Quotes from What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy

Gregory Maguire ·  295 pages

Rating: (6.5K votes)


“quoting reminds me there are other people in the world besides only me. And other thoughts besides mine, and other ways of thinking.”
― Gregory Maguire, quote from What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy


“So she listened hard. And she began to evolve, because stories work their magic that way. They build conviction and erode conviction in equal measure.”
― Gregory Maguire, quote from What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy


“Wishing is the beginning of imagination. They practice wishing when they are young things, and then -when they have grown - they have a developed imagination. Which can do some harm - greed, that kind of thing - but more often does them some good. They can imagine that things might be different. Might be other than they seem. Could be better.”
― Gregory Maguire, quote from What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy


“Old Flossie settle down on the other side of What-the-Dickens and dragged some handiwork out of a sack. She armed herself with two thorns shaped into knitting needles. A wodge of curlicued metallic scrubbing pad supplied the threat. 'I knit handcuffs as a hobby,' explained Old Flossie happily, and set to work. 'Idle hands get up to no good, so I like to be prepared in case I meet up with any idle hands.”
― Gregory Maguire, quote from What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy


“Skibbereen have a hard time at [math]; the best that the smartest of them can do with adding two plus two is guessing: three plus one. Correct, sort of, but not always useful.”
― Gregory Maguire, quote from What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy



“He had no other plans for the rest of his life. He followed her.”
― Gregory Maguire, quote from What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy


“Very few things in the world are certain, but morning is one of them.”
― Gregory Maguire, quote from What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy


“Children talk themselves out of their convictions as they grow up and become distracted by their huge selfish selves. All the literature is consistent on this point. Children begin to think they've imagined us.”
― Gregory Maguire, quote from What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy


“He was hungry without yet knowing that hunger could be slaked by food; he was lonely without yet knowing that loneliness could be slaked, too.”
― Gregory Maguire, quote from What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy


“So young, he knew nothing about aerodynamics, except how the heart could lift and lift.”
― Gregory Maguire, quote from What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy



“Even a clock has teeth and time has a bite all of its own.”
― Gregory Maguire, quote from What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy


“Oh, the accident necessary to fiction!”
― Gregory Maguire, quote from What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy


“You lie, cheat and steal and call it courtesy, cunning and thrift.”
― Gregory Maguire, quote from What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy


About the author

Gregory Maguire
Born place: in Albany, New York, The United States
Born date June 9, 1954
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