More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country that reached to the edge of the sky in all directions.
When Aunt Em came there to live she was a young, pretty wife. The sun and wind had changed her, too. They had taken the sparkle from her eyes and left them a sober gray; they had taken the red from her cheeks and lips, and they were gray also. She was thin and gaunt, and never smiled, now.
Uncle Henry never laughed. He worked hard from morning till night and did not know what joy was. He was gray also,
The house whirled around two or three times and rose slowly through the air. Dorothy felt as if she were going up in a balloon.
The cyclone had set the house down very gently—for a cyclone—in the midst of a country of marvelous beauty.
I am not as powerful as the Wicked Witch was who ruled here, or I should have set the people free myself.”
“But I thought all witches were wicked,” said the girl, who was half frightened at facing a real witch. “Oh, no; that is a great mistake.
there is but one Wicked Witch in all the Land of Oz—the one who lives in the West.”
In the civilized countries I believe there are no witches left, nor wizards, nor sorceresses, nor magicians. But, you see, the Land of Oz has never been civilized, for we are cut off from all the rest of the world. Therefore we still have witches and wizards amongst us.”
It is a long journey, through a country that is sometimes pleasant and sometimes dark and terrible.
I will give you my kiss, and no one will dare injure a person who has been kissed by the Witch of the North.”
“No, indeed; I don’t know anything. You see, I am stuffed, so I have no brains at all,” he answered sadly.
I do not want people to call me a fool, and if my head stays stuffed with straw instead of with brains, as yours is, how am I ever to know anything?”
“No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home.”
“If your heads were stuffed with straw, like mine, you would probably all live in the beautiful places, and then Kansas would have no people at all. It is fortunate for Kansas that you have brains.”
Brains are the only things worth having in this world, no matter whether one is a crow or a man.’
“It is such an uncomfortable feeling to know one is a fool.”
“It must be inconvenient to be made of flesh,” said the Scarecrow, thoughtfully; “for you must sleep, and eat and drink. However, you have brains, and it is worth a lot of bother to be able to think properly.”
once I had brains, and a heart also; so, having tried them both, I should much rather have a heart.”
I had now no heart, so that I lost all my love
the greatest loss I had known was the loss of my heart. While I was in love I was the happiest man on earth; but no one can love who has not a heart,
“I shall ask for brains instead of a heart; for a fool would not know what to do with a heart if he had one.”
“I shall take the heart,” returned the Tin Woodman; “for brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world.”
my life is simply unbearable without a bit of courage.”
as long as I know myself to be a coward I shall be unhappy.”
The Tin Woodman knew very well he had no heart, and therefore he took great care never to be cruel or unkind to anything. “You people with hearts,” he said, “have something to guide you, and need never do wrong; but I have no heart, and so I must be very careful.
when there are many of these flowers together their odor is so powerful that anyone who breathes it falls asleep, and if the sleeper is not carried away from the scent of the flowers he sleeps on and on forever.
“Why should I do this for you?” asked Oz. “Because you are strong and I am weak; because you are a Great Wizard and I am only a helpless little girl,”
she is protected by the Power of Good, and that is greater than the Power of Evil.
The Witch did not bleed where she was bitten, for she was so wicked that the blood in her had dried up many years before.
“If we walk far enough,” said Dorothy, “we shall sometime come to some place, I am sure.”
when you wear green spectacles, why of course everything you see looks green to you.
“Can’t you give me brains?” asked the Scarecrow. “You don’t need them. You are learning something every day. A baby has brains, but it doesn’t know much. Experience is the only thing that brings knowledge, and the longer you are on earth the more experience you are sure to get.”
“But how about my courage?” asked the Lion, anxiously. “You have plenty of courage, I am sure,” answered Oz. “All you need is confidence in yourself. There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. True courage is in facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty.”
When I return I shall be as other men are.” “I have always liked you as you were,”
that courage is always inside one;
one is never so pretty after being mended, you know,”
“Your silver shoes will carry you over the desert,” replied Glinda. “If you had known their power you could have gone back to your Aunt Em the very first day you came to this country.” “But then I should not have had my wonderful brains!” cried the Scarecrow. “I might have passed my whole life in the farmer’s cornfield.” “And I should not have had my lovely heart,” said the Tin Woodman. “I might have stood and rusted in the forest till the end of the world.” “And I should have lived a coward forever,” declared the Lion, “and no beast in all the forest would have had a good word to say to me.”
