Quotes from The Blue Fairy Book

Andrew Lang ·  390 pages

Rating: (8.1K votes)


“So labour at your Alphabet,
For by that learning shall you get
To lands where Fairies may be met.”
― Andrew Lang, quote from The Blue Fairy Book


“Get away out of my country at once, and for ever, miserable creature, lest I take your life, and so rid myself of your malice.”
― Andrew Lang, quote from The Blue Fairy Book


“The advantage of possessing a great empire is not to be able to do the evil that one desires, but to do all the good that one possibly can.”
― Andrew Lang, quote from The Blue Fairy Book


“My dear Prince, might I beg you to move a little more that way, for your nose casts such a shadow that I really cannot see what I have on my plate”
― Andrew Lang, quote from The Blue Fairy Book


“Go, my dear, and see how thy grandmamma does, for I hear she has been very ill; carry her a custard, and this little pot of butter.”
― Andrew Lang, quote from The Blue Fairy Book



“You see how self-love keeps us from knowing our own defects of mind and body. Our reason tries in vain to show them to us; we refuse to see them till we find them in the way of our interests.”
― Andrew Lang, quote from The Blue Fairy Book


“Our reason tries in vain to show them to us; we refuse to see them till we find them in the way of our interests." Prince”
― Andrew Lang, quote from The Blue Fairy Book


“She believes that I love her!" cried the King. "What a fatal mistake! What is to be done to undeceive her?" "You know best," answered the Mermaid, smiling kindly at him. "When people are as much in love with one another as you two are, they don't need advice from anyone else.”
― Andrew Lang, quote from The Blue Fairy Book


“In the forest all is gay When my Princess walks that way. All the blossoms then are found Downward fluttering to the ground, Hoping she may tread on them. And bright flowers on slender stem Gaze up at her as she passes Brushing lightly through the grasses. Oh! my Princess, birds above Echo back our songs of love, As through this enchanted land Blithe we wander, hand in hand.”
― Andrew Lang, quote from The Blue Fairy Book


“They were very poor, and their seven children incommoded them greatly, because not one of them was able to earn his bread. That which gave them yet more uneasiness was that the youngest was of a very puny constitution, and scarce ever spoke a word, which made them take that for stupidity which was a sign of good sense. He was very little, and when born no bigger than one's thumb, which made him be called Little Thumb.”
― Andrew Lang, quote from The Blue Fairy Book



“WHY THE SEA IS SALT Once upon a time, long, long ago, there were two brothers, the one rich and the other poor. When Christmas Eve came, the poor one had not a bite in the house, either of meat or bread; so he went to his brother, and begged him, in God's name, to give him something for Christmas Day. It was by no means the first time that the brother had been forced to give something to him, and he was not better pleased at being asked now than he generally was. "If you will do what I ask you, you shall have a whole ham," said he. The poor one immediately thanked him, and promised this. "Well, here is the ham, and now you must go straight to Dead Man's Hall," said the rich brother, throwing the ham to him. "Well, I will do what I have promised," said the other, and he took the ham and set off. He went on and on for the livelong day, and at nightfall he came to a place where there was a bright light. "I have no doubt this is the place," thought the man with the ham. An old man with a long white beard was standing in the outhouse, chopping Yule logs. "Good-evening," said the man with the ham. "Good-evening to you. Where are you going at this late hour?" said the man. "I am going to Dead Man's Hall, if only I am on the right track," answered the poor man. "Oh! yes, you are right enough, for it is here," said the old man. "When you get inside they will all want to buy your ham, for they don't get much meat to eat there; but you must not sell it unless you can get the hand-mill which stands behind the door for it. When you come out again I will teach you how to stop the hand-mill, which is useful for almost everything." So the man with the ham thanked the other for his good advice, and rapped at the door. When he got in, everything happened just as the old man had said it would: all the people, great and small, came round him like ants on an ant-hill, and each tried to outbid the other for the ham. "By rights my old woman and I ought to have it for our Christmas dinner, but, since you have set your hearts upon it, I must just give it up to you," said the man. "But, if I sell it, I will have the hand-mill which is standing there behind the door." At first they would not hear of this, and haggled and bargained with the man, but he stuck to what he had said, and the people were forced to give him the hand-mill. When the man came out again into the yard, he asked the old wood-cutter how he was to stop the hand-mill, and when he had learned that, he thanked him and set off home with all the speed he could, but did not get there until after the clock had struck twelve on Christmas Eve.”
― Andrew Lang, quote from The Blue Fairy Book


About the author

Andrew Lang
Born place: in Selkirk, The Borders, Scotland
Born date March 31, 1844
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“ويبدو أن كل مجتمع يثبت شرفه و أعرافه و تقاليده و استقراره على نسائه, ولذلك إذا ما خرجت الأنثى عن الخط تفتح أبواب الحجيم, وتدور الدوائر على ذلك المجتمع.”
― Jeffrey Lang, quote from Even Angels Ask: A Journey to Islam in America


“From the way my mother's eyes lit up, I could guess she was wondering about a marriage between me and one of the Grand Duchess Miechen's sons. Never mind that the eldest, Kyril, was only thirteen.”
― Robin Bridges, quote from The Gathering Storm


“You couldn’t control or anticipate a person who didn’t care. They were wildcards.”
― Mariana Zapata, quote from Under Locke


“His hard stare told me to pick my battles carefully. What he didn’t realize was that maybe I’d been storing up past battles in my head for too long and soon all the battles were going to break through the surface and turn me into a maniac.”
― R.S. Grey, quote from With This Heart


“I Sat back in the chair, surveying the view in front of me like some savvy superhero, safe in her secret lair.
& that's when I saw it; a shadow slipping across the lower corner of camera seventeen.”
― Ripley Patton, quote from Ghost Hold


Interesting books

Crocodile on the Sandbank
(50.4K)
Crocodile on the San...
by Elizabeth Peters
Bright Young Things
(11.9K)
Bright Young Things
by Anna Godbersen
Richard II
(15.1K)
Richard II
by William Shakespeare
The Long Ships
(4.9K)
The Long Ships
by Frans G. Bengtsson
Soul on Ice
(10.9K)
Soul on Ice
by Eldridge Cleaver
Breaking Nova
(11.7K)
Breaking Nova
by Jessica Sorensen

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.