The Sandman, Vol. 10 Quotes

“That which is dreamed can never be lost, can never be undreamed.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“Only the phoenix rises and does not descend. And everything changes. And nothing is truly lost.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“We were never lovers, and we never will be, now. I do not regret that, however. I regret the conversations we never had, the time we did not spend together. I regret that I never told him that he made me happy, when I was in his company. The world was the better for his being in it. These things alone do I now regret: things left unsaid. And he is gone, and I am old.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“Omnia Mutantur, Nihil Interit. 'Everything changes, but nothing is truly lost.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“Death’s a funny thing. I used to think it was a big, sudden thing, like a huge owl that would swoop down out of the night and carry you off. I don’t anymore. I think it’s a slow thing. Like a thief who comes to your house day after day, taking a little thing here and a little thing there, and one day you walk round your house and there’s nothing there to keep you, nothing to make you want to stay. And then you lie down and shut up forever. Lots of little deaths until the last big one.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“It's astonishing how much trouble one can get oneself into, if one works at it. And astonishing how much trouble one can get oneself out of, if one assumes that everything will, somehow or other, work out for the best.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“I watched my life as if it were happening to someone else. My son died. And I was hurt, but I watched my hurt, and even relished it, a little, for now I could write a real death, a true loss. My heart was broken by my dark lady, and I wept, in my room, alone; but while I wept, somewhere inside I smiled.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“Whatever happened to me in my life, happened to me as a writer of plays. I'd fall in love, or fall in lust. And at the height of my passion, I would think, 'So this is how it feels,' and I would tie it up in pretty words. I watched my life as if it were happening to someone else. My son died. And I was hurt, but I watched my hurt, and even relished it, a little, for now I could write a real death, a true loss. My heart was broken by my dark lady, and I wept, in my room, alone; but while I wept, somewhere inside I smiled. For I knew I could take my broken heart and place it on the stage of The Globe, and make the pit cry tears of their own.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“Nobody died. how can you kill an idea? How can you kill the personification of an action?"
"Then what died? who are you mourning?"
"A point of view.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“Charitably... I think... sometimes, perhaps, one must change or die. And, in the end, there were, perhaps, limits to how much he could let himself change.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“Just remember, what the French say. No, probably not the French, they've got a president or something. The Brits, maybe, or the Swedes. You know what I mean?"

"No, Matthew. What do they say?"

"The king is dead, that's what they say. The king is dead. Long live the king.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“He loved me. I do not doubt that. In hindsight, I do not believe that I loved him. I simply felt his love for me, burning and all-consuming, and reflected it back, as the cold light of the moon reflects the light of the sun. I did not know that at the time. I thought I loved him.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“The bonds of family bind us up, support us, help us. And they are also a bond from which it is difficult, perhaps impossible to extricate oneself.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“And the state of his bathroom -- I'm not one to gossip, but there are things crusted on his sink that have not simply developed intelligent life, but have in all probability by now envolved their own political systems.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“You will forget. Death or life will take him from your minds. I know, whispered Despair, in her distant, empty voice. But I shall remember him.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“Sometimes I suspect that we build our traps ourselves, then we back into them, pretending amazement the while.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“But we do not need to recount every sermon and eulogy. After all, you were there.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“I have no liking for prisons, Master Li. Sometimes I suspect that we build our traps ourselves, then we back into them, pretending amazement the while. That this is the way of life, from the All-Highest down to the meanest creature in creation...
But whether this is the case or no, it is still a worthy thing to open cages. It is still a virtuous act to free the imprisoned.
Tools of course, can be the subtlest of traps. One day, I know, I must smash the emerald.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“But you will remember it, in the soft, lost, slumbering moments between waking and true sleep: remember the whispering voices of the Gods of Earth and Heaven, the piping laughter of innocent chaos, the frightened rusting of cold order...the voices of the living. The voices of the dead. They will haunt your sleep until you die.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“I am banished to the grey waste at the end of the world, but I mourn myself no longer; I cherish the pain in my hand. I imagine the taste of the mulberries in the violet dusk. And tomorrow I shall arrive in the town of Wei. Only the phoenix arises and does not descend. And everything changes. And nothing is truly lost.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“There once was a sage who loved his only son as much as you loved yours. One day the son died, and yet the father shed no tears and made no mourning. When they asked why, he told them, I did not mourn him before he was born, and I will not mourn him now he is gone. What do you think of that?"
"I think that was foolishness. You mourn, for it is proper to mourn. But your grief serves you: you do not become a slave to grief. You bid the dead farewell, and you continue.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“These books are all blank."
"Best kind. Y'can write anything in them. Any book in the world starts with blank pages.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“The bonds of family bind both ways.
They bind us up, support us, help us. And they are also a bond from which it is difficult, perhaps impossible to extricate oneself.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“What exactly do you think you are doing?"
"I am healing you. Creating you. Giving you life. I am bringing you back from the dead."
"Hoom... Young man, I am dead. I was killed in what, for me at least, were fairly unpleasant circumstances. It hurt. It was deeply upsetting, and painful. However, it happened. I am dead. If you bring me back to life, my death will have no meaning. I had a fine existence. I was a good place. I spent a little time walking the waking world. I even fell in love, once, a little.
I lived a good life and it ended. Would you take that away from me?”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“Father? I am your son. That is only a kitten. Why do you abandon me to chase after it?"
"When you were alive, you were all my joy. Now you are dead, I see you only in my dreams. And when I awake, my pillow is wet with tears. The kitten is living, and it needs my help.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“Old friend, in my mind only do I write you this letter,
But it is a perfect letter, with perfect brushwork,
Old hands do not shake or cramp when the letter is written on the air.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

“Why do people slow down to look at car crashes?"
"Because they want to see if someone's dead, and they want to be sure it's not them.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake