Andrew Lang Quotes & Sayings

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

But when it is a question of the life of a king it is better to sacrifice the innocent than save the guilty — Andrew Lang

Nothing tastes better than what one eats by oneself. — Andrew Lang

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

I am the batsman and the bat, / I am the bowler and the ball, / The umpire, the pavilion cat, / The roller, pitch, and stumps, and all. — Andrew Lang

O grant me a house by the beach of a bay,
Where the waves can be surly in winter, and play
With the sea-weed in summer, ye bountiful powers!
And I'd leave all the hurry, the noise, and the fray,
For a house full of books, and a garden of flowers. — Andrew Lang

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

Of all animals, he alone attains to the Contemplative Life. — Andrew Lang

Once upon a time there lived a King and Queen whose children had all died, first one and then another, until at last only one little daughter remained, and the Queen was at her wits' end to know where to find a really good nurse who would take care of her, and bring her up. A herald was sent who blew a trumpet at every street corner, and commanded all the best nurses to appear before the Queen, that she might choose one for the little Princess. So on the appointed day the whole palace was crowded with nurses, who came from the four corners of the world to offer themselves, until the Queen declared that if she was ever to see the half of them, they must be brought out to her, one by one, as she sat in a shady wood near the palace. — Andrew Lang

Remember that the danger that is most to be feared is never the danger we are most afraid of. — Andrew Lang

Of all the minor creatures of mythology, fairies are the most beautiful, the most numerous, the most memorable. — Andrew Lang

If there are frightful monsters in fairy tales, they do not frighten you now, because that kind of monster is no longer going about the world, whatever he may have done long, long ago. He has been turned into stone, and you may see his remains in museums. — Andrew Lang

An unsophisticated forecaster uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts - for support rather than for illumination. — Andrew Lang

I sha'n't let my prisoners go as easily as all that!' she said. 'Make my hair grow as thick and as black as yours, or else your husbands shall never see daylight again.' 'That is quite simple,' replied the elder sister; 'only you must do as we did - and perhaps you won't like the treatment.' 'If you can bear it, of course I can,' answered the witch. And so the girls told her they had first smeared their heads with pitch and then laid hot stones upon them. 'It is very painful,' said they, 'but there is no other way that we know of. And in order to make sure that all will go right, one of us will hold you down while the other pours on the pitch.' And so they did; and the elder sister let down her hair till it hung over the witch's eyes, so that she might believe it was her own hair growing. Then the other brought a huge stone, and, in short, there was an end of the witch. The sisters were savages who had never seen a missionary. — Andrew Lang

And he married the Echo one fortunate morn,
And Woman, their beautiful daughter, was born!
The daughter of Sunshine and Echo she came
With a voice like a song, with a face like a flame;
With a face like a flame, and a voice like a song,
And happy was Man, but it was not for long!
For weather's a painfully changeable thing,
Not always the child of the Echo would sing;
And the face of the Sun may be hidden with mist,
And his child can be terribly cross if she list.
And unfortunate man had to learn with surprise
That a frown's not peculiar to masculine eyes;
That the sweetest of voices can scold and sneer,
And cannot be answered - like men - with a spear — Andrew Lang

It takes all sorts to make a world," some are soldiers from the cradle, some merchants, some orators; nothing but a love of books was the gift given to me by the fairies. — Andrew Lang

The idiot Scotch laird in the story would not let the dentist put his fingers into his mouth, "for I'm feared ye'll bite me". — Andrew Lang

Had I a river I would gladly let all honest anglers that use the fly cast line in it, but, but where there is no protection, then nets, poison, dynamite, slaughter of fingerlings, and unholy baits devastate the fish, so that 'free fishing' spells no fishing at all. — Andrew Lang

Moti' Once upon a time there was a — Andrew Lang

There's a joy without canker or cark,
There's a pleasure eternally new,
'T is to gloat on the glaze and the mark
Of china that's ancient and blue. — Andrew Lang

It's me," answered the prince. It was the first time he had forgotten his grammar, but he was terribly excited. "What — Andrew Lang

But we once had some, we white men, in one of the islands. Not the Oui-ouis" (native name for the French), "real white men. — Andrew Lang

I don't think the idea of homosexuality is really taboo any more. Our culture is evolving. This is an exciting time to be living. — Andrew Lang

OLD FRIENDS. Fcp. 8vo. 2s. 6d. net. — Andrew Lang

Life's more amusing than we thought. — Andrew Lang

A book is a friend whose face is constantly changing. If you read it when you are recovering from an illness, and return to it years after, it is changed surely, with the change in yourself. — Andrew Lang

She has been bewitched by a wicked sorceress, and will not regain her beauty until she is my wife.'
'Does she say so? Well if you believe that you may drink cold water and think it bacon'. — Andrew Lang

Indeed it is impossible to set limits to such coincidence, for it would indeed be extraordinary if extraordinary coincidences never occurred. — Andrew Lang

You can cover a great deal of country in books. — Andrew Lang

Why should I laugh?' asked the old man. 'Madness in youth is true wisdom. Go, young man, follow your dream, and if you do not find the happiness that you seek, at any rate you will have had the happiness of seeking it. — Andrew Lang

Letters from the first were planned to guide us into Fairy Land. — Andrew Lang

So labour at your Alphabet,
For by that learning shall you get
To lands where Fairies may be met. — Andrew Lang

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

her mother's grave. There she lamented her hard — Andrew Lang

In the old stories, despite the impossibility of the incidents, the interest is always real and human. The princes and princesses fall in love and marry
nothing could be more human than that. Their lives and loves are crossed by human sorrows ... The hero and heroine are persecuted or separated by cruel stepmothers or enchanters; they have wanderings and sorrows to suffer; they have adventures to achieve and difficulties to overcome; they must display courage, loyalty and address, courtesy, gentleness and gratitude. Thus they are living in a real human world, though it wears a mythical face, though there are giants and lions in the way. The old fairy tales which a silly sort of people disparage as too wicked and ferocious for the nursery, are really 'full of matter,' and unobtrusively teach the true lessons of our wayfaring in a world of perplexities and obstructions. — Andrew Lang

Either a wise man will not go into bunkers, or, being in, he will endure such things as befall him with patience. — Andrew Lang

real shepherd to repent of his folly; and before he had gone very far he met with a horse boy and a driver — Andrew Lang

In literature, as in love, one can only speak for himself. — Andrew Lang

But the three hundred and sixty-five authors who try to write new fairy tales are very tiresome. They always begin with a little boy or girl who goes out and meets the fairies of polyanthuses and gardenias and apple blossoms: 'Flowers and fruits, and other winged things.' These fairies try to be funny, and fail; or they try to preach, and succeed. — Andrew Lang

Here stand my books, line upon line
They reach the roof, and row by row,
They speak of faded tastes of mine,
And things I did, but do not, know. — Andrew Lang

And the old woman who had been the prince's nurse became nurse to the prince's children - at least she was called so; though she was far too old to do anything for them but love them. Yet she still thought that she was useful, and knew that she was happy. And happy, indeed, were the prince and princess, who in due time became king and queen, and lived and ruled long and prosperously. — Andrew Lang

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

He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts ... for support rather than illumination. — Andrew Lang

suffer hunger,' said the Cat. 'You, little Mouse, cannot venture everywhere in case you run at last into a trap.' This good counsel was followed, and a little pot of fat was bought. But they did not know where to put it. At length, after long consultation, — Andrew Lang

Of all animals, the cat alone attains to the comtemplative life. He regards the wheel of existence from without, like the Buddha. — Andrew Lang

It is so delightful to teach those one loves! — Andrew Lang

He missed an invaluable opportunity to hold his tongue. — Andrew Lang

When the old king saw this he foamed with rage, stared wildly about, flung himself on the ground and died. — Andrew Lang

Among the various forms of science which are reaching and affecting the new popular tradition, we have reckoned Anthropology. Pleasantly enough, Anthropology has herself but recently emerged from that limbo of the unrecognised in which Psychical Research is pining. — Andrew Lang

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

Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend "a course of reading." Distrust a course of reading! People who really care for books read all of them. There is no other course. — Andrew Lang

And then they lived happily, and we who hear the story are happier still. — Andrew Lang

I fear nothing when I am doing right,' said Jack.
'Then,' said the lady in the red cap, 'you are one of those who slay giants. — Andrew Lang

especially given to dirtying the butter (a thing quite superfluous, according to Captain Burt's description of Highland butter). — Andrew Lang

Again, if there are really no fairies, why do people believe in them, all over the world? The ancient Greeks believed, so did the old Egyptians, and the Hindoos, and the Red Indians, and is it likely, if there are no fairies, that so many different peoples would have seen and heard them? — Andrew Lang

This Mr. Harte died on 15th May, 1745, and missed many events of interest by doing so. — Andrew Lang

The love of books, the golden key, that opens the enchanted door — Andrew Lang

bushel of gold pieces; — Andrew Lang