Often misattributed to but inspired by GK Chesterton:
Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.
Coraline (2002)
“This suffering will yield us yet
A pleasant tale to tell.”
Source: Translations, The Aeneid of Virgil (1866), Book I, p. 12
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John Conington 85
British classical scholar 1825–1869Related quotes
“The tales we tell ourselves about ourselves makes us who we are.”
Source: Second Helpings
“Masters, I have to tell a tale of woe,
A tale of folly and of wasted life”
Introductory verse.
The Earthly Paradise (1868-70)
Context: Masters, I have to tell a tale of woe,
A tale of folly and of wasted life,
Hope against hope, the bitter dregs of strife,
Ending, where all things end, in death at last.
“How easy it is to tell tales!”
Jacques le Fataliste (1796)
"A Duet", line 5; from The Sea is Kind (London: Grant Richards, 1914) p. 78.
“I shudder as I tell the tale.”
Horresco referens.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book II, Line 204 (tr. Fairclough)