Philip Pullman Quotes

Had she thought there was no meaning in life, no purpose, when God had gone? Yes, she had thought that. “Well, there is now,” she said aloud, and again, louder: “There is now!”

Imagination is a form of seeing

"That light," said the Chaplain, "is it going up or coming down?" "It's coming down," said Lord Asriel, "but it isn't light. It's Dust." Something in the way he said it made Lyra imagine dust with a capital letter, as if this wasn't ordinary dust. The reaction of the Scholars confirmed her feeling, because Lord Asriel's words caused a sudden collective silence, followed by gasps of incredulity.

You said I was a warrior. You told me that was my nature, and I shouldn’t argue with it. Father, you were wrong. I fought because I had to. I can’t choose my nature, but I can choose what I do. And I will choose, because now I'm free.

Blake said Milton was a true poet and of the Devil's party without knowing it. I am of the Devil's party and know it.

The Master of Jordan College is a foolish old man. Why he gave it to her I can't imagine; you need several years of intensive study to make any sense of it at all.

From what we are, spirit; from what we do, matter. Matter and spirit are one.

swathed in an old tweed coat on which the damp had settled like a thousand tiny pearls.

When you choose one way out of many, all the ways you don't take are snuffed out like candles, as if they'd never existed.

Nothing is just anything.

Wir spüren die Kälte, aber sie macht uns nichts aus, denn sie schadet uns nicht. Wenn wir uns gegen die Kälte warm anziehen würden, könnten wir andere Dinge nicht mehr spüren, das Kribbeln der Sterne oder die Musik des Mondlichtes auf der Haut. Dafür lohnt es sich, die Kälte zu ertragen.

I have maintained a passionate interest in education, which leads me occasionally to make foolish and ill-considered remarks alleging that not everything is well in our schools. My main concern is that an over-emphasis on testing and league tables has led to a lack of time and freedom for a true, imaginative and humane engagement with literature.

To get the best out of life here ...Good grief. There's plenty of it about, so indulge. Give yourself some thing to remember. Fall in love. Fall out of love. Gamble. Get drunk. See how long you can stay awake. Go for long walks at night. Discover what you're afraid of doing, and then do it.

Perhaps some particles move backward in time; perhaps the future affects the past in some way we don’t understand; or perhaps the universe is simply more aware than we are.

Why do they do these things to children, Pan? Do they all hate children so much, that they want to tear them apart like this? Why do they do it?