The worst predijudice is unknowing. We think we treat others as equals, but, in our deepest heart, we regard ourselves as superior. In part, this is because we are, in ways, powerful. But that does not make the race of humans (funanga) better than that of the dog or equine.

Impatience is not the least of your faults, Malik, it is a kind of greed and someday it may see you undone.

Life has always been a matter of putting one's feet down carefully

Never trust a mirror,' his mother had told him. 'They never tell the truth unless you make them.

Sometimes I am afraid for people like you who have to know things. Your kind will dig and hunt and worry at it until one day you will find what is hidden, waiting for you.

The very shape of our dreams defines us. We learn about the world and try out our thoughts and visions in them. Our dreams goad us and drive us and summon and sustain us and when we are old they comfort us. Magic is a kind of dream, and love is a dream, and hope is a dream. Without our dreams, there is no sweetness, no purpose to life.

That was what happened to laughter when you caged it. It became unbearably sad. It was worse than crying.