If people reach perfection they vanish, you know.

We cannot build the future by avenging the past.

[Kay] was not at all an unpleasant person really, but clever, quick, proud, passionate and ambitious. He was one of those people who would be neither a follower nor a leader, but only an aspiring heart, impatient in the failing body which imprisoned it.

Perhaps he does not want to be friends with you until he knows what you are like. With owls, it is never easy-come-easy-go.

If people reach perfection they vanish, you know.

Wars are never fought for one reason," he said. "They are fought for dozens of reasons, in a muddle.

You could not give up a human heart as you could give up drinking. The drink was yours, and you could give it up: but your lover’s soul was not your own: it was not at your disposal; you had a duty towards it.