A long time ago a bunch of people reached a general consensus as to what's real and what's not and most of us have been going along with it ever since.
Charles de LintI canโt imagine it now, but I mustโve been innocent at some time in my life. A baby donโt just get itself born bad, do it?
Charles de LintI want to be magic. I want to touch the heart of the world and make it smile. I want to be a friend of elves and live in a tree. Or under a hill. I want to marry a moonbeam and hear the stars sing. I don't want to pretend at magic anymore. I want to be magic.
Charles de LintOur lives are stories, and the stories we have to give to each other are the most important. No one has a story too small and all are of equal stature. We each tell them in different ways, through different mediumsโand if we care about each other, we'll take the time to listen.
Charles de LintMost times we only see things for the way we are. But we're good at lying to ourselves. Sometimes we need somebody who's not living in our skin to point out how things really are.
Charles de LintFrom the first time he'd met her, he'd sensed an air of contradiction about her. She was very much a woman, but still retained a waiflike quality. She could be brash, and at times deliberately suggestive, yet she was painfully shy. She was incredibly easy to get along with, yet she had few friends. She was a talented artist in her own right, but so self-conscious about her work that she rarely completed a piece and preferred to work with other people's art and ideas.
Charles de Lint