Silver on the Tree Quotes

“The future cannot blame the present, just as the present cannot blame the past. The hope is always here, always alive, but only your fierce caring can fan it into a fire to warm the world.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“For ever and ever, we say when we are young, or in our prayers. Twice, we say it. Old One, do we not? For ever and ever ... so that a thing may be for ever, a life or a love or a quest, and yet begin again, and be for ever just as before. And any ending that may seem to come is not truly an ending, but an illusion. For Time does not die, Time has neither beginning nor end, and so nothing can end or die that has once had a place in Time.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“For remember, that it is altogether your world now. You and all the rest. We have delivered you from evil, but the evil that is inside men is at the last a matter for men to control. The responsibility and the hope and the promise are in your hands-your hands and the hands of all men on this earth. The future can not blame the present, just as the present can not blame the past. The hope is always here, always alive, but only your fierce caring can fan it into a fire to warm the world.

For Drake is no longer in his hammock, children, nor is Arthur somewhere sleeping, and you may not lie idly expecting the second coming of anybody now, because the world is yours and it is up to you. Now especially since man has the strength to destroy the world, it is the responsibility of man to keep it alive, in all its beauty and marvelous joy.

And the world will still be imperfect, because men are imperfect. Good men will still be killed by bad, or sometimes by other good men, and there will still be pain and disease and famine, anger and hate. But if you work and care and are watchful, as we have tried to be for you, then in the long run the worse will never, ever, triumph over the better. And the gifts put into some men, that shine as bright as Eirias the sword, shall light the dark corners of life for all the rest, in so brave a world.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“All life is theatre,' he said. 'We are all actors, you and I, in a play which nobody wrote and which nobody will see. We have no audience but ourselves....”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“For Drake is no longer in his hammock, children, nor is Arthur somewhere sleeping, and you may not lie idly expecting the second coming of anybody now, because the world is yours and it is up to you.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“So the Dark did a simple thing. They showed the maker of the sword his own uncertainty and fear. Fear of having done the wrong thing--fear that having done this one great thing, he would never again be able to accomplish anything of great worth--fear of age, of insufficiency, of unmet promise. All such great fears, that are the doom of people given the gift of making, and lie always somewhere in their minds.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“Sometimes you must seem to hurt something in order to do good for it.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“Every human being who loves another loves imperfection, for there is no perfect being on this earth--nothing is so simple as that.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“The hope is always here, always alive, but only your fierce caring can fan it into a fire to warm the world.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“Maybe because the Dark can only reach people at extremes; blinded by their own shining ideas, or locked up in the darkness of their own heads.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“Bran said, "Why should some of the Riders of the Dark be dressed all in white and the rest all in black?"
"Without colour...." Will said reflectively. "I don't know. Maybe because the Dark can only reach people at extremes-- blinded by their own shining ideas, or locked up in the darkness of their own heads.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“Now especially since man has the strength to destroy the world, it is the responsibility of man to keep it alive, in all its beauty and marvelous joy.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“I do not believe any power can possess the mind of a man or woman... I believe in God-given free will, you see. I think nothing is forced on us, except by other people like ourselves. I think our choices are our own.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“You know how many there are. You can't convince them and you can't kill 'em. You can only do your best in the opposite direction...”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“And any ending that may seem to come is not truly an ending, but an illusion. For Time does not die, Time has neither beginning nor end, and so nothing can end or die that has once had a place in Time.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“Real is a hard word", he said. "Almost as hard as true, or now...”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“But if you work and care and are watchful, as we have tried to be for you, then in the long run the worse will never, ever, triumph over the better.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“This life is a long cheat, full of promises that can never be kept, errors that can never be righted, omissions that can never be filled.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“For Drake is no longer in his hammock, children, nor is Arthur somewhere sleeping, and you may not lie idly expecting the second coming of anybody now, because the world is yours and it is up to you. Now especially since man has the strength to destroy this world, it is the responsibility of man to keep it alive, in all its beauty and marvellous joy.” His voice grew softer, and he looked at them with the faraway dark eyes that seemed to be looking out into Time. “And the world will still be imperfect, because men are imperfect. Good men will still be killed by bad, or sometimes by other good men, and there will still be pain and disease and famine, anger and hate. But if you work and care and are watchful, as we have tried to be for you, then in the long run the worse will never, ever, triumph over the better. And the gifts put into some men, that shine as bright as Eirias the sword, shall light the dark corners of life for all the rest, in so brave a world.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“maybe because the dark can only reach people at the extremes-- those bound by their own shiny ideas or locked up in the darkness of their own heads.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“The future can not blame the present, just as the present cannot blame the past.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“And the world will still be imperfect, because men are imperfect. Good men will still be killed by bad, or sometimes by other good men, and there will still be pain and disease and famine, anger and hate. But if you work and care and are watchful, as we have tried to be for you, then in the long run the worse will never, ever, triumph over the better. And the gifts put into some men, that shine as bright as Eirias the sword, shall light the dark corners of life for all the rest, in so brave a world.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“For remember," he said, "that it is altogether your world now. You and all the rest. We have delivered you from evil, but the evil that is inside men is at the last a matter for men to control. The responsibility and the hope and the promise are in your hands--your hands and the hands of the children of all men on this earth. The future cannot blame the present, just as the present cannot blame the past. The hope is always here, always alive, but only your fierce caring can fan it into a fire to warm the world.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“I do not forget the hope promised by the future, even though I weep for the pain suffered by my land here in the past.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“No worry about your race, boy. Time changes the nature of them all, in the end.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“So the Dark did a simple thing," he said. "They showed the maker of the sword his own uncertainty and fear. Fear of having done the wrong thing--fear that having done this one great thing, he would never again be able to accomplish anything of great worth--fear of age, of insufficiency, of unmet promise. All such endless fears, that are the doom of people given the gift of making, and lie always somewhere in their minds.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“Bran said, "Why should some of the Riders of the Dark be dressed all in white and the rest all in black?"

"Without colour...." Will said reflectively. "I don't know. Maybe because the Dark can only reach people at extremes--blinded by their own shining ideas, or locked up in the darkness of their own heads.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“The mindless ferocity of this man, and all those like him, their real loathing born of nothing more solid than insecurity and fear... it was a channel. Will knew that he had been gazing into the channel down which the powers of the Dark, if they gained their freedom, could ride in an instant to complete control of the earth. He was filled with a terrible anxiety, a sense of urgency for the Light, and knew that it would remain with him, silently shouting at him, far more vividly than the fading memory of a single bigot like Mr. Moore.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“Fear of having done the wrong thing—fear that having done this one great thing, he would never again be able to accomplish anything of great worth—fear of age, of insufficiency, of unmet promise. All such endless fears, that are the doom of people given the gift of making, and lie always somewhere in their minds.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree

“Then the last of the mist blew away, and in the dim light beneath the lowering sky they saw a line of trees before them, a wood of beech trees capping a round chalk hill - and, gradually appearing on the slope in front of the wood, a single huge tree. It took shape under their eyes, a shadowy outline becoming steadily more solid and real; it rose and filled out and its broad leaves rustled and tossed in the wind. Its trunk was as thick as ten men, its branches spread wide as a house. It was an oak tree, more vast and ancient than any tree they had ever seen.”
― Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree