Lloyd Alexander Quotes

82 Sourced Quotes

-I'm trying to make myself invisible. -That's an odd thing to attempt.

Lloyd Alexander
I intend to follow the path of virtue. It will not be overcrowded.

Lloyd Alexander
Once you have courage to look upon evil, seeing it for what it is and naming it by its true name, it is powerless against you, and you can destroy it.

Lloyd Alexander
I saw myself, Taran answered. In the time I watched, I saw strength – and frailty. Pride and vanity, courage and fear. Of wisdom, a little. Of folly, much. Of intentions, many good ones; but many more left undone. In this, alas, I saw myself a man like any other.
But this, too, I saw, he went on. Alike as men may seem, each is different as flakes of snow, no two the same. You told me you had no need to seek the Mirror, knowing you were Annlaw Clay-Shaper. Now I know who I am: myself and none other. I am Taran.

Lloyd Alexander
Is there worse evil than that which goes in the mask of good?

Lloyd Alexander
You are the oaken staff I lean on, Taran said. More than that. He laughed. You are the whole sturdy tree, and a true warrior.
Coll, instead of beaming, looked wryly at him. Do you mean to honor me? he asked. Then say, rather, I am a true grower of turnips, and a gatherer of apples. No warrior whatever, save that I am needed thus for a while. My garden longs for me as much as I long for it.

Lloyd Alexander
Long ago I yearned to be a hero without knowing, in truth, what a hero was. Now, perhaps, I understand it a little better. A grower of turnips or a shaper of clay, a Commot farmer or a king — every man is a hero if he strives more for others than for himself alone. Once, he added, you told me that the seeking counts more than the finding. So, too, must the striving count more than the gain.
Once, I hoped for a glorious destiny, Taran went on, smiling at his own memory. That dream has vanished with my childhood; and though a pleasant dream it was fit only for a child. I am well content as an Assistant Pig-Keeper.

Lloyd Alexander
We don't need to have just one favorite. We keep adding favorites. Our favorite book is always the book that speaks most directly to us at a particular stage in our lives. And our lives change. We have other favorites that give us what we most need at that particular time. But we never lose the old favorites. They're always with us. We just sort of accumulate them.

Lloyd Alexander
So you say, so you say, murmured Fflewddur, hurrying after him. Look closer into your heart. You may find your opinion to be somewhat different.

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

Lloyd Alexander
"I have marched in many a battle host," Adaon answered quietly, "but I have also planted seeds and reaped the harvest with my own hands. And I have learned there is greater honor in a field well plowed than in a field steeped in blood."

Lloyd Alexander
Are you slow-witted? I'm so sorry for you. It's terrible to be dull and stupid.

Lloyd Alexander
Believe what you like. You'll be surprised how comforting it is.
I ask no comfort, Taran replied, but the truth, be it harsh or happy.

Lloyd Alexander
There is much to be known, said Adaon, and above all much to be loved, be it the turn of the seasons or the shape of a river pebble. Indeed, the more we find to love, the more we add to the measure of our hearts.

Lloyd Alexander
You must know nothing before you can learn something, and be empty before you can be filled. Is not the emptiness of the bowl what makes it useful? As for laws, a parrot can repeat them word for word. Their spirit is something else again. As for governing, one must first be lowest before being highest.

Lloyd Alexander
A crown is a pitiless master, harsher than the staff of a pig-keeper; while a staff bears up, a crown weighs down, beyond the strength of any man to wear it lightly.

Lloyd Alexander
"Neither refuse to give help when it is needed," Medwyn continued, "nor refuse to accept it when it is offered."

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

Lloyd Alexander
Speak up, my boy. If you want truth, you should begin by giving it.

Lloyd Alexander
Are these signs of hope, or do we deceive ourselves by wishing them to be?

Lloyd Alexander
The raw materials of story are the raw materials of all human cultures. Story deals with the same questions as theology, philosophy, psychology. It is concerned with polarities: love and hate, birth and death, joy and sorrow, loss and recovery.

Lloyd Alexander
"This is a place of peace," Medwyn said, "and therefore not suitable for men, at least, not yet."

Lloyd Alexander