“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 boldly to it! Metal's worthless till it's 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, quote from Taran Wanderer
“Llonio said life was a net for luck; to Hevydd the Smith life was a forge; and to Dwyvach the Weaver-Woman a loom. They spoke truly, for it is all of these. But you,' Taran said, his eyes meeting the potter's, 'you have shown me life is one thing more. It is clay to be shaped, as raw clay on a potter's wheel.”
― Lloyd Alexander, quote from Taran Wanderer
“Trust your luck, Taran Wanderer. But don't forget to put out your nets!”
― Lloyd Alexander, quote from Taran Wanderer
“If I fret over tomorrow, I'll have little joy today.”
― Lloyd Alexander, quote from Taran Wanderer
“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, quote from Taran Wanderer
“I saw myself.... 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.... 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, quote from Taran Wanderer
“True allegiance is only given willingly.”
― Lloyd Alexander, quote from Taran Wanderer
“If you want truth, you should begin by giving it.”
― Lloyd Alexander, quote from Taran Wanderer
“For Wayfarers still journeying, for Wanderers at rest.”
― Lloyd Alexander, quote from Taran Wanderer
“If life is a loom, the pattern you weave is not so easily unraveled.”
― Lloyd Alexander, quote from Taran Wanderer
“Stale water is a poor drink,' said Annlaw. 'Stale skill is worse. And the man who walks in his own footsteps only ends where he began.”
― Lloyd Alexander, quote from Taran Wanderer
“Count the deed, not the thought.”
― Lloyd Alexander, quote from Taran Wanderer
“My luck's no greater than yours or any man's. You need only sharpen your eyes to see your luck when it comes, and sharpen your wits to use what falls into your hands.”
― Lloyd Alexander, quote from Taran Wanderer
“Is a man truly what he see himself to be?'
'Only if what he sees is true.”
― Lloyd Alexander, quote from Taran Wanderer
“I ask no comfort," Taran replied, "but the truth, be it harsh or happy."
"Ah, my sweet robin," said Orddu, "for the finding of that, nothing is harder. There are those who have spent lifetimes at it, and many in worse plight than yours.”
― Lloyd Alexander, quote from Taran Wanderer
“Two things never mix: one is enchantments and the other is meddling with them.”
― Lloyd Alexander, quote from Taran Wanderer
“There are heroes and heroes. I don't deny he's acted bravely on occasion. He's fought beside Lord Gwydion and been proud of himself as a chick wearing eagle's feathers. But that's only one kind of bravery. Has the darling robin ever scratched for his own worms? That's bravery of another sort. And between the two, dear Orwen, he might find the latter shows the greater courage.”
― Lloyd Alexander, quote from Taran Wanderer
“I believe you know my quest from its beginning to its end, and that I seed to learn my parentage.
"Parentage?" said Orddu. "Nothing easier. Choose any parents you please. Since none of you has ever known each other, what difference can it possibly make - to them or to you? Believe what you like. You'll be surprised how comforting it is.”
― Lloyd Alexander, quote from Taran Wanderer
“Had I done it sooner, perhaps he might have lived. He was a man of courage and good heart, a proud man. Now he is dead. I saved the signal to use in a worthy cause, and when I found one it was wasted.”
“Wasted?” answered Fflewddur. “I think not. Since you did your best and didn’t begrudge using it, I shouldn’t call it wasted at all.”
― Lloyd Alexander, quote from Taran Wanderer
Lloyd Alexander
Born place: in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, The United States
Born date January 30, 1924
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“Although Mengele's subjects could be operated on without any painkillers at all, a remarkable example of Nazi zoophilia is that a leading biologist was once punished for not giving worms enough anesthesia during an experiment.”
― Diane Ackerman, quote from The Zookeeper's Wife
“No, never mind, I didn't think so. Mead, Dante's theme is man-not a man.' Lowell said finally with a mild patience that he reserved only for students. "The Italians forever twitch at Dante's sleeves trying to make him say he is of their politics and their way of thinking. Their way indeed! To confine it to Florence or Italy is to banish it from the sympathies of mankind. We read Paradise Lost as a poem but Dante's Comedy as a chronicle of our inner lives. Do you boys know of Isaiah 38:10”
― Matthew Pearl, quote from The Dante Club
“Furniture, my good husband," she said, her mouth full of food, "that be too pretty is without pure thought. Tables with turned and carved legs only encourage the devil to dine."
My father stared at her, bewildered.
This house needs to be made ready for the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, for when he returns to our fair city and takes his rightful place as king, he'll be needing a good meal in a godly home. Do not you agree, husband?"
My father was speechless. Maud, in no way put off by his silence, said, "He will be very hungry. It has been a long time since the Last Supper.”
― Sally Gardner, quote from I, Coriander
“Your grandfather were a quiet and secret man he had been ripped from his home in Tipperary and transported to the prisons of Van Diemen's Land I do not know what was done to him he never spoke of it. When they had finished with their tortures they set him free and he crossed the sea to the colony of Victoria. He were by this time 30 yr. of age red headed and freckled with his eyes always slitted against the sun. My da had sworn an oath to evermore avoid the attentions of the law so when he saw the streets of Melbourne was crawling with policemen worse than flies he walked 28 mi. to the township of Donnybrook and then or soon thereafter he seen my mother. Ellen Quinn were 18 yr. old she were dark haired and slender the prettiest figure on a horse he ever saw but your grandma was like a snare laid out by God for Red Kelly. She were a Quinn and the police would never leave the Quinns alone.”
― Peter Carey, quote from True History of the Kelly Gang
“When man chooses to develop his innate power of communication with nature and therefore hear the voice, all will be right with the world – we will be as one. What you have been able to do with your Modoc is what man has been seeking for a long time. To communicate with nature through animals.”
― quote from Modoc: The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived
Katherine
Daughter of Fortune
The False Prince
This Man
Doomsday Book
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