“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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“How much of our earth has been wet by blood because of jealousy! And at the end of life, what does it all matter? We grow old and the young look at us and can never see that once we made a kingdom ring for love.”
― Bernard Cornwell, quote from The Winter King
“Leaves covered pavement like soggy cereal.”
― Patricia Cornwell, quote from The Body Farm
“The Chinese food arrives. Delicious saliva fills his mouth. He really hasn't had any since Texas. He loves this food that contains no disgusting proofs of slain animals, a bloody slab of cow haunch, a hen's sinewy skeleton; these ghosts have been minced and destroyed and painlessly merged with the shapes of insensate vegetables, plump green bodies that invite his appetite's innocent gusto. Candy.”
― John Updike, quote from Rabbit, Run
“My sisters and I cannot spend any substantial time searching for Wickham, as we are each commanded by His Majesty to defend Hertfordshire from all enemies until such time as we are dead, rendered lame, or married.”
― Seth Grahame-Smith, quote from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
“But soon I forget all they are being and doing and saying, and stare out the window.”
― Teri Terry, quote from Slated
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The Stranger Beside...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.
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