Lloyd Alexander Quotes

No matter what has happened, you're not a pig-boy; you're an Assistant Pig Keeper!

All agreed that Quickset was the cleverest cat in the world. And, since Quickset had the same opinion, it was surely true.

By all means," cried the bard, his eyes lighting up. "A Fflam to the rescue! Storm the castle! Carry it by assault! Batter down the gates!" "There's not much of it left to storm," said Eilonwy. "Oh?" said Fflewddur, with disappointment. "Very well, we shall do the best we can.

There is more honor in a field well plowed than in a field steeped in blood.

And thus did an Assistant Pig-Keeper become High King of Prydain.

What you may seek and what you may find are not always one.

...Writings can be stolen, or changed, or used for evil purposes. But isn't the risk worth taking? The more people who share knowledge, the greater safeguard for it. Isn't there more danger in ignorance than knowledge?

That is why your sacrifice was all the more difficult. You chose to be a hero not through enchantment but through your own manhood.

Craftsmanship isn't like water in an earthen pot, to be taken out by the dipperful until it's empty. No, the more drawn out the more remains.

Two cats can live as cheaply as one, and their owner has twice as much fun

Eventually, I was sent to Wales and Germany, and after the war, to Paris.

A man who claims to be fearless is an idiot or a liar.

It was 1943. The U.S. had already entered World War II, so I decided to join the army.

Count the deed, not the thought.

If a storyteller worried about the facts - my dear Lucian, how could he ever get at the truth?

Evil cannot be conquered by wishing.

Keep reading. It's one of the most marvelous adventures that anyone can have.

We don't need to have just one favorite. We keep adding favorites. Our favorite book is always the book that speaks most directly to us at a particular stage in our lives. And our lives change. We have other favorites that give us what we most need at that particular time. But we never lose the old favorites. They're always with us. We just sort of accumulate them.

Child, child, do you not see? For each of us comes a time when we must be more than what we are.

If I fret over tomorrow, I'll have little joy today.

My parents were horrified when I told them I wanted to be an author.

If you want truth you should begin by giving it.

...righteousness [is] always more believable when combined with dreariness.

A shade of sorrow passed over Taliesin's face. 'There are those,' he said gently, 'who must first learn loss, despair, and grief. Of all paths to wisdom, this is the cruelest and longest. Are you one who must follow such a way? This even I cannot know. If you are, take heart nonetheless. Those who reach the end do more than gain wisdom. As rough wool becomes cloth, and crude clay a vessel, so do they change and fashion wisdom for others, and what they give back is greater than what they won.

Go back' Taran shouted at the top of his voice.'Have you lost your wits?' Eilonwy, for it was she, half-halted. She had tucked her plaited hair under a leather helmet. The Princess of Llyr smiled cheerfully at him. 'I understand you're upset,' she shouted back, 'but that's no cause to be rude.' She galloped on. For a time, Taran could not believe he had really seen her.

Seize the day, whatever's in it to seize, before something comes along and seizes you.

Even in a fantasy realm, growing up is accomplished not without cost.

The only thing a cat worries about is what's happening right now. As we tell the kittens, you can only wash one paw at a time.

King Constantine IX of Regia had been killed three times and was bored with it. He wanted a bath.

-I'm trying to make myself invisible. -That's an odd thing to attempt.

Neither refuse to give help when it is needed,... nor refuse to accept it when it is offered.

Keep out of this," Lucian said. "I'm not smiting anybody." "You're showing mercy." Catch-a-Tick nodded. "That's heroic, too. But not as good as smiting.

Evil conquered?' said Gwydion. 'You have learned much, but learn this last and hardest of lessons. You have conquered only the enchantments of evil. That was the easiest of your tasks, only a beginning, not an ending. Do you believe evil itself to be so quickly overcome? Not so long as men still hate and slay each other, when greed and anger goad them. Against these even a flaming sword cannot prevail, but only that portion of good in all men's hearts whose flame can never be quenched.

Who but lovers dream alike?

I saw myself. . . in the time I watched, I saw strength and frailty, pride and vanity, courage and fear. Of wisdom, a little. Of folly much. Of intentions many good ones; but many more left undone. On this alas, I saw myself a man like any other. But this too I saw . . . Alike as men may seem, each is different as flakes of snow, no two the same.You told me you had no need to seek the Mirror, knowing you were Annlaw Clay-Shaper. Now I know who I am: myself and none other. I am Taran.

I can't single out one of my books or characters as a favorite. In the same way that I don't have a favorite kidney, my books are organically all part of myself. I might even say that put all together, the books are one ongoing, developing story - which, not coincidentally, happens to be my own lifestory.

She has given you something of value: the truth in her heart.

-"He loved her...It was noble of him. It was beautiful." -"It was stupid.

Any fool can tell a story. Take a few odds and ends of things that happen to you, dress them up, shuffle them about, add a dash of excitement, a little color, and there you have it.

Most of my books have been written in the form of fantasy.

The point is not to look back, but to look ahead to what you hope still to do.

I intend to follow the path of virtue. It will not be overcrowded.

...alas, raising a young lady is a mystery even beyond an enchanter's skill.

He [the cat] liked to peep into the refrigerator and risk having his head shut in by the closing door. He also climbed to the top of the stove, discontinuing the practice after he singed his tail.

Fantasy is, I believe, the great nourisher of imagination. To paraphrase Einstein on how to develop intelligence in young people: Read fairy tales. Then read more fairy tales.

Trust your luck, Taran Wanderer. But don't forget to put out your nets!

The Prydain Companion is more than a quick reference or handy glossary, though it is all of that as well. Instructive, certainly. But, like any good companion, a pleasure to be with over a long period of time.

Every man is a hero if he strives more for others than for himself alone.