Cressida Cowell · 256 pages
Rating: (5.1K votes)
“But how can we know that dragons did not exist? We have never actually BEEN to the Dark Ages.”
― Cressida Cowell, quote from A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons
“I myself grew up to be not only a Hero, but also a Writer. When I was an adult, I rewrote A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons, and I included not only some descriptions of the various deadly dragon species, and a useful Dragonese Dictionary, but also this story of how the book came to be written in the first place.
This is the book that you are holding in your hands right now.
Perhaps you even borrowed it from a Library?
If so, thank Thor that the sinister figure of the Hairy Scary Librarian is not lurking around a corner, hiding in the shadows, Heart-Slicers at the ready, or that the punishment for your curiosity is not the whirring whine of a Driller Dragon's drill.
You, dear reader, I am sure cannot imagine what it might to be like to live in a world in which books are banned.
For surely such things will never happen in the Future?
Thank Thor that you live in a time and a place where people have the right to live and think and write and read their books in peace, and there are no need for Heroes anymore ...
And spare a thought for those who have not been so lucky.”
― Cressida Cowell, quote from A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons
“Books were despised by the Viking Tribes, as they were seen as a horrible civilizing influence and a threat to the barbarian culture.”
― Cressida Cowell, quote from A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons
“And this was the surprising thing about life on Berk. It was a bit like the sea itself. One minute it was all storms, and shipwrecks, and desperate escapes from deadly dragons, the next it was as calm, and peacefully restful, as if these things had never happened.”
― Cressida Cowell, quote from A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons
“The mighty bosoms of Big-Boobied Bertha had killed many a Warrior in mortal combat.”
― Cressida Cowell, quote from A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons
“And this was the surprising thing about life on Berk. It was a bit like the sea itself. One minute it was all storms, and shipwrecks, and desperate escapes from deadly dragons, the next is was calm, and peacefully restful, as if these things had never happened.”
― Cressida Cowell, quote from A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons
“You, dear reader, I am sure cannot imagine what it might be like to live in a world in which books are banned.
For surely, such things will never happen in the Future?
Thank Thor that you live in a time and a place where people have the right to live and think and write and read their books in peace, and there are no need for Heroes any more...
And spare a thought for those who have not been so lucky.”
― Cressida Cowell, quote from A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons
“Even through his terror, Hiccup was blown away with excitement at seeing so many books in one place at one time. He had scribbled away in notebooks himself, of course, but because books were banned by order of The Thing, the only proper book he had ever really held was that copy of 'How to Train Your Dragon', which Toothless had incinerated. And he hadn't been very impressed by that particular book. Not enough words, in his opinion. But here, it was like entering a cave full of treasure. "WOW," breathed Hiccup, "if you stayed here long enough you really could find the answer to everything...”
― Cressida Cowell, quote from A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons
“find depressing his determination to make his characters suffer even when a little common sense on both his part and theirs could avoid it. Tess is one of the most irritating young women in Victorian fiction. Won”
― P.D. James, quote from The Private Patient
“Centuries of enlightenment and progress vanished virtually overnight because Men couldn’t find a way to use it wisely and purposefully.”
― Terry Brooks, quote from Bearers of the Black Staff
“Do you believe, man of this time, that laughter is lower than worship? Where is your measure, false measurer? The sum of life decides in laughter and in worship, not your judgment.”
― C.G. Jung, quote from The Red Book: Liber Novus
“Why do we say razzle-dazzle instead of dazzle-razzle? Why super-duper, helter-skelter, harum-scarum, hocus-pocus, willy-nilly, hully-gully, roly-poly, holy moly, herky-jerky, walkie-talkie, namby-pamby, mumbo-jumbo, loosey-goosey, wing-ding, wham-bam, hobnob, razza-matazz, and rub-a-dub-dub? I thought you'd never ask. Consonants differ in "obstruency"—the degree to which they impede the flow of air, ranging from merely making it resonate, to forcing it noisily past an obstruction, to stopping it up altogether. The word beginning with the less obstruent consonant always comes before the word beginning with the more obstruent consonant. Why ask why?”
― Steven Pinker, quote from The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language
“So here’s the question,” Melinda led in. “Who’s Tall, Dark and Smoldering?”
― Julie James, quote from About That Night
BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.
Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.