“Once upon a time there was a fairy godmother, but the rest of the time there was none. This story is about one of those other times.”

“Surrounded by stories surreal and sublime, I fell in Love in the Library once upon a time.”

“Once upon a time – for that is how all stories should begin – there was a boy who lost his mother.”

“Just so you know, when they say "once upon a time"…. they're lying. It's not once upon a time. Its not even twice upon a time. It's hundreds of times, over and over, every time someone opens up the pages of this dusty old book.”

“Like all fairy tales, the story of Sleeping Beauty begins with "Once upon a time," and continues with a foolish young princess who makes a witch very angry, and then takes a nap until her boyfriend wakes her up with a kiss and insists on getting married, at which point the story ends with the phrase "happily ever after."”

“I sometimes have the feeling you've been here a long time, more than one lifetime, and that you've dwelt in private places none of the rest of us has even dreamed about.”

“Once upon a time the plural of 'wizard' was 'war'.”

“Everything, everything seemed once-upon-a-time.”

“In time we often become one with those we once failed to understand.”

“There is no such thing as a happy ending. I never met a single one to equal "Once upon a time.”