Lloyd Alexander Quotes

82 Sourced Quotes

"I don't even know who I am."
"In a way," answered Gwydion, "that is something we must all discover for ourselves."

Lloyd Alexander
Well, that is one of the three foundations of learning: see much, study much, suffer much.

Lloyd Alexander
If life is a loom, the pattern you weave is not so easily unraveled.

Lloyd Alexander
This much have I learned: A man's life weighs more than glory, and a price paid in blood is a heavy reckoning.

Lloyd Alexander
Will you dwell on killing this man? You wish for revenge? If you do, he has already killed you by slow poison. So, let it go. Why waste your time? His life will see to his death.

Lloyd Alexander
Alas, raising a young lady is a mystery even beyond an enchanter's skill.

Lloyd Alexander
She has given you something of value: the truth in her heart.

Lloyd Alexander
When I was a child I dreamed of adventure, glory, honor in feats of arms. I think now that these things are shadows.
If you see them as shadows then you see them for what they are, Annlaw agreed. Many have pursued honor, and in the pursuit lost more of it than ever they could gain.

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

Lloyd Alexander
Fantasy, by its power to move us so deeply, to dramatize, even melo-dramatize, morality, can be one of the most effective means of establishing a capacity for adult values.

Lloyd Alexander
It is easy to judge evil unmixed, replied Gwydion. But, alas, in most of us good and bad are closely woven as the threads on a loom; greater wisdom than mine is needed for the judging.

Lloyd Alexander
... the book told him of other ways of the world; of cruelty, suffering, and death. He read of greed, hatred, and war; of men striving against one another with fire and sword; of the blossoming earth trampled underfoot, of harvests lost and lives cut short...
But now his heart lifted. These pages told not only of death, but of birth as well; how the earth turns in its own time and in its own way gives back what is given to it; how things lost may be found again; and how one day ends for another to begin. He learned that the lives of men are short and filled with pain, yet each one a priceless treasure, whether it be that of a prince or a pig-keeper. And, at the last, the book taught him that while nothing was certain, all was possible.

Lloyd Alexander
In the algebra of fantasy, A times B doesn't have to equal B times A. But, once established, the equation must hold throughout the story.

Lloyd Alexander
Keep reading. It's one of the most marvelous adventures that anyone can have.

Lloyd Alexander
Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It's a way of understanding it.

Lloyd Alexander
And so they lived many happy years, and the promised tasks were accomplished. Yet long afterward, when all had passed away into distant memory, there were many who wondered whether King Taran, Queen Eilonwy, and their companions had indeed walked the earth, or whether they had been no more than dreams in a tale set down to beguile children. And, in time, only the bards knew the truth of it.

Lloyd Alexander
Laws assure animals of protection – formally, officially, set down in black and white. But in the long run, the best protection is the human heart.

Lloyd Alexander
We're neither good nor evil. We're simply interested in things as they are.

Lloyd Alexander
If I do find pride, I'll not find it in what I was or what I am, but what I may become. Not in my birth, but in myself.

Lloyd Alexander
Even in a fantasy realm, growing up is accomplished not without cost.

Lloyd Alexander
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.

Lloyd Alexander
Seize the day, whatever's in it to seize, before something comes along and seizes you.

Lloyd Alexander
Count yourself lucky, the potter went on, that you have understood this now and not spent your years in vain hope. This much have you learned, and no learning is wasted.

Lloyd Alexander
A crown is more discomfort than adornment. If you have learned that, you have already learned much.

Lloyd Alexander
Dyrnwyn is yours, Gwydion said, as it was meant to be.
Yet Arawn is slain, Taran replied. Evil is conquered and the blade's work done.
Evil conquered? said Gwydion. You have learned much, but learn this last and hardest of lessons. You have conquered only the enchantments of evil. That was the easiest of your tasks, only a beginning, not an ending. Do you believe evil itself so quickly overcome? Not so long as men still hate and slay each other, when greed and anger goad them. Against these even a flaming sword cannot prevail, but only that portion of good in all men's hearts whose flame can never be quenched.

Lloyd Alexander
How then? Taran asked. Could The Book of Three deceive you?
No, it could not. Dallben said. The book is thus called because it tells all three parts of our lives: the past, the present, and the future. But it could as well be called a book of 'if.' If you had failed at your tasks; if you had followed an evil path; if you had been slain; if you had not chosen as you did — a thousand 'ifs,' my boy, and many times a thousand. The Book of Three can say no more than 'if' until at the end, of all things that might have been, one alone becomes what really is. For the deeds of a man, not the words of a prophecy, are what shape his destiny.

Lloyd Alexander
Draw Dyrnwyn, only thou of noble worth, to rule with justice, to strike down evil. Who wields it in good cause shall slay even the Lord of Death.

Lloyd Alexander
Life's a forge - Yes, and hammer and anvil, too. You'll be roasted, smelted, and pounded, and you'll scarce know what's happening to you. But stand proudly to it. Metal's worthless till it is shaped and tempered. More labor than luck. Face the pounding, don't fear the proving; and you'll stand well against any hammer and anvil.

Lloyd Alexander
In the race of men is much greed and envy; but of truth, little.

Lloyd Alexander
Take this as a gift from a crone to a maiden, and know there is not so much difference between the two. For even a tottering granddam keeps a portion of girlish heart, and the youngest maiden a thread of old woman's wisdom.

Lloyd Alexander