Research the imagination. It was as obsolete as the appendix in most adults, except for those in whom, like the appendix, it became inflamed for no reason.

It’s an odd thing, happiness. Some people take happiness from gold. Or black pearls. And some of us, far more fortunate, take their happiness from periwinkles.

At its best, fantasy rewards the reader with a sense of wonder about what lies within the heart of the commonplace world. The greatest tales are told over and over, in many ways, through centuries. Fantasy changes with the changing times, and yet it is still the oldest kind of tale in the world, for it began once upon a time, and we haven't heard the end of it yet.

Words, he decided, were inadequate at best, impossible at worst. They meant too many things. Or they meant nothing at all.

The man was hit in one eye by a stone, and that eye turned inward so that it looked into his mind, and he died of what he saw there

...that once were urgent and necessary for an orderly world and now were buried away, gathering dust and of no use to anyone.

What?" It was a good word. Like a rock in a river, sticking up to let you land on it, so you could make your way across the flow.