The fact was that where Will is concerned, she was developing a new kind of sense, as if he were simply more in focus than anyone she'd known before. Everything about him was clear and close and immediate.

I don't profess any religion; I don't think it's possible that there is a God.... My books are about killing God.

If you want to write anything that works, you have to go with the grain of your talent, not against it. If your talent is inert and sullen in the face of business or politics...but takes fire at the thought of ghosts and vampires and witches and demons then feed the flames, feed the flames.

So Lyra and her daemon turned away from the world they were born in, and looked toward the sun, and walked into the sky.

When he'd sworn at her and been sworn at in return, they became great friends.

We feel cold, but we don't mind it, because we will not come to harm. And if we wrapped up against the cold, we wouldn't feel other things, like the bright tingle of the stars, or the music of the aurora, or best of all the silky feeling of moonlight on our skin. It's worth being cold for that.

Life is hard . . . but we cling to it all the same