I have no mystic faith in the people. I have in the individual.

Our easiest approach to a definition of any aspect of fiction is always by considering the sort of demand it makes on the reader. Curiosity for the story, human feelings and a sense of value for the characters, intelligence and memory for the plot. What does fantasy ask of us? It asks us to pay something extra.

Don't go fighting against the Spring.

Oxford is Oxford: not a mere receptacle for youth, like Cambridge. Perhaps it wants its inmates to love it rather than to love one another.

We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.

I'm a holy man minus the holiness. Hand that on to your three spies, and tell them to put it in their pipes.

It's miles worse for you than that; I'm in love with your gamekeeper.