Gregory Maguire citations

“Happy endings are still endings.”

“It's the only condition I know. Bitter Love, Loneliness, contempt for corruption, blind hope. It's where I live. A permanent state of bereavement. This is nothing new.”

“How poetic you are," she said. "I've a notion that poetry is the highest form of self-deception.”

“This is why you shouldn't fall in love, it blinds you. Love is wicked distraction.”

“People who claim that they're evil are usually no worse than the rest of us… It's people who claim that they're good, or any way better than the rest of us, that you have to be wary of.”

“Remember this: Nothing is written in the stars. Not these stars, nor any others. No one controls your destiny.”

“Where I'm from, we believe in all sorts of things that aren't true… we call it history.”

“Books fall open, you fall in. When you climb out again, you're a bit larger than you used to be.”

“One never learns how the witch became wicked, or whether that was the right choice for her~is it ever the right choice? Does the devil ever struggle to be good again, or if so is he not a devil?”

“In the lives of children, pumpkins turn into coaches, mice and rats turn into men. When we grow up, we realize it is far more common for men to turn into rats.”

“And girls need cold anger. They need the cold simmer, the ceaseless grudge, the talent to avoid forgiveness, the side stepping of compromise. They need to know when they say something that they will never back down, ever, ever.”

“So he stalked her again. Love makes hunters of us all.”

“There was much to hate in this world and too much to love.”

“You confuse not speaking with not listening.”

“She dropped her shyness like a nightgown, and in the liquid glare of sunlight on old boards she held up her hands-as if, in the terror of the upcoming skirmish, she had at last understood that she was beautiful. In her own way.”

“As long as people are going to call you lunatic anyway, why not get the benefit of it? It liberates you from convention.”

“The eye is always caught by light, but shadows have more to say.”

“The body apologizes to the soul for its errors, and the soul asks forgiveness for squatting in the body without invitation.”

“Memory is a part of the present. It builds us up inside; it knits our bones to our muscles and keeps our hearts pumping. It is memory that reminds our bodies to work, and memory that reminds our spirits to work to: it keeps us who we are.~Candle”

“I know you don't want to hear this but someone has to say it! You are out of control! I mean they're just shoes… let it go!”

“No one controls your destiny. Even at the very worst - there is always choice.”

“Because no retreat from the world can mask what is in your face.”

“Maybe the definition of home is the place where you are never forgiven. So you may always belong there, bound by guilt. And maybe the cost of belonging is worth it.”

“The wickedness of men is that their power breeds stupidity and blindness.”

“Waking up was a daily cruelty, an affront, and she avoided it by not sleeping.”

“I shall pray for your soul,' promised Nessarose.
I shall wait for your shoes,' Elphie answered.”

“That was such a wonderful time, even in its strangeness and sadness-and life isn't the same now. It's wonderful, but it isn't the same.”

“I never use the words HUMANIST or HUMANITARIAN, as it seems to me that to be human is to be capable of the most heinous crimes in nature.”

“Approval is overrated… Approval and disapproval alike satisfy those who deliver it more than those who receive it. I don't care for approval, and I don't mind doing without.”