Quotes from work

The Magicians

“The danger would be going back, or staying still. The only way out was through. The past was ruins, but the present was still in play.”

“Wasn't there a spell for making yourself happy? Somebody must have invented one. How could he have missed it? Why didn't they teach it? Was it in the library, a flying book fluttering just out of reach, beating its wings against some high window?”

“Being brave was easy when you would rather die than give up.”

“You can’t just decide to be happy.”

“No, you can’t. But you can sure as hell decide to be miserable. Is that what you want?”

“His crush went from exciting to depressing, as if he'd gone from the first blush of infatuation to the terminal nostalgia of a former lover without even the temporary relief of an actual relationship in between.”

“His whole personality was like an elaborate joke that he never stopped telling.”

“She tortured everybody around her, but only because she was more tortured than anyone.”

“He wasn't in a safe little story where wrongs were automatically righted; he was still in the real world, where bad bitter things happened for no reason, and people paid for things that weren't their fault.”

“If there's a single lesson that life teaches us, it's that wishing doesn't make it so.”

“The problem with growing up is that once you're grown up, the people who aren't grown up aren't fun anymore.”

“Josh speculated about the hypothetical contents of an imaginary porn magazine for intelligent trees that would be entitled Enthouse.”

“He wasn't surprised. He was used to this anticlimactic feeling, where by the time you've done all the work to get something you don't even want it anymore.”

“The real problem with being around James was that he was always the hero. And what did that make you? Either the sidekick or the villain.”

“In a way fighting was just like using magic. You said the words, and they altered the universe. By merely speaking you could create damage and pain, cause tears to fall, drive people away, make yourself feel better, make your life worse.”

“Most people are blind to magic. They move through a blank and empty world. They’re bored with their lives, and there’s nothing they can do about it. They’re eaten alive by longing, and they’re dead before they die.”

“I got my heart's desire, and there my troubles began.”

“The truth doesn't always make a good story, does it?”

“There is really no end to life's little humiliations.”

“It was so much easier to be angry. Being angry made him feel strong, even though-- and this contradiction did nothing to diminish his anger-- he was angry only because his position was so weak.”