Lloyd Alexander Quotes

Once you have courage to look upon evil, seeing it for what it is and naming it by its true name, it is powerless against you, and you can destroy it.

Stale water is a poor drink. Stale skill is worse. And the man who walks in his own footsteps only ends where he began.

It is harsh enough for each man to bear his own wound. But he who leads bears the wounds of all who follow him.

After seven years of writing - and working many jobs to support my family - I finally got published.

For the deeds of a man, not the words of a prophecy, are what shape his destiny.

Are you slow-witted? I'm so sorry for you. It's terrible to be dull and stupid.

Is there not glory enough in living the days given to us? You should know there is adventure in simply being among those we love and the things we love, and beauty, too.

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

After I saved some money, I quit work and went to a local college.

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.

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

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

Just because you've seen something doesn't mean you'll stop looking. There's always something you didn't see before.

He was a great poet" They lamented. No, he was not a great poet," said Theo, "He was a good poet, he could have been better. That's the real loss don't you see?

What seems to be love beyond any question is usually a simple case of indigestion.

At the end of knowledge, wisdom begins, and at the end of wisdom, there is not grief...but hope

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

I loved all the world's mythologies.

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

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

The muse in charge of fantasy wears good, sensible shoes. No foam-born Aphrodite, she vaguely resembles my old piano teacher, who was keen on metronomes.

The destinies of men are woven one with the other, and you can turn aside from them no more than you can turn aside from your own.

Draw Dyrnwyn, only thou of noble worth, to rule with justice, to strike down evil. Who wields it in good cause shall slay even the Lord of Death.

A crown is a pitiless master, harsher than the staff of a pig-keeper; while a staff bears up, a crown weighs down, beyond the strength of any man to wear it lightly.

This much have I learned: A man's life weighs more than glory, and a price paid in blood is a heavy reckoning.

There is truth in all things, if you understand them well.

Story, finally, is humanity's autobiography.

I know that some readers think (The High King) should have ended differently. I cried for three days afterwards.

I can't make sense out of that girl," he said to the bard, "Can you?" "Never mind," Fflewddur said, "We aren't really expected to.

I can't stand people who say 'I told you so.' That's worse than somebody coming up and eating your dinner before you have a chance to sit down.

How easy it is to think well of ourselves. Until the moment is upon us, we can never be certain.

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

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

You know how chickens are, imagining the world coming to an end one moment, then pecking corn the next.

For Wayfarers still journeying, for Wanderers at rest.

In the race of men is much greed and envy; but of truth, little.

If I do find pride, I'll not find it in what I was or what I am, but what I may become. Not in my birth, but in myself.

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

Evil cannot be conquered by wishing.

No, no," said Taran slowly, "It would be folly to think of attacking them." He smiled quickly at Fflewddur. "The bards would sing of us," he admitted, "but we'd be in no position to appreciate it.

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

If writers learn more from their books than do readers, perhaps I may have begun to learn.

If life is a loom, the pattern you weave is not so easily unraveled.

When I was discharged, I attended the University of Paris and met a beautiful Parisian girl, Janine. We soon married and eventually returned to the States.

Shakespeare, Dickens, Mark Twain, and so many others were my dearest friends and greatest teachers.

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

A crown is more discomfort than adornment. If you have learned that, you have already learned much.

I have never known courage to be judged by the length of a man's hair. Or, for the matter of that, whether he has any hair at all.

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

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