The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials, #3)

by Philip Pullman

The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that’s all.”

Being in love was like China: you knew it was there, and no doubt it was very interesting, and some people went there, but I never would. I’d spend all my life without ever going to China, but it wouldn’t matter, because there was all the rest of the world to visit.

“And this is the worst thing: they’re like the children of the abyss. Every time we open a window with the knife, it makes a Spectre. It’s like a little bit of the abyss that floats out and enters the world. That’s why the Cittàgazze world was so full of them, because of all the windows they left open there.”