Quotes

At heart, the issues raised in a work of fantasy are those we face in real life. In whatever guise-our own daily nightmares of war, intolerance, inhumanity; or the struggles of an Assistant Pig-Keeper against the Lord of Death-the problems are agonizingly familiar. And an openness to compassion, love and mercy, is as essential to us here and now as it is to any inhabitant of an imaginary kingdom.

Story, finally, is humanity's autobiography.

Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It's a way of understanding it.

Fantasy, by its power to move us so deeply, to dramatize, even melodramatize, morality, can be one of the most effective means of establishing a capacity for adult values.

Keep reading. It's one of the most marvelous adventures that anyone can have.

Our only hope for tomorrow is peace now.

In the algebra of fantasy, A times B doesn't have to equal B times A. But, once established, the equation must hold throughout the story.

A cat can belong to you, but you can't own him. There's a difference.

Laws assure animals of protection - formally, officially, set down in black and white. But in the long run, the best protection is the human heart.

The raw materials of story are the raw materials of all human cultures. Story deals with the same questions as theology, philosophy, psychology. It is concerned with polarities: love and hate, birth and death, joy and sorrow, loss and recovery.

I'm afraid that no cat in the world ever bowed to an emperor. They just won't do it, and you're wasting your time if you try to force them. A cat does what he wants, when he wants, emperor or not.

Most of us are called on to perform tasks far beyond what we believe we can do. Our capabilities seldom match our aspirations, and we are often woefully unprepared. To this extent, we are all Assistant Pig-Keepers at heart.

The three foundations of learning are: see much, study much, suffer much.

But just because you've seen something, it doesn't mean you stop looking. There's always something you didn't see before.

This is a place of peace, and therefore not suitable for men - at least, not yet.

Even in a fantasy realm, growing up is accomplished not without cost.

Once you have courage to look upon evil, seeing it for what it is and naming it by its true name, it is powerless against you, and you can destroy it.

The task counts more than the one who does it.

Neither refuse to give help when it is needed, nor refuse to accept it when it is offered.

It is not the trappings that make the prince, nor, indeed, the sword that makes the warrior.

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.

I have marched in many a battle host, but I have also planted seeds and reaped the harvest with my own hands. And I have learned there is greater honor in a field well plowed than in a field steeped in blood.

There is much to be known, and above all much to be loved, be it the turn of the seasons or the shape of a river pebble. Indeed, the more we find to love, the more we add to the measure of our hearts.

There is truth in all things, if you understand them well.

We hold each other's lives in our open hands, not in clenched fists.

It is easy to judge evil unmixed. 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.

If you want truth, you should begin by giving it.

A man's life weighs more than glory, and a price paid in blood is a heavy reckoning.

For each of us comes a time when we must be more than what we are.

The destinies of men are woven one with the other, and you can turn aside from them no more than you can turn aside from your own.

Stones are all right, in their way. But the trouble with them is, they don't grow.

It is better to be raising things up than smiting things down. And quieter, into the bargain.

There is not so much difference between a crone and a maiden. For even a tottering granddam keeps a portion of girlish heart, and the youngest maiden a thread of old woman's wisdom.

The Book of Three is thus called because it tells all three parts of our lives: the past, the present, and the future. But it could as well be called a book of 'if.' If you had failed at your tasks; if you had followed an evil path; if you had been slain; if you had not chosen as you did - a thousand ifs, and many times a thousand. The Book of Three can say no more than 'if' until at the end, of all things that might have been, one alone becomes what really is. For the deeds of a man, not the words of a prophecy, are what shape his destiny.