""I think it's a shame that something as creative and vital to the nature of the human species as story-telling is largely controlled by the soulless cretins known as publishers." "
— Piers Anthony

""I asked whether I have a soul." the monster said seriously.

Again Bink had to control his reaction. A year's service for a philosophical question? "What did he tell you?"

"That only those who possess souls are concerned with them.""
— Piers Anthony (A Spell for Chameleon)

"I think it's a shame that something as creative and vital to the nature of the human species as story-telling is largely controlled by the soulless cretins known as publishers."
— Piers Anthony

"'What does she offer you that I cannot better a hundred-fold?' 'Well, self-respect, for one thing,' Bink said. 'She wants me for myself, not to use me.' 'Nonsense. All women are the same inside. They differ only in appearance and talent. They all use men.' (93)."
— Piers Anthony (A Spell for Chameleon)

"Illusions could kill--if one heeded them...When illusion became an essential crutch to life, that life lost value (96-97)."
— Piers Anthony (A Spell for Chameleon)

"'Women are the curse of mankind,' Crombie said vehemently. 'They trap men into marriage, the way this tangle tree traps prey, and they torment them the rest of their lives' (118). "
— Piers Anthony (A Spell for Chameleon)

"'What question did you bring?' Bink inquired somewhat nervously...'I asked whether I have a soul,' the monster said seriously. Again Bink had to control his reaction. A year's service for a philosophical question? 'What did he tell you?' 'That only those who possess souls are concerned about them.' 'But--but then you never needed to ask. You paid a year for nothing.' 'No. I paid a year for everything. Possession of a soul means that I can never truly die. My body may slough away, but I shall be reborn, or if not, my shade will linger to settle unfinished accounts, or I shall reside forever in heaven or hell. My future is assured; I shall never suffer oblivion. There is no more vital question or answer. Yet that answer had to be in the proper form. A simple yes or no answer would not have satisfied me; it could be a blind guess, or merely the Magician's offhand opinion. A detailed technical treatise would merely have obfuscated the matter. Humfrey phrased it in such a way that its truth was self-evident. Now I need never doubt again.' Bink was moved. Considered that way, it did make sense. Humfrey had delivered good value. He was an honest Magician. He had shown the manticora--and Bink himself--something vital about the nature of life in Xanth. If the fiercest conglomerate monsters had souls, with all that implied, who could condemn them as evil? (141)."
— Piers Anthony (A Spell for Chameleon)

"'Better to die with honor than to live in dishonor, though a throne be served up as temptation. Perhaps it was not power I sought, but perfection of self' (319)."
— Piers Anthony (A Spell for Chameleon)

"Life itself, he thought, involved many alternate explanations for perplexing questions, and was generally 'some of both'."
— Piers Anthony (A Spell for Chameleon)

"'Your teacher didn't lie to you. A centaur never lies. He merely edited his information, on orders from the King, so as not to force on the impressionable minds of children things their parents did not want them to hear. Education has ever been thus' (38)."
— Piers Anthony (A Spell for Chameleon)

"'Bink's an exile, you're banished, and I'm ugly,' Fanchon muttered. 'We'll never be out of trouble' (220)."
— Piers Anthony (A Spell for Chameleon)

"'I don't want my kingdom this way,' Trent told her. 'Once I would have done it, but I have changed in twenty years, and in the past two weeks. I have learned the true history of Xanth, and I know too well the sorrow of untimely death. My honor came late to my life, but it grows stronger; it will not let me kill a man who has saved my life, and who is loyal to his unworthy monarch that he sacrifices his life in defense of the one who has exiled him.' He looked at the dying doe. 'And I would never voluntarily kill the girl who, lacking the intelligence to be cunning, yields up her own welfare for the life of that man. This is true love, of the kind I once knew. I could not save mine, but I would not destroy that of another. The throne simply is not worth this moral price.' (318-19)."
— Piers Anthony (A Spell for Chameleon)

"Bink thought about how much of his adventure had centered around Chameleon's quest for a spell to make her normal--when she really was quite satisfactory, and even somewhat challenging, as she was. How many people similarly spent their lives searching for their own spells--some gratuitous benefit such as a silver tree or political power or undeserved acclaim--when all they really needed was to be satisfied with what they already had? Sometimes what they had was better than what they thought they wanted. Chameleon had thought she wanted to be normal; Trent had thought he wanted armed conquest; and Bink himself had thought he wanted a demonstrable magic talent. Everyone thought he wanted something. But Bink's real quest, at the end, has been to preserve Chameleon and Trent and himself as they were, and to make Xanth accept them that way. (343-44)."
— Piers Anthony (A Spell for Chameleon)

"Trent guffawed. Then Bink was kissing her--his ordinary, extraordinary girl. She had found her spell, all right; she had cast it over him. It was the same as Crombie's curse--love. And at last Bink understood the meaning of his omen: he was the hawk who had carried away Chameleon. She would never get free (344)."
— Piers Anthony (A Spell for Chameleon)

"'Son, what you need is a real live girl,' he concluded. 'A figure with a personality, who will talk back to you. It is far more challenging to develop a relationship with a complete woman, and often extremely frustrating...But in the long run it is also far more rewarding. What you sought in the wild oats was a shortcut--but in life there are no shortcuts' (18)."
— Piers Anthony (A Spell for Chameleon)

"At least Roland had understood. 'One day you'll discover that the opinions of worthless people are worthless,' he had murmured to Bink. 'You have to do it your own way. I comprehend that, and wish you well--on your own' (20)."
— Piers Anthony (A Spell for Chameleon)

"'...A centaur never lies. He merely edited his information, on orders from the King, so as not to force on the impressionable minds of children things their parents did not want them to hear. Education has ever been thus' (38)."
— Piers Anthony (A Spell for Chameleon)

"Bink thought about how much of his adventure had centered around Chameleon's quest for a spell to make her normal--when she really was quite satisfactory, and even somewhat challenging, as she was. How many people similarly spent their lives searching for their own spells--some gratuitous benefit such as a silver tree or political power or undeserved acclaim--when all they really needed was to be satisfied with what they already had? Sometimes what they had was better than what they thought they wanted. Chameleon had thought she wanted to be normal; Trent had thought he wanted armed conquest; and Bink himself had thought he wanted a demonstrable magic talent. Everyone thought he wanted something. But Bink's real quest, at the end, has been to preserve Chameleon and Trent and himself as they were, and to make Xanth accept them that way. (343-44)."
— Piers Anthony (A Spell for Chameleon)