Lloyd Alexander Quotes

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

Forgive me....I called you an idiot. I spoke too hastily. You are not. Had I given it more thought, I would have called you a scoundrel.

A shade of sorrow passed over Taliesin's face. 'There are those,' he said gently, 'who must first learn loss, despair, and grief. Of all paths to wisdom, this is the cruelest and longest. Are you one who must follow such a way? This even I cannot know. If you are, take heart nonetheless. Those who reach the end do more than gain wisdom. As rough wool becomes cloth, and crude clay a vessel, so do they change and fashion wisdom for others, and what they give back is greater than what they won.

"By all means," cried the bard, his eyes lighting up. "A Fflam to the rescue! Storm the castle! Carry it by assault! Batter down the gates!"
"There's not much of it left to storm," said Eilonwy.
"Oh?" said Fflewddur, with disappointment. "Very well, we shall do the best we can."

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

"I'm trying to make myself invisible."

"That's an odd thing to attempt."

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

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.

Trust your luck, Taran Wanderer. But don't forget to put out your nets!

Craftsmanship isn't like water in an earthen pot, to be taken out by the dipperful until it's empty. No, the more drawn out the more remains.

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

"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."

Since no one has mentioned it,' said Eilonwy, 'it seems I'm not being asked to come along. Very well, I shan't insist.'

'You, too, have gained wisdom, Princess,' said Dallben. 'Your days on Mona were not ill-spent.'

'Of course,' Eilonwy went on, 'after you leave, the thought may strike me that it's a pleasent day for a short ride to go picking wildflowers which might be hard to find, especially since it's almost winter. Not that I'd be following you, you understand. But I might, by accident, lose my way, and mistakenly happen to catch up with you. By then, it would be too late for me to come home, through no fault of my own.

If a storyteller worried about the facts - my dear Lucian, how could he ever get at the truth?

A taste for adventure is by no means a masculine monopoly.