Lloyd Alexander > Quotes

“Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It's a way of understanding it.”
― Lloyd Alexander

“Most of us are called on to perform tasks far beyond what 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.”
― Lloyd Alexander, The Book of Three

“Child, child, do you not see? For each of us comes a time when we must be more than what we are.”
― Lloyd Alexander, The Castle of Llyr

“Neither refuse to give help when it is needed,... nor refuse to accept it when it is offered.”
― Lloyd Alexander, The Book of Three

“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

“We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.”
― Lloyd Alexander

“Long ago I yearned to be a hero without knowing, in truth, what a hero was. Now, perhaps, I understand it a little better. A grower of turnips or a shaper of clay, a Commot farmer or a king--every man is a hero if he strives more for others than for himself alone.
Once you told me that the seeking counts more than the finding. So, too, must the striving count more than the gain.”
― Lloyd Alexander, The High King

“The journey is the treasure.”
― Lloyd Alexander

“All that writers can do is keep trying to say what is deepest in their hearts. ”
― Lloyd Alexander

“Indeed, the more we find to love, the more we add to the measure of our hearts.”
― Lloyd Alexander, The Black Cauldron

“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, Time Cat

“Thinking is a bit uncomfortable, but you'll get used to it. A matter of time and practice.”
― Lloyd Alexander

“Life's a forge -

Yes, and hammer and anvil, too. You'll
be roasted, smelted, and pounded, and
you'll scarce know what's happening to
you. But stand proudly to it. Metal's
worthless till it is shaped and
tempered. More labor than luck. Face
the pounding, don't fear the proving;
and you'll stand well against any
hammer and anvil.”
― Lloyd Alexander, The High King

“Evil conquered?' said Gwydion. 'You have learned much, but learn this last and hardest of lessons. You have conquered only the enchantments of evil. That was the easiest of your tasks, only a beginning, not an ending. Do you believe evil itself to be so quickly overcome? Not so long as men still hate and slay each other, when greed and anger goad them. Against these even a flaming sword cannot prevail, but only that portion of good in all men's hearts whose flame can never be quenched.”
― Lloyd Alexander, The High King

“What seems to be love beyond any question is usually a simple case of indigestion.”
― Lloyd Alexander

“...alas, raising a young lady is a mystery even beyond an enchanter's skill.”
― Lloyd Alexander, The Castle of Llyr

“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, The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio

“Dealing with the impossible, fantasy can show us what may be really possible. If there is grief, there is the possibility of consolation; if hurt, the possibility of healing; and above all, the curative power of hope. If fantasy speaks to us as we are, it also speaks to us as we might be”
― Lloyd Alexander

“For the deeds of a man, not the words of a prophecy, are what shape his destiny.”
― Lloyd Alexander, The High King

“I intend to follow the path of virtue. It will not be overcrowded.”
― Lloyd Alexander, Westmark

“Just because you've seen something doesn't mean you'll stop looking. There's always something you didn't see before.”
― 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 Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen

“Find what you want. I will find you.”
― Lloyd Alexander, Westmark

“Morgant?" Taran asked, turning a puzzled glance to Gwydion. "How can there be honor for such a man?"
"It is easy to judge evil unmixed," replied Gwydion. "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 Black Cauldron

“By all means," cried the bard, his eyes lighting up. "A Fflam to the rescue! Storm the castle! Carry it by assault! Batter down the gates!"
"There's not much of it left to storm," said Eilonwy.
"Oh?" said Fflewddur, with disappointment. "Very well, we shall do the best we can.”
― Lloyd Alexander

“Seize the day, whatever's in it to seize, before something comes along and seizes you.”
― Lloyd Alexander, The Arkadians

“Is there worse evil than that which goes in the mask of good?”
― Lloyd Alexander, The High King

“-I'm trying to make myself invisible.
-That's an odd thing to attempt.”
― Lloyd Alexander, The Book of Three

“A shade of sorrow passed over Taliesin's face. 'There are those,' he said gently, 'who must first learn loss, despair, and grief. Of all paths to wisdom, this is the cruelest and longest. Are you one who must follow such a way? This even I cannot know. If you are, take heart nonetheless. Those who reach the end do more than gain wisdom. As rough wool becomes cloth, and crude clay a vessel, so do they change and fashion wisdom for others, and what they give back is greater than what they won.”
― Lloyd Alexander, The High King

“-"He loved her...It was noble of him. It was beautiful."

-"It was stupid.”
― Lloyd Alexander, Westmark

“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, The Arkadians

“No matter what happens, you're not a pig boy, you're an Assistant Pig Keeper!
-Eilonwy”
― Lloyd Alexander

“Trust your luck, Taran Wanderer. But don't forget to put out your nets!”
― Lloyd Alexander, Taran Wanderer

“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, The Illyrian Adventure

“He was a great poet" They lamented.

No, he was not a great poet," said Theo, "He was a good poet, he could have been better. That's the real loss don't you see?”
― Lloyd Alexander, The Kestrel

“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

“Llonio said life was a net for luck; to Hevydd the Smith life was a forge; and to Dwyvach the Weaver-Woman a loom. They spoke truly, for it is all of these. But you,' Taran said, his eyes meeting the potter's, 'you have shown me life is one thing more. It is clay to be shaped, as raw clay on a potter's wheel.”
― Lloyd Alexander, Taran Wanderer

“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

“If a storyteller worried about the facts - my dear Lucian, how could he ever get at the truth?”
― Lloyd Alexander, The Arkadians

“She has given you something of value: the truth in her heart.”
― Lloyd Alexander, The Arkadians

“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, Time Cat

“You know how chickens are, imagining the world coming to an end one moment, then pecking corn the next.”
― Lloyd Alexander, The Book of Three

“...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, The Arkadians

“Perhaps,' Taran said quietly, watching the moon-white riverbank slip past them, 'perhaps you have the truth of it. At first I felt as you did. Then I remember thinking of Eilonwy, only of her; and the bauble showed its light. Prince Rhun was ready to lay down his life; his thoughts were for our safety, not at all for his own. And because he offered the greatest sacrifice, the bauble glowed brightest for him. Can that be its secret? To think more for others than ourselves?'

That would seem to be one of its secrets, at least,' replied Fflewddur. 'Once you've discovered that, you've discovered a great secret indeed--with or without the bauble.”
― Lloyd Alexander, The Castle of Llyr

“Since no one has mentioned it,' said Eilonwy, 'it seems I'm not being asked to come along. Very well, I shan't insist.'

'You, too, have gained wisdom, Princess,' said Dallben. 'Your days on Mona were not ill-spent.'

'Of course,' Eilonwy went on, 'after you leave, the thought may strike me that it's a pleasent day for a short ride to go picking wildflowers which might be hard to find, especially since it's almost winter. Not that I'd be following you, you understand. But I might, by accident, lose my way, and mistakenly happen to catch up with you. By then, it would be too late for me to come home, through no fault of my own.”
― Lloyd Alexander, The High King

“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. On 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

“Behind one truth there is always yet another.”
― Lloyd Alexander, The Iron Ring

“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, Westmark Trilogy Prebind Set

“King Constantine IX of Regia had been killed three times and was bored with it. He wanted a bath.”
― Lloyd Alexander, The Beggar Queen