Alexander
The journey is the treasure.
Lloyd Alexander
Miss Vesper Holly has the digestive talents of a goat and the mind of a chess master. She is familiar with half a dozen languages and can swear fluently in all of them. She understands the use of a slide rule but prefers doing calculations in her head. She does not hesitate to risk life and limb- mine as well as her own. No doubt she has other qualities as yet undiscovered. I hope not.
Lloyd Alexander
Who but lovers dream alike?
Lloyd Alexander
I shall not lie!" Eilonwy cried, "not for this traitor and deserter." "It is not for him," Taran said quietly, "but for the sake of our quest." "It isn't right," Eilonwy began, tears starting in her eyes. "We do not speak of rightness," Taran answered. "We speak of a task to be finished.
Lloyd Alexander
Thinking is a bit uncomfortable, but you'll get used to it. A matter of time and practice.
Lloyd Alexander
For man to be worthy of any rank, he must strive first to be a man.
Lloyd Alexander
Is a man truly what he see himself to be?''Only if what he sees is true.
Lloyd Alexander
Count the deed, not the thought.
Lloyd Alexander
Thus, death begets death; evil begets evil.
Lloyd Alexander
Is there worse evil than that which goes in the mask of good?
Lloyd Alexander
It is true. Indeed, that is why I dared not speak. I have yearned to be again at the side of my beloved Arianllyn, and my thoughts are with her now. But had I chosen to return, I would ever wonder whether my choice was made through wisdom or following the wishes of my own heart. I see this is as it must be, and the destiny laid upon me. I am content to die here.
Lloyd Alexander
What you may seek and what you may find are not always one.
Lloyd Alexander
A taste for adventure is by no means a masculine monopoly.
Lloyd Alexander
The dear girl, I fear, may be contemplating some alarming, disruptive perhaps dangerous project. In which case, I would naturally do all in my power to keep her from any such rash or foolhardy enterprise – unless she wished me to accompany her.
Lloyd Alexander
Is there not glory enough in living the days given to us? You should know there is adventure in simply being among those we love and the things we love, and beauty too.
Lloyd Alexander
All that writers can do is keep trying to say what is deepest in their hearts.
Lloyd Alexander
No, no," said Taran slowly, "It would be folly to think of attacking them." He smiled quickly at Fflewddur. "The bards would sing of us," he admitted, "but we'd be in no position to appreciate it.
Lloyd Alexander
Two things never mix: one is enchantments and the other is meddling with them.
Lloyd Alexander
I can't make sense out of that girl," he said to the bard, "Can you?" "Never mind," Fflewddur said, "We aren't really expected to.
Lloyd Alexander
When imagination fails, compassion and humaneness dwindle and atrophy along with it. Unleavened by imagination, the variety and richness of life turn into flat abstractions; people become objects to be manipulated -- with the social consequences we know all too well.
Lloyd Alexander
I only suggest to you: Will you dwell on killing this man? You wish for revenge? If you do, he has already killed you by slow poison. So, let it go. Why waste your time? His life will see to his death.
Lloyd Alexander
If you want truth, you should begin by giving it.
Lloyd Alexander
The vitality of art is its capacity for infinite expansion. One form doesn't preclude another any more than the existence of Mozart makes the existence of Bach superfluous.
Lloyd Alexander
Children may not understand all that's happening below the surface of a story. It doesn't matter. Because even though they may not be able to define or verbalize it, they sense there's something more than meets the eye; on an almost subliminal level, they're aware of a richness of texture, or meaning and emotion -- a richness that, in a great book, is inexhaustible. And the child may well come back to it again and again, perhaps long after he's stopped being a child.
Lloyd Alexander
It is strange,' he said at last. 'I had longed to enter the world of men. Now I see it filled with sorrow, with cruelty and treachery, with those who would destroy all around them.' 'Yet, enter it you must,' Gwydion answered, 'for it is a destiny laid on each of us. True, you have seen these things. But there are equal parts of love and joy.
Lloyd Alexander
I can't imagine why knowledge, truth and love should be so much of a secret
Lloyd Alexander
And so shall honor Morgant," Gwydion said, "for what he used to be, and Ellidyr Prince of Pen-Llarcau for what he became.
Lloyd Alexander
We don't need to have just one favorite. We keep adding favorites. Our favorite book is always the book that speaks most directly to us at a particular stage in our lives. And our lives change. We have other favorites that give us what we most need at that particular time. But we never lose the old favorites. They're always with us. We just sort of accumulate them.
Lloyd Alexander
Keep reading. It's one of the most marvelous adventures that anyone can have.
Lloyd Alexander
Books can truly change our lives: the lives of those who read them, the lives of those who write them. Readers and writers alike discover things they never knew about the world and about themselves.
Lloyd Alexander
I think imagination is at the heart of everything we do. Scientific discoveries couldn't have happened without imagination. Art, music, and literature couldn't exist without imagination. And so anything that strengthens imagination, and reading certainly does that, can help us for the rest of our lives.
Lloyd Alexander
Forgive me....I called you an idiot. I spoke too hastily. You are not. Had I given it more thought, I would have called you a scoundrel.
Lloyd Alexander
-"He loved her...It was noble of him. It was beautiful."-"It was stupid.
Lloyd Alexander
I think imagination is at the heart of everything we do. Scientific discoveries couldn't have happened without imagination. Art, music, and literature couldn't exist without imagination. And so anything that strengthens imagination, and reading certainly does that, can help us for the rest of our lives.
Lloyd Alexander
Forgive me....I called you an idiot. I spoke too hastily. You are not. Had I given it more thought, I would have called you a scoundrel.
Lloyd Alexander
-"He loved her...It was noble of him. It was beautiful."-"It was stupid.
Lloyd Alexander
...Writings can be stolen, or changed, or used for evil purposes. But isn't the risk worth taking? The more people who share knowledge, the greater safeguard for it. Isn't there more danger in ignorance than knowledge?
Lloyd Alexander
I decided that adventure was the best way to learn about writing.
Lloyd Alexander
Find what you want. I will find you.
Lloyd Alexander
He will not succeed in this," Taran said. "Somehow, we must find a way to escape. We dare not lose hope." "I agree absolutely," Fflewddur answered. "Your general idea is excellent; it's only the details that are lacking...
Lloyd Alexander