Quotes from The Books of Magic

Neil Gaiman ·  200 pages

Rating: (13.5K votes)


“There are only two worlds - your world, which is the real world, and other worlds, the fantasy. Worlds like this are worlds of the human imagination: their reality, or lack of reality, is not important. What is important is that they are there. these worlds provide an alternative. Provide an escape. Provide a threat. Provide a dream, and power; provide refuge, and pain. They give your world meaning. They do not exist; and thus they are all that matters. ”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from The Books of Magic


“This is a work of fiction. All the characters in it, human and otherwise, are imaginary, excepting only certain of the fairy folk, whom it might be unwise to offend by casting doubts on their existence. Or lack thereof.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from The Books of Magic


“Science is a way of talking about the universe in words that bind it to a common reality.
Magic is a method of talking to the universe in words that it cannot ignore.
The two are rarely compatible.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from The Books of Magic


“It is a sea of blood. We come from the sea, Tim; our blood is salt, and strange tides ebb and flow within us all.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from The Books of Magic


“Humanity is evil -- civilization is the scum that forms on the surface, but beneath, humanity consists of brutes and animals.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from The Books of Magic



About the author

Neil Gaiman
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Always solicit and strive to understand perspectives other than your own.”
― quote from The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability


“goodness tries to get the upper hand in us whenever it seems to have the slightest chance—on Sunday mornings, perhaps, when we are set free from the grinding hurry of the week, and take the little three-year old on our knee at breakfast to share our egg and muffin; in moments of trouble, when death visits our roof or illness makes us dependent on the tending hand of a slighted wife; in quiet talks with an aged mother, of the days when we stood at her knee with our first picture-book, or wrote her loving letters from school.”
― George Eliot, quote from Scenes of Clerical Life


“at her watch. “I’m going to go steal a cup of the cops’ coffee. Want some?” “I’d kill for coffee. Please. Black.” Lacey watched the doctor disappear out the back flap door. She exhaled and relaxed her shoulders, noticing that both techs did the same thing. The three in the tent exchanged a wry look. It was tough to be in close quarters with Dr. Peres for any period of time. Lacey turned her focus back to the gold in her hand. Déjá vu. In her mind, Lacey saw the bridges sitting on her palm, but the image wasn’t from today. She’d held them before. Or held some bridges that were identical. They’d creeped her out at that time too. But where’d she see them? In dental school? No, the memory was older than that. Rusty fragments of images poked at her brain. The front flap door of the tent”
― Kendra Elliot, quote from Hidden


“Self-realization is the sweetest thing. It shows us how we are fully responsible for ourselves, and that is where we find our freedom.”
― Byron Katie, quote from Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life


“hatred and jealousy must find a tongue; only the creatures which never feel those things have no need to talk.”
― Tanith Lee, quote from Night's Master


Interesting books

Redeeming Love
(169.6K)
Redeeming Love
by Francine Rivers
The Waste Land
(34.4K)
The Waste Land
by T.S. Eliot
Northanger Abbey
(248.5K)
Northanger Abbey
by Jane Austen
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
(382.3K)
The Devil in the Whi...
by Erik Larson
The Pearl
(156.2K)
The Pearl
by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter Boxset
(215.5K)
Harry Potter Boxset
by J.K. Rowling

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.