Diana Wynne Jones: Doing

Diana Wynne Jones was English children's fantasy writer. Explore interesting quotes on doing.
Diana Wynne Jones: 274 quotes2 likes

“I am a believer in free will. If my dog chooses to hate the whole human race except myself, it must be free to do so.”

Diana Wynne Jones book Castle in the Air

Source: Castle Series, Castle in the Air (1990), p. 31.
Context: "Maybe," he said, "you should be more careful about whom you let your dog bite."
"Not I!" said Jamal. "I am a believer of free will. If my dog chooses to hate the whole human race except myself, it must be free to do so."

“By now it was clear that Howl was in a mood to produce green slime any second. Sophie hurriedly put her sewing away. "I'll make some hot buttered toast," she said. "Is that all you can do in the face of tragedy??" Howl asked. "Make toast!”

Diana Wynne Jones book Howl's Moving Castle

Source: Howl's Moving Castle

“So you were going to rescue the Prince! Why did you pretend to run away? To deceive the Witch?"

"Not likely! I'm a coward. Only way I can do something this frightening is to tell myself I'm not doing it!”

Diana Wynne Jones book Howl's Moving Castle

Source: Howl's Moving Castle

“But I discovered that people like me -- they do, you know, if you like them -- and then it was all right.”

Diana Wynne Jones book Howl's Moving Castle

Source: Howl's Moving Castle

“Not likely!” Howl yelled. “I’m a coward. Only way I can do something this frightening is to tell my self I’m not doing it!”

Diana Wynne Jones book Howl's Moving Castle

Source: Howl's Moving Castle

“Then there you are, then. The day Howl forgets to do that will be the day I believe he's really in love, and not before."
Michael to Sophie about wether or not Howl is really in love with Lettie. pg, 170”

Diana Wynne Jones book Howl's Moving Castle

Source: Howl's Moving Castle

“But I do think that when people say 'a learning curve,' they make a mistake. Learning to me always seems to go in a straight, ignorant line and then, every so often, takes a jump straight upward.”

Diana Wynne Jones book Enchanted Glass

Source: Enchanted Glass

“Calcifer," Sophie said, "I shall have to break your contract. Will it kill you?" "It would if anyone else broke it," Calcifer said hoarsely. "That's why I asked you to do it.”

Diana Wynne Jones book Howl's Moving Castle

Source: Howl's Moving Castle

“But most dragons seem to have interesting personalities--besides probably having quite good reasons for what they do, if only one could understand them”

Diana Wynne Jones book Fire and Hemlock

Source: Fire and Hemlock

“Do you mind not being so kind and obedient? It makes me nervous.”

Diana Wynne Jones

Source: The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Vol. 1

“Oh, Lord! He's a weeper!" Grandad said disgustedly. "I wish I'd known. I'd have stayed away."
"A lot of Merlins have cried when they prophesied," Dad pointed out.
"I know. But I don't have to like it, do I?”

Diana Wynne Jones

Grandad retorted.
Source: Magids Series, The Merlin Conspiracy (2003), p. 27.

“I have been with the Court all my life, travelling with the King's Progress.
I didn't know how to go on. I sat and stared at this sentence, until Grundo said, "If you can't do it, I will."
If you didn't know Grundo, you'd think this was a generous offer, but it was a threat really. Grundo is dyslexic. Unless he thinks hard, he writes inside out and backwards. He was threatening me with half a page of crooked writing with words like "inside" turning up as "sindie" and "story" as "otsyr".”

Diana Wynne Jones

Source: Magids Series, The Merlin Conspiracy (2003), p. 7.
First lines of the novel.

“"Look here," Gerald said, "what do you think of Giants?"
There was the kind of pause that happens when people do not like to say what they really think.”

Diana Wynne Jones book Power of Three

Source: Power of Three (1976), p. 166.

“Adara was impressed. "How do you know that?"
"I learnt it," said Hathil. "It pays to learn things."”

Diana Wynne Jones book Power of Three

Source: Power of Three (1976), p. 25.

“"What you do is find your centre - can you do that?"
"My navel, you mean?" I said.
"No, no!" he howled. "You're not a woman! Or are you?"”

Diana Wynne Jones

Source: Magids Series, The Merlin Conspiracy (2003), pp. 113-114.

“Ann looked down at him, spread on the bank preparing to go to sleep, and lost her temper. "Then you should go and tell him! You should look after him! He's all alone in this wood, and he's quite small, and he doesn't even know he's not supposed to go out of it. He probably doesn't even know how to work the field to get food. You - you calmly make him up, out of blood and - and nothing, and you expect him to do your dirty work for you, and you don't even tell him the rules!”

Diana Wynne Jones book Hexwood

You can't do that to a person!"
Source: Hexwood (1993), pp. 54-55.

“Tell me of this Wizard Howl of yours."
Sophie's teeth chattered, but she said proudly, "He's the best wizard in Ingary or anywhere else. If he'd only had time, he would have defeated that djinn. And he's sly and selfish and vain as a peacock and cowardly and you can't pin him down to anything."
"Indeed?" asked Abdullah. "Strange that you should speak so proudly such a list of vices, most loving of ladies."
"What do you mean — vices?”

Diana Wynne Jones

Sophie asked angrily. "I was just describing Howl."
Source: Castle Series, Castle in the Air (1990), p. 214.

“"I don't believe this!" Peter said. "Why is it respectable not to know how to do things? Is it respectable to light a fire with a bar of soap?"
"That," Charmain said haughtily, "was an accident."”

Diana Wynne Jones

Source: Castle Series, House of Many Ways (2008), p. 109.

“I never said my wishes were supposed to do anyone any good," said the genie. "In fact, I swore that they would always do as much harm as possible.”

Diana Wynne Jones

Source: Castle Series, Castle in the Air (1990), pp. 102-103.

“People may wonder how Mitt came to join in the Holand Sea Festival, carrying a bomb, and what he thought he was doing. Mitt wondered himself by the end.”

Diana Wynne Jones

First lines.
Source: Dalemark Quartet, Drowned Ammet (1977), p. 223.