Lloyd Alexander Quotes & Sayings

Morgant?" Taran asked, turning a puzzled glance to Gwydion. "How can there be honor for such a man?"
"It is easy to judge evil unmixed," replied Gwydion. "But, alas, in most of us good and bad are closely woven as the threads on a loom; greater wisdom than mine is needed for the judging. — Lloyd Alexander

The art is more important than the artist. The work is more important than the person who does it. You must be prepared to sacrifice all the you could possibly have, be, or do; you must be willing to go all the way for your art. If it is a question between choosing between your life and a work of art
any work of art
your decision is made for you. — Lloyd Alexander

Each day of war takes us farther from all we could hope to be or do. We gain nothing but heartbreak, and lose everything we cherish. Our lives erode and diminish, our children see no future except a calendar of anguish and death. Our only hope for tomorrow is for peace now. — Lloyd Alexander

It is harsh enough for each man to bear his own wound. But he who leads bears the wounds of all who follow him. — Lloyd Alexander

Most of us are called on to perform tasks far beyond what we can do. Our capabilities seldom match our aspirations, and we are often woefully unprepared. To this extent, we are all Assistant Pig-Keepers at heart. — Lloyd Alexander

Evil cannot be conquered by wishing. — Lloyd Alexander

Keep reading
It's one of the
most adventures
that anyone
can have — Lloyd Alexander

Indeed, the more we find to love, the more we add to the measure of our hearts. — Lloyd Alexander

Dealing with the impossible, fantasy can show us what may be really possible. If there is grief, there is the possibility of consolation; if hurt, the possibility of healing; and above all, the curative power of hope. If fantasy speaks to us as we are, it also speaks to us as we might be — Lloyd Alexander

Often the trouble with magical things. They're never quite what you'd expect. — Lloyd Alexander

We are beginning to learn that intangibles have more specific gravity than we suspected, that ideas can generate as much forward thrust as Atlas missiles. We may win a victory in exploring the infinities of outer space, but it will be a Pyrrhic victory unless we can also explore the infinities of our inner spirit. We have supersensitive thermographs to show us the slightest variations in skin temperature. No devices can teach us the irrelevance of skin color. WE can transplant a heart from one person to another in a brilliant feat of surgical virtuosity. Now we are ready to try it the hard way: transplanting understanding, compassion, and love from one person to another. — Lloyd Alexander

I can't say I'm unhappy about it,' added the bard, 'I get along well enough with mice, and I've always been found of birds, but when you put the two together I'd just as soon avoid them. — Lloyd Alexander

She had no particular breed in mind, no unusual requirements. Except the special sense of mutual recognition that tells dog and human they have both come to the right place. — Lloyd Alexander

True allegiance is only given willingly. — Lloyd Alexander

Hope is an essential thread in the fabric of all fantasies, an Ariadne's thread to guide us out of the labyrinth ... Human beings have always needed hope, and surely now more than ever. — Lloyd Alexander

Behind one truth there is always yet another. — Lloyd Alexander

Every man is a hero if he strives more for others than for himself alone. — Lloyd Alexander

Neither refuse to give help when it is needed, ... nor refuse to accept it when it is offered. — Lloyd Alexander

I saw myself ... In the time I watched, I saw strength - and frailty. Pride and vanity, courage and fear. Of wisdom, a little. Of folly, much. Of intentions, many good ones; but many more left undone. In this, alas, I saw myself a man like any other.
But this, too, I saw ... Alike as men may seem, each is different as flakes of snow, no two the same. You told me you had no need to seek the Mirror, knowing you were Annlaw Clay-Shaper. Now I know who I am: myself and none other. I am Taran. — Lloyd Alexander

In some cases we learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself. — Lloyd Alexander

Most of my books have been written in the form of fantasy. — Lloyd Alexander

Every living thing deserves our respect ... be it humble or proud, ugly or beautiful. — Lloyd Alexander

There is more honor in a field well plowed than in a field steeped in blood. — Lloyd Alexander

And so they lived many happy years, and the promised tasks were accomplished. Yet long afterward, when all had passed away into distant memory, there were many who wondered whether King Taran, Queen Eilonwy, and their companions had indeed walked the earth, or whether they had been no more than dreams in a tale set down to beguile children. And, in time, only the bards knew the truth of it. — Lloyd Alexander

Stale water is a poor drink,' said Annlaw. 'Stale skill is worse. And the man who walks in his own footsteps only ends where he began. — Lloyd Alexander

At the end of their grim race, death might be the only prize. — Lloyd Alexander

When I was discharged, I attended the University of Paris and met a beautiful Parisian girl, Janine. We soon married and eventually returned to the States. — Lloyd Alexander

Miss Vesper Holly has the digestive talents of a goat and the mind of a chess master. She is familiar with half a dozen languages and can swear fluently in all of them. She understands the use of a slide rule but prefers doing calculations in her head. She does not hesitate to risk life and limb- mine as well as her own. No doubt she has other qualities as yet undiscovered. I hope not. — Lloyd Alexander

Good-bye, good-bye,' muttered Gwystyl. 'I hate to see you waste your time, not to mention your lives. But that's the way of it, I suppose. Here today, gone tomorrow, and what's anyone to do about it? Good-bye. I hope we meet again. But not soon. Good-bye. — Lloyd Alexander

My luck's no greater than yours or any man's. You need only sharpen your eyes to see your luck when it comes, and sharpen your wits to use what falls into your hands. — Lloyd Alexander

-"He loved her ... It was noble of him. It was beautiful."
-"It was stupid. — Lloyd Alexander

Trust your luck, Taran Wanderer. But don't forget to put out your nets! — Lloyd Alexander

Our pride is not in fighting but in farming; In the work of our, hands not our blades. Never have we sought war. We come to the Banner of the white pig because it is the banner of our friend, Terran Wanderer. — Lloyd Alexander

It is beyond any man's wisdom to judge the secret heart of another ... for in it are good and evil mixed. — Lloyd Alexander

I intend to follow the path of virtue. It will not be overcrowded. — Lloyd Alexander

And so shall honor Morgant," Gwydion said, "for what he used to be, and Ellidyr Prince of Pen-Llarcau for what he became. — Lloyd Alexander

Servants ran to wake the young king, Tamar, already awake and watching from his balcony. Curious, naturally. Not altogether pleased. No more than anyone would be, jolted out of a sound sleep by unexpected elephants. — Lloyd Alexander

When imagination fails, compassion and humaneness dwindle and atrophy along with it. Unleavened by imagination, the variety and richness of life turn into flat abstractions; people become objects to be manipulated
with the social consequences we know all too well. — Lloyd Alexander

Shakespeare, Dickens, Mark Twain, and so many others were my dearest friends and greatest teachers. — Lloyd Alexander

Llonio said life was a net for luck; to Hevydd the Smith life was a forge; and to Dwyvach the Weaver-Woman a loom. They spoke truly, for it is all of these. But you,' Taran said, his eyes meeting the potter's, 'you have shown me life is one thing more. It is clay to be shaped, as raw clay on a potter's wheel. — Lloyd Alexander

Righteousness [is] always more believable when combined with dreariness. — Lloyd Alexander

Thinking is a bit uncomfortable, but you'll get used to it. A matter of time and practice. — Lloyd Alexander

At the end of knowledge, wisdom begins, and at the end of wisdom, there is not grief ... but hope — Lloyd Alexander

I can't make sense out of that girl," he said to the bard, "Can you?"
"Never mind," Fflewddur said, "We aren't really expected to. — Lloyd Alexander

One way everything looks all right, the other way, it looks all wrong. — Lloyd Alexander

Using the device of an imaginary world allows me in some strange way to go to the central issues - it's one of many ways to express feelings about real people, about real human relationships. — Lloyd Alexander

He will not succeed in this," Taran said. "Somehow, we must find a way to escape. We dare not lose hope."
"I agree absolutely," Fflewddur answered. "Your general idea is excellent; it's only the details that are lacking ... — Lloyd Alexander

I know that some readers think (The High King) should have ended differently. I cried for three days afterwards. — Lloyd Alexander

If the pull of the outside world is strong, there is also a pull towards the human. The cat may disappear on its own errands, but sooner or later, it returns once again for a little while, to greet us with its own type of love. — Lloyd Alexander

How easy it is to think well of ourselves. Until the moment is upon us, we can never be certain. — Lloyd Alexander

Child, child, do you not see? For each of us comes a time when we must be more than what we are. — Lloyd Alexander

The vitality of art is its capacity for infinite expansion. One form doesn't preclude another any more than the existence of Mozart makes the existence of Bach superfluous. — Lloyd Alexander

The only thing a cat worries about is what's happening right now. As we tell the kittens, you can only wash one paw at a time. — Lloyd Alexander

The journey is the treasure. — Lloyd Alexander

Count the deed, not the thought. — Lloyd Alexander

Two things never mix: one is enchantments and the other is meddling with them. — Lloyd Alexander

No matter what has happened, you're not a pig-boy; you're an Assistant Pig Keeper! — Lloyd Alexander

True kinship has naught to do with blood ties, however strong they be. I think we are all kin, brothers and sisters one to the other, all children of all parents. — Lloyd Alexander

What! I don't care about being a princess! And since I'm already a young lady, how else could I behave? That's like asking a fish not to swim!"
~Princess Eilonwy, daughter of Angharad, daughter of Regat, of the Royal house of Llyr — Lloyd Alexander

Of wisdom there are as many patterns as a loom can weave. Yours is the wisdom of good and kindly heart. Scarce it is and its worth all the greater. — Lloyd Alexander

All agreed that Quickset was the cleverest cat in the world. And, since Quickset had the same opinion, it was surely true. — Lloyd Alexander

I think we should always remember that reading
the experience of a book
is a very private, very personal kind of thing. Sometimes the best response to such an experience is: silence. — Lloyd Alexander

From a swift canter the powerful legs of Melynlas stretched to a gallop. The stallion's muscles heaved beneath him and Taran, sword raised, plunged into the sea of men. His head spun and he gasped as if drowning. He realized he was terrified. — Lloyd Alexander

Forgive me ... I called you an idiot. I spoke too hastily. You are not. Had I given it more thought, I would have called you a scoundrel. — Lloyd Alexander

The tasks you set yourself are cruelly difficult. There is no certainty you will accomplish even one, and much risk you will fail in all of them. In either case, your efforts may well go unrewarded, unsung, forgotten. And at the end, like all mortals, you must face your death; perhaps without even a mound of honor to mark your resting place. — Lloyd Alexander

I'm trying to make myself invisible."
"That's an odd thing to attempt. — Lloyd Alexander

The Prydain Companion is more than a quick reference or handy glossary, though it is all of that as well. Instructive, certainly. But, like any good companion, a pleasure to be with over a long period of time. — Lloyd Alexander

My family pleaded with me to forget literature and do something sensible, such as find some sort of useful work. — Lloyd Alexander

He [the cat] liked to peep into the refrigerator and risk having his head shut in by the closing door. He also climbed to the top of the stove, discontinuing the practice after he singed his tail. — Lloyd Alexander

There is truth in all things, if you understand them well. — Lloyd Alexander

If writers learn more from their books than do readers, perhaps I may have begun to learn. — Lloyd Alexander

I only suggest to you: Will you dwell on killing this man? You wish for revenge? If you do, he has already killed you by slow poison. So, let it go. Why waste your time? His life will see to his death. — Lloyd Alexander

If I fret over tomorrow, I'll have little joy today. — Lloyd Alexander

Eventually, I was sent to Wales and Germany, and after the war, to Paris. — Lloyd Alexander

The destinies of men are woven one with the other, and you can turn aside from them no more than you can turn aside from your own. — Lloyd Alexander

It is strange,' he said at last. 'I had longed to enter the world of men. Now I see it filled with sorrow, with cruelty and treachery, with those who would destroy all around them.'
'Yet, enter it you must,' Gwydion answered, 'for it is a destiny laid on each of us. True, you have seen these things. But there are equal parts of love and joy. — Lloyd Alexander

Writing for children can be completely honest in non-cynical ways. In adult books you're required to be cynical. It embarrasses us to say positive things. You can have affection and hope in children's books, but that is out of fashion in adult fiction. — Lloyd Alexander

I fear I our good dwarf has lost his taste for adventure. I managed to get word to him, thinking he might come along with me for the sport of it. He sent back a message. All it said was 'Humph! — Lloyd Alexander

My parents were horrified when I told them I wanted to be an author. — Lloyd Alexander

A man's life weighs more then glory, and a price paid in blood is a heavy reckoning. — Lloyd Alexander

I loved all the world's mythologies. — Lloyd Alexander

What you may seek and what you may find are not always one. — Lloyd Alexander

She has given you something of value: the truth in her heart. — Lloyd Alexander

You must know nothing before you can learn something, and be empty before you can be filled. Is not the emptiness of the bowl what makes it useful? As for laws, a parrot can repeat them word for word. Their spirit is something else again. As for governing, one must first be lowest before being highest. — Lloyd Alexander

It may be," replied Coll, smiling, "we know least what we treasure most. But we will have more than enough to keep us busy when you come back, and you will learn, my boy, there is nothing like work to put the heart at rest. — Lloyd Alexander

Craftsmanship isn't like water in an earthen pot, to be taken out by the dipperful until it's empty. No, the more drawn out the more remains. — Lloyd Alexander

We don't need to have just one favorite. We keep adding favorites. Our favorite book is always the book that speaks most directly to us at a particular stage in our lives. And our lives change. We have other favorites that give us what we most need at that particular time. But we never lose the old favorites. They're always with us. We just sort of accumulate them. — Lloyd Alexander

On the level of high art, in their common efforts to express human truths, relationships, attitudes, and personal visions, children's literature and adult literature meet and sometimes merge, and we wonder then whether a given work is truly for children or truly for grown-ups. The answer, of course, is: for both. — Lloyd Alexander

Once you have courage to look upon evil, seeing it for what it is and naming it by its true name, it is powerless against you, and you can destroy it. — Lloyd Alexander

Perhaps,' Taran said quietly, watching the moon-white riverbank slip past them, 'perhaps you have the truth of it. At first I felt as you did. Then I remember thinking of Eilonwy, only of her; and the bauble showed its light. Prince Rhun was ready to lay down his life; his thoughts were for our safety, not at all for his own. And because he offered the greatest sacrifice, the bauble glowed brightest for him. Can that be its secret? To think more for others than ourselves?'
That would seem to be one of its secrets, at least,' replied Fflewddur. 'Once you've discovered that, you've discovered a great secret indeed
with or without the bauble. — Lloyd Alexander

I shall not lie!" Eilonwy cried, "not for this traitor and deserter."
"It is not for him," Taran said quietly, "but for the sake of our quest."
"It isn't right," Eilonwy began, tears starting in her eyes.
"We do not speak of rightness," Taran answered. "We speak of a task to be finished. — Lloyd Alexander

It would be a shame if you were killed. I should be very sorry. I know I wouldn't like it to happen to me. — Lloyd Alexander

I think imagination is at the heart of everything we do. Scientific discoveries couldn't have happened without imagination. Art, music, and literature couldn't exist without imagination. And so anything that strengthens imagination, and reading certainly does that, can help us for the rest of our lives. — Lloyd Alexander

Its powers?' Dallben answered with a sad smile. 'My dear boy, this is a bit of metal hammered into a rather unattractive shape; it could better have been a pruning hook or a plow iron. Its powers? Like all weapons, only those held by him who wields it. What yours may be, I can in no wise say. — Lloyd Alexander

And thus did an Assistant Pig-Keeper become High King of Prydain. — Lloyd Alexander

If you want truth, you should begin by giving it. — Lloyd Alexander

I, too, shall seek honor. But I shall seek it where I know it will be found. — Lloyd Alexander

A lady doesn't insist on having her own way. Then, next thing you know, it all works out somehow, without one's even trying. I thought I'd never learn, though it's really quite easy once you get the knack. — Lloyd Alexander

Children's literature is considerably more functional than a good portion of adult literature. If I were cynical, I might say: Children's books are written to be read; adult books are written to be talked about at cocktail parties.
There may be more truth that cynicism in that statement. My impression is that many adult books are written only to shock the reader (a short term goal, since shock quickly turns into boredom) or as calisthenics for the author's ego.
On the other hand, children's literature seems an area where books function as they were meant to; where they amaze, delight, and move our emotions. We can respect and admire any number of current adult books, but I find it hard to love them. — Lloyd Alexander

As a boy, he had dreamed of taking a man's place among men; and, as a boy, had deemed himself well fit to do so. Now, amid the grizzled, battle-wise warriors, his strength seemed feeble, his knowledge clouded. — Lloyd Alexander