Lloyd Alexander Quotes

Good cannot come from evil.

The muse in charge of fantasy wears good, sensible shoes.

Hope is an essential thread in the fabric of all fantasies, an Ariadne's thread to guide us out of the labyrinth ... Human beings have always needed hope, and surely now more than ever.

King Constantine IX of Regia had been killed three times and was bored with it. He wanted a bath.

"What! I don't care about being a princess! And since I'm already a young lady, how else could I behave? That's like asking a fish not to swim!"
~Princess Eilonwy, daughter of Angharad, daughter of Regat, of the Royal house of Llyr

The art is more important than the artist. The work is more important than the person who does it. You must be prepared to sacrifice all the you could possibly have, be, or do; you must be willing to go all the way for your art. If it is a question between choosing between your life and a work of art — any work of art — your decision is made for you.

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

Count the deed, not the thought.

I’ve heard men complain of doing woman’s work, and women complain of doing man’s work,” she added, fastening her bony thumb and forefinger on Gurgi’s ear and marching him to a stool beside Taran, “but I’ve never heard the work complain of who did it, so long as it got done!

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

Who but lovers dream alike?

I know it isn't nice to vex people on purpose — it's like handing them a toad — but this is much too good to miss and I may never have another chance at it.

Go back' Taran shouted at the top of his voice.'Have you lost your wits?'
Eilonwy, for it was she, half-halted. She had tucked her plaited hair under a leather helmet. The Princess of Llyr smiled cheerfully at him. 'I understand you're upset,' she shouted back, 'but that's no cause to be rude.' She galloped on.
For a time, Taran could not believe he had really seen her.

In an age that seems to be increasingly dehumanized, when people can be transformed into non-persons, and where a great deal of our adult art seems to diminish our lives rather than add to them, children's literature insists on the values of humanity and humaneness.

She was the most confusing person he had ever met