Quotes from A World Without Heroes

Brandon Mull ·  457 pages

Rating: (30.6K votes)


“You're just a character in my dream."
"You wish."
"I didn't mean my love interest," she replied defensively. "You'd have better hair. You're the character I dreamed up because the rest of the dream was making me homesick."
"Maybe you're the character I dreamed up to scare myself awake."
"That's not very nice!"
"You made fun of my hair. I like it this way. Short and simple."
I don't mind short. Mine is short."
"Then what's wrong with mine?" Jason challenged.
"Maybe we should talk about something else."
"Like the guy on a horse coming to kill us?"
"It needs more style," she muttered.
"The horse?"
"Your hair."
"I forgot to bring my gel when I got eaten by a hippo.”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“A lie twice believed is self decieved”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“In short, heroism means doing the right thing regardless of the consequences.”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“Say no to death pies. Another good motto.”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“For each of us destiny is a blend of potential, circumstances, and choices.”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes



“What's the dog called?"Jason asked. "Feraclestinius Androbrelium Pathershin the Seventh." "No, I meant his entire name.”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“If we might be able to save this world, how can we walk away? Too many people around here have given up! Galloran said heroes sacrifice for causes; they do things that others hide from. I may not be some great hero, but I won’t hide from this. I would never live with myself.”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“A hero sacrifices for the greater good. A hero is true to his or her conscience. In short, heroism means doing the right thing regardless of the consequences.”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“You picked the right road, even though it is the most difficult. That is the essence of heroism. (p. 326)”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“Indulgence is emptiness. I have proved the limits of food and frivolity. There is no real fulfillment in meaningless rushes of pleasure. You try to conceal the emptiness with more extravagance, only to find the thrills becoming less satisfying and more fleeting. Most pleasures are best as a seasoning, not the main course. However you try to disguise it, you end up feeding without being nourished.”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes



“A hero sacrifices for the greater good. A hero is true to his or her conscience. In short, heroism means doing the right thing regardless of the consequences. Although any person could fit that description, very few do. Choose this day to be one of them.”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“Drake. He liked dangerous pies."
"Why did he join you?"
"Who would eat pie that could take over your life? Why risk it?"
"Focus. Why did he join you?"
"Say no to death pies. Another good motto. I'm getting a headache." p. 432”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“Most pleasures are best as a seasoning, not the main course. p. 374”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“...Why are all these masks winking?" Jason pointed around the room with his fork. The loremaster dabbed at his mouth with a frilled purple napkin. "One eye is open to all truth, the other closed to all deception.”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“So you're a librarian."
His eyes shifted back and forth.
"I prefer loremaster.”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes



“He recalled Galloran stating that being a hero meant doing what was right regardless of the consequences. The thought sent a thrill through him. Galloran had been in this same situation and had made the right choice. Jason felt less alone. Malodor had claimed that his opponents had no heroes among them. But Galloran was proof to the contrary. And Jason would be evidence as well. p. 420”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“I, Galloran, master of this castle, rightful heir to the throne at Trensicourt, dub thee Lord Jason of Caberton, herby transmitting all rights and priveleges befitting a nobleman of rank and title."
Jason arose, moved by the simple ceremony despite the Blind King's ruined castle, raspy voice, and tarnished crown.
"What about me?" Rachel asked testily.
"You can be my cook," Jason said, unable to resist.”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“You said you wanted my story? Well, I was swallowed by a hippopotamus. Except I didn’t go into the hippo, I ended up in a tree. Then I sort of wandered here.”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“Not a wall in the building lacked books. Books even occupied the space above doorways.”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“Who won the 2004 World Series?”
She shrugged, “The Yankees?”
“The Yankees? And you claim to be an American?” He enjoyed rubbing it in after her attitude about Harrisburg. “It was the Red Sox. The year they broke the curse.”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes



“They would probably search for him all over the zoo—the last place he’d been seen. He wondered if any evidence would implicate the hippo.”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“My father once admonished me to master the laws that govern fine writing until I could weave my words into worlds. If ever I accomplish that feat, I will sign my name to the tale.”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“I am custodian of the knowledge hoarded here.”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“Any of the nearby volumes might hold information about hippopotamus portals or contain hints about how he might get home.”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“Only two towers remained standing, one of which was so crooked and damaged it looked ready to topple at a cough from a butterfly.”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes



“Did you design the door?’
‘No.’
‘Who did? The Unknown Designer?”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“Is this the seedman Jasher?" The commander indicated the charred remains.
"It's his identical twin."
"We know he traveled with you until recently. Where is his amar?"
"I ate it."
"This is a foolish time for flippancy."
"I panicked. It tasted horrible. Do you have any mouthwash?”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“Tell me about your friends."
"I hardly knew them. The one who ran off with the girl is named Christopher Columbus. Tall guy. Really skinny. Green hair. Fangs. Six fingers on his left hand. About a hundred years old. Lots of wrinkles."
"I trust you are enjoying yourself." the commander sneered.”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“At the far end of the room, upon a moldering dais, a shabby man sat upon a battered thrown. A dingy rag bound his eyes, a tarnished crown rested upon his grey hair, and a grimy green robe edged in dirty white fur enshrouded his body. He looked like some homeless guy playing the part of a wise man in a soup kitchen Christmas pageant.”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes


“One eye is open to all truth, the other closed to all deception.”
― Brandon Mull, quote from A World Without Heroes



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About the author

Brandon Mull
Born place: The United States
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Popular quotes

“Happy the writer who, passing by characters that are boring, disgusting, shocking in their mournful reality, approaches characters that manifest the lofty dignity of man, who from the great pool of daily whirling images has chosen only the rare exceptions, who has never once betrayed the exalted turning of his lyre, nor descended from his height to his poor, insignificant brethren, and, without touching the ground, has given the whole of himself to his elevated images so far removed from it. Twice enviable is his beautiful lot: he is among them as in his own family; and meanwhile his fame spreads loud and far. With entrancing smoke he has clouded people's eyes; he has flattered them wondrously, concealing what is mournful in life, showing them a beautiful man. Everything rushes after him, applauding, and flies off following his triumphal chariot. Great world poet they name him, soaring high above all other geniuses in the world, as the eagle soars above the other high fliers. At the mere mention of his name, young ardent hearts are filled with trembling, responsive tears shine in all eyes...No one equals him in power--he is God! But such is not the lot, and other is the destiny of the writer who has dared to call forth all that is before our eyes every moment and which our indifferent eyes do not see--all the stupendous mire of trivia in which our life in entangled, the whole depth of cold, fragmented, everyday characters that swarm over our often bitter and boring earthly path, and with the firm strength of his implacable chisel dares to present them roundly and vividly before the eyes of all people! It is not for him to win people's applause, not for him to behold the grateful tears and unanimous rapture of the souls he has stirred; no sixteen-year-old girl will come flying to meet him with her head in a whirl and heroic enthusiasm; it is not for him to forget himself in the sweet enchantment of sounds he himself has evoked; it is not for him, finally, to escape contemporary judgment, hypocritically callous contemporary judgment, which will call insignificant and mean the creations he has fostered, will allot him a contemptible corner in the ranks of writers who insult mankind, will ascribe to him the quality of the heroes he has portrayed, will deny him heart, and soul, and the divine flame of talent. For contemporary judgment does not recognize that equally wondrous are the glasses that observe the sun and those that look at the movement of inconspicuous insect; for contemporary judgment does not recognize that much depth of soul is needed to light up the picture drawn from contemptible life and elevate it into a pearl of creation; for contemporary judgment does not recognize that lofty ecstatic laughter is worthy to stand beside the lofty lyrical impulse, and that a whole abyss separates it from the antics of the street-fair clown! This contemporary judgment does not recognize; and will turn it all into a reproach and abuse of the unrecognized writer; with no sharing, no response, no sympathy, like a familyless wayfarer, he will be left alone in the middle of the road. Grim is his path, and bitterly he will feel his solitude.”
― Nikolai Gogol, quote from Dead Souls


“With luck, it might even snow for us.”
― Haruki Murakami, quote from After Dark


“There was a time when I had all of his attention and loved it. As much as I wanted him to leave me alone, I also liked how he seemed surprised. I liked the way he was looking at me right now. And then I remembered that I hated him.”
― Penelope Douglas, quote from Bully


“A man's power is in the half-light, in the half-seen movements of his hand and the unguessed-at expression of his face. It is the absence of facts tat frightens people: the gap you open, into which they pour their fears, fantasies, desires.”
― Hilary Mantel, quote from Wolf Hall


“Memory runs along deep, fixed channels in the brain, like electricity along its conduits; only a cataclysm can make the electrons rear up in shock and slide over into another channel. The human mind seems doomed to believe, as simply as a rooster believes, that where we are now is the only possibility”
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