Bruce Coville Quotes

What terrifies us is what might happen if you learn to use your full intelligence before you become truly civilized. Stars above! If you people find your way into space before you fix whatever's wrong with your spirits, the damage you'd wreak could make what you've done to your own planet look like a forest rangers' picnic.

"We were having so much fun gossiping about the show that it was nearly half an hour before we got back to the subject of the microfilm. Actually, I was the one who got us on track again when I suddenly shouted, "July, 1935!" in a voice far too loud for the library.
Sam looked at me strangely.
"That's the date of the play," I said, blushing. "I just remembered it.

"Chains," said the Tinker, coming up behind her. "They bind us, whether we want them to or not. But a heart without chains would have nothing to hold it, might simply blow away."

"We stood at the top of the stairs and looked down. Neither of us moved. I had a feeling we were each waiting for the other to go first.
"Dark down there," said Chris after a while.
"Sure is," I said. I was squinting down the steps, trying to make something out.
"Person might get hurt, stumbling around."
"Sure could," I said.
"They ought to keep it better lit."
"Sure should," I said, getting ready to turn around and leave.
"Well, let's get on with it," said Chris. She started walking down the stairs.
I couldn't believe it! I thought she had been trying to talk herself out of going down there. The truth was, she had just been building up her courage.
Now I had to build up mine!"

How in the world do you tellyour wife that her mother was born a unicon?

It is a pity that Earth has lost its dragons, for they added immeasurably to the strangeness of our world. This, it seemed to me, was a good thing.

Chains...They bind us, whether we want them to or not. But a heart without chains would have nothing to hold it, might simply blow away.

You earthlings! You never know what you want. If you'd stop trying to hold on to everything, you'd be a lot happier.

Gadfangled girl things, always robbed me of my common sense.

The real heroes are the librarians and teachers who at no small risk to themselves refuse to lie down and play dead for censors.

Always before, people ready to enter space have been civilized in a way you humans have avoided altogether. We fear if the people of Earth are allowed into space in their uncivilized state, the results could be disastrous beyond anything you imagine. At the moment, we are considering a permanent quarantine on Earth. We don't mind you exploring your own solar system; there's not much there anyway. But we cannot allow you to carry this sickness, whatever it is, into the galaxy at large.

You need them both, Thatcher. Talent and discipline. One without the other is useless.

Hearts grow hard and weary. Pain spreads, and joy diminishes. Those who hated you hate you still, but those who loved you, or would have loved you, or wanted to love you but never had the chance, are being scraped hollow by a loss they don't understand. Come home. Please come home. We are withering without you.

As it turned out, he was wrong about that. The last guest didn't show up until we were eating our dessert.
That was when the ghost sat down in the empty chair-directly across from me.

There's lots of kinds of chains...You can't see most of them, the ones that bind folks together. But people build them, link by link. Sometimes the links are weak...That's another funny thing, now that I think of it. Sometimes when you mend a chain, the place where you fix it is strongest of all.