Quotes from The Dark Is Rising

Susan Cooper ·  244 pages

Rating: (45.7K votes)


“The snow lay thin and apologetic over the world. That wide grey sweep was the lawn, with the straggling trees of the orchard still dark beyond; the white squares were the roofs of the garage, the old barn, the rabbit hutches, the chicken coops. Further back there were only the flat fields of Dawson's farm, dimly white-striped. All the broad sky was grey, full of more snow that refused to fall. There was no colour anywhere.”
― Susan Cooper, quote from The Dark Is Rising


“Too many!' James shouted, and slammed the door behind him.”
― Susan Cooper, quote from The Dark Is Rising


“It is a burden...(M)ake no mistake about that. Any great gift or power or talent is a burden and this more than any, and you will long to be free of it. But there is nothing to be done. If you were born with the gift, then you must serve it, and nothing in this world or out of it may stand in the way of that service, because that is why you were born and that is the Law."
- Susan Cooper ("Merriman" The Dark is Rising)”
― Susan Cooper, quote from The Dark Is Rising


“The strange white world lay stroked by silence. No birds sang. The garden was no longer there, in this forested land. Nor were the out-buildings nor the old crumbling walls. There lay only a narrow clearing round the house now, hummocked with unbroken snowdrifts, before the trees began, with a narrow path leading away.”
― Susan Cooper, quote from The Dark Is Rising


“They walked as old friends walk, without often speaking, sharing the kind of silence that is not so much silence as a kind of still communication.”
― Susan Cooper, quote from The Dark Is Rising



“So it will go,” Merriman said. “He will have a sweet picture of the Dark to attract him, as men so often do, and beside it he will set all the demands of the Light, which are heavy and always will be.”
― Susan Cooper, quote from The Dark Is Rising


“Expect nothing and fear nothing, here or anywhere. That’s your first lesson.”
― Susan Cooper, quote from The Dark Is Rising


“When the dark comes rising, six shall turn it back;
Three from the circle, three from the track;
Wood, bronze, iron; water, fire, stone;
Five will return, and one go alone.”
― Susan Cooper, quote from The Dark Is Rising


“every man has a last choice after the first, a chance of forgiveness. It is not too late. Turn. Come to the Light.”
― Susan Cooper, quote from The Dark Is Rising


“There was something about Christmas Eve, they both felt, that demanded company; one needed somebody to whisper to, during the warm beautiful dream-taut moments between hanging the empty stocking at the end of the bed, and dropping into the cosy oblivion that would flower into the marvel of Christmas morning.”
― Susan Cooper, quote from The Dark Is Rising



“The surface of the iron was irregular, but though it showed no sign of having been polished it was completely smooth—smooth in a way that reminded him of a certain place in the rough stone floor of the kitchen, where all the roughness had been worn away by generations of feet turning to come round the corner from the door.”
― Susan Cooper, quote from The Dark Is Rising


“For this was Christmas, which had always been a time of magic, to him and to all the world.”
― Susan Cooper, quote from The Dark Is Rising


“The Herdsman passed, nodding, the bright star Arcturus at his knee; the Bull roared by, bearing the great sun Aldebaran and the small group of the Pleiades singing in small melodic voices, like no voices he had ever heard.”
― Susan Cooper, quote from The Dark Is Rising


“He was among trees then, spring trees tender with the new matchless green of young leaves, and a clear sun dappling them; summer trees full of leaf, whispering, massive; dark winter firs that fear no master and let no light brighten their woods. He learned the nature of all trees, the particular magics that are in oak and beech and ash.”
― Susan Cooper, quote from The Dark Is Rising


“The snow lay thin and apologetic over the world.”
― Susan Cooper, quote from The Dark Is Rising



“the sky dark with wheeling birds.”
― Susan Cooper, quote from The Dark Is Rising


“They are English,” Merriman said. “Quite right,” said Will’s father. “Splendid in adversity, tedious when safe. Never content, in fact. We’re an odd lot.”
― Susan Cooper, quote from The Dark Is Rising


“the house and everyone in it lay in a sleep that would not be broken.”
― Susan Cooper, quote from The Dark Is Rising


“He was woken by music. It beckoned him, lilting and insistent; delicate music, played by delicate instruments that he could not identify, with one rippling, bell-like phrase running through it in a gold thread of delight. There was in this music so much of the deepest enchantment of all his dreams and imaginings that he woke smiling in pure happiness at the sound.”
― Susan Cooper, quote from The Dark Is Rising


About the author

Susan Cooper
Born place: in Burnham, Buckinghamshire, The United Kingdom
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“the modern concept of adolescence is not a biological stage, but a cultural mind-set. It doesn’t stop when you graduate from high school, or when you turn twenty-one.”
― Alex Harris, quote from Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations


“Sólo de la constancia nacen las grandes cosas”
― Paul Auster, quote from Timbuktu


“THOU RIGHTEOUS AND HOLY SOVEREIGN,

In whose hand is my life
and whose are all my ways,
Keep me from fluttering about religion;
fix me firm in it,
for I am irresolute;
my decisions are smoke and vapour,
and I do not glorify thee,
or behave according to thy will;
Cut me not off before my thoughts grow to responses,
and the budding of my soul into full flower,
for thou art forbearing and good,
patient and kind.
Save me from myself,
from the artifices and deceits of sin,
from the treachery of my perverse nature,
from denying thy charge against my offences,
from a life of continual rebellion against thee,
from wrong principles, views, and ends;
for I know that all my thoughts,
affections, desires and pursuits
are alienated from thee.
I have acted as if I hated thee,
although thou art love itself;
have contrived to tempt thee to the uttermost,
to wear out thy patience;
have lived evilly in word and action.
Had I been a prince
I would long ago have crushed such a rebel;
Had I been a father
I would long since have rejected my child.
O, thou Father of my spirit,
thou King of my life,
cast me not into destruction,
drive me not from thy presence,
but wound my heart that it may be healed;
break it that thine own hand may make it whole.”
― quote from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions


“Sometimes it is good to know your limits. Good to know you still have limits. It makes you human. And I wanted to stay that way. Zayvion”
― Devon Monk, quote from Magic to the Bone


“-Se volvió y miró por la ventana abierta-. Ahí está precisamente el que sabe relajarse mejor en el mundo: un gato. Podrías aprender de él. Nadie le supera en eso.”
― quote from The Third Eye


Interesting books

The Ugly Duckling
(34.2K)
The Ugly Duckling
by Hans Christian Andersen
Hidden Currents
(9.2K)
Hidden Currents
by Christine Feehan
Early Autumn
(5.5K)
Early Autumn
by Robert B. Parker
Damaged
(30.1K)
Damaged
by H.M. Ward
Dr. Thorne
(4.3K)
Dr. Thorne
by Anthony Trollope
Claim Me
(47.2K)
Claim Me
by J. Kenner

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.