"One magician demanded I show him an image of the love of his life. I rustled up a mirror."
— Jonathan Stroud (The Amulet of Samarkand)

"A dozen more questions occured to me. Not to mention twenty-two possible solutions to each one, sixteen resulting hypotheses and counter-theorems, eight abstract speculations, a quadrilateral equation, two axioms, and a limerick. That's raw intelligence for you."
— Jonathan Stroud (The Bartimaeus Trilogy Boxed Set)