Quotes from Fables & Reflections

Neil Gaiman ·  264 pages

Rating: (41.9K votes)


“Sometimes you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes, when you fall, you fly.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Fables & Reflections


“It is sometimes a mistake to climb; it is always a mistake never even to make the attempt. If you do not climb, you will not fall. This is true. But is it that bad to fail, that hard to fall?”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Fables & Reflections


“Some things are too big to be seen; some emotions are too huge to be felt.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Fables & Reflections


“Of course you don't believe in fairies. You're fifteen. You think I believed in fairies at fifteen? Took me until I was at least a hundred and forty. Hundred and fifty, maybe. Anyway, he wasn't a fairy. He was a librarian. All right?”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Fables & Reflections


“Never trust the storyteller. Only trust the story.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Fables & Reflections



“You know what happens when you dream of falling? Sometimes you wake up.
Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes, when you fall, you fly.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Fables & Reflections


“It is sometimes a mistake to climb. It is always a mistake to never make the attempt.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Fables & Reflections


“Dreams are composed of many things, my son. Of images and hopes, of fears and memories. Memories of the past, and memories of the future...”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Fables & Reflections


“If you do not climb, you will not fall. This is true. But is it that bad to fail, that hard to fall?”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Fables & Reflections


“Trees there were, old as trees can be, huge and grasping with hearts black as sin. Strange trees that some said walked in the night.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Fables & Reflections



“Bodies are strange. Some people have real problems with the stuff that goes on inside them. You find out that inside someone you know there's just mucus and meat and slime and bone. They menstruate, salivate, defecate and cry. You know? Sometimes it can just kill the romance. You know that?”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Fables & Reflections


“We write our names in the sand, and then the waves roll in and wash them away.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Fables & Reflections


“Value's in what people think. Not in what's real. Value's in dreams, boy.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Fables & Reflections


“You shouldn't trust the storyteller; only trust the story.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Fables & Reflections


“And all the time we spent in this place would fade and vanish, like a dawn dream on waking that colours the day but cannot be touched or remembered.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Fables & Reflections



“- The myths are dead. The gods are dead. The ghosts and ghouls and phantoms are dead. There is only the State, and the People.
- No, Monsieur Robespierre. There is much more than that.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Fables & Reflections


“And sometimes, when you fall, you fly.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Fables & Reflections


“It is true that my rent is but 50 cents a week. It is true that my clothes were a gift from the city council. I exchange federal currency for my own, and thus I live. Many restaurants and eating houses now accept my scrip. This is my city, in my country. They treat me well here. I am the Emperor of the United States, Pain. I am content to be what I am. What more than that could any man desire?”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Fables & Reflections


About the author

Neil Gaiman
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“I did not understand why Alfrida looked at him with such a fiercely encouraging smile. All of my experience of a woman with men, of a woman listening to her man, hoping and hoping that he will establish himself as somebody she can reasonably be proud of, was in the future.”
― Alice Munro, quote from Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage: Stories


“The first thing you see, covering yards and yards of one wall, is an object that looks like a nickel-plated nuclear reactor, but is really the stove.”
― David Brooks, quote from Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There


“Good Lord, if Incy could be helped… then I was a freaking picnic.”
― Cate Tiernan, quote from Darkness Falls


“Let us suppose that the great empire of China, with all its myriads of inhabitants, was suddenly swallowed up by an earthquake, and let us consider how a man of humanity in Europe, who had no sort of connection with that part of the world, would be affected upon receiving intelligence of this dreadful calamity. He would, I imagine, first of all, express very strongly his sorrow for the misfortune of that unhappy people, he would make many melancholy reflections upon the precariousness of human life, and the vanity of all the labours of man, which could thus be annihilated in a moment. He would too, perhaps, if he was a man of speculation, enter into many reasonings concerning the effects which this disaster might produce upon the commerce of Europe, and the trade and business of the world in general. And when all this fine philosophy was over, when all these humane sentiments had been once fairly expressed, he would pursue his business or his pleasure, take his repose or his diversion, with the same ease and tranquillity, as if no such accident had happened. The most frivolous disaster which could befall himself would occasion a more real disturbance. If he was to lose his little finger to-morrow, he would not sleep to-night; but, provided he never saw them, he will snore with the most profound security over the ruin of a hundred millions of his brethren, and the destruction of that immense multitude seems plainly an object less interesting to him, than this paltry misfortune of his own. To prevent, therefore, this paltry misfortune to himself, would a man of humanity be willing to sacrifice the lives of a hundred millions of his brethren, provided he had never seen them? Human nature startles with horror at the thought, and the world, in its greatest depravity and corruption, never produced such a villain as could be capable of entertaining it. But what makes this difference? When our passive feelings are almost always so sordid and so selfish, how comes it that our active principles should often be so generous and so noble? When we are always so much more deeply affected by whatever concerns ourselves, than by whatever concerns other men; what is it which prompts the generous, upon all occasions, and the mean upon many, to sacrifice their own interests to the greater interests of others? It is not the soft power of humanity, it is not that feeble spark of benevolence which Nature has lighted up in the human heart, that is thus capable of counteracting the strongest impulses of self-love. It is a stronger power, a more forcible motive, which exerts itself upon such occasions. It is reason, principle, conscience, the inhabitant of the breast, the man within, the great judge and arbiter of our conduct.”
― Adam Smith, quote from The Theory of Moral Sentiments


“In the lean approach, companies are taught that prices are set by the market and that one way to improve profit margin is to reduce costs. This thinking flies in the face of "cost plus" thinking, where we look first at our own costs and set prices based on our desired profit margin. The reality is that most companies whether manufacturers or hospitals, do not have market power to set prices as they wish.”
― Mark Graban, quote from Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Satisfaction


Interesting books

Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America
(7.7K)
Devil in the Grove:...
by Gilbert King
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
(286.2K)
The Strange Case of...
by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Gracekeepers
(4.8K)
The Gracekeepers
by Kirsty Logan
The Brightest Night
(6.8K)
The Brightest Night
by Tui T. Sutherland
Life in Outer Space
(5.2K)
Life in Outer Space
by Melissa Keil
The Serpent King
(11K)
The Serpent King
by Jeff Zentner

About BookQuoters

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.