Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Wicked Years, #1)

by Gregory Maguire

“The overdressed traveler betrays more interest in being seen than in seeing,” she murmured, trying it out, “while the true traveler knows that the novel world about her serves as the most appropriate accessory.”

“But is life worth living in the wrong form?” said Elphie. “The interior doesn’t change,” she answered, “except by self-involvement. Of which be not afraid, and also beware.”

“Remember this: Nothing is written in the stars. Not these stars, nor any others. No one controls your destiny.”

“People always did like to talk, didn’t they? That’s why I call myself a witch now: the Wicked Witch of the West, if you want the full glory of it. As long as people are going to call you a lunatic anyway, why not get the benefit of it? It liberates you from convention.”

Once upon a time we all lived in the dark, but we all needed light to go on living.

One has to leave one’s comfortable or even wretched surroundings, experience life elsewhere, before one can come back and take measure of the value in what one had left behind.