We are all subject to the fates. But we must all act as if we are not, or die of despair...death will sweep through all the worlds; it will be the tr… - Philip Pullman

We are all subject to the fates. But we must act as if we are not, or die of despair.

We are all subject to the fates. But we must all act as if we are not,” said the witch, “or die of despair.

Lyra learns to her great cost that fantasy isn’t enough. She has been lying all her life, telling stories to people, making up fantasies, and suddenly she comes to a point where that’s not enough. All she can do is tell the truth. She tells the truth about her childhood, about the experiences she had in Oxford, and that is what saves her. True experience, not fantasy - reality, not lies - is what saves us in the end.

I found folly everywhere, but there were grains of wisdom in every stream of it.

On, said the alethiometer. Farther, higher. So on they climbed.