Lloyd Alexander
60 quotes
Biography
"Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It's a way of understanding it."
"Child, child, do you not see? For each of us comes a time when we must be more than what we are."
"Books can truly change our lives: the lives of those who read them, the lives of those who write them. Readers and writers alike discover things they never knew about the world and about themselves."
"Indeed, the more we find to love, the more we add to the measure of our hearts."
"I think imagination is at the heart of everything we do. Scientific discoveries couldn't have happened without imagination. Art, music, and literature couldn't exist without imagination. And so anything that strengthens imagination, and reading certainly does that, can help us for the rest of our lives."
"Find what you want. I will find you."
"He will not succeed in this,"Taran said. "Somehow, we must find a way to escape. We dare not lose hope.""I agree absolutely,"Fflewddur answered. "Your general idea is excellent; it's only the details that are lacking..."
"...Writings can be stolen, or changed, or used for evil purposes. But isn't the risk worth taking? The more people who share knowledge, the greater safeguard for it. Isn't there more danger in ignorance than knowledge?"
"Laws assure animals of protection – formally, officially, set down in black and white. But in the long run, the best protection is the human heart."
"The muse in charge of fantasy wears good, sensible shoes."
"In the algebra of fantasy, A times B doesn't have to equal B times A. But, once established, the equation must hold throughout the story."
"Fantasy, by its power to move us so deeply, to dramatize, even melo-dramatize, morality, can be one of the most effective means of establishing a capacity for adult values."
"At heart, the issues raised in a work of fantasy are those we face in real life. In whatever guise—our own daily nightmares of war, intolerance, inhumanity; or the struggles of an Assistant Pig-Keeper against the Lord of Death—the problems are agonizingly familiar. And an openness to compassion, love and mercy, is as essential to us here and now as it is to any inhabitant of an imaginary kingdom."
"Our only hope for tomorrow is peace now."
"The raw materials of story are the raw materials of all human cultures. Story deals with the same questions as theology, philosophy, psychology. It is concerned with polarities: love and hate, birth and death, joy and sorrow, loss and recovery."
"Story, finally, is humanity's autobiography."
"Keep reading. It's one of the most marvelous adventures that anyone can have."
"“That’s another thing about emperors—and regents,” Gareth said. “They aren’t very fond of changes, even if the changes are for the better.”"
"He’s as impartial as a herring’s backbone, for he favors neither side and is attached to both!"
"“What civilization would be complete without a cat?” the Professor went on. “What greater blessing to the home than the kindly yet watchful eye of this tiger of the fireside?”"
"Most of us are called on to perform tasks far beyond what we believe we can do. Our capabilities seldom match our aspirations, and we are often woefully unprepared. To this extent, we are all Assistant Pig-Keepers at heart."
"Well, that is one of the three foundations of learning: see much, study much, suffer much."
"Why?" Dallben interrupted. "In some cases," he said, "we learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself."
"It is not the trappings that make the prince, nor, indeed, the sword that makes the warrior."
"The task counts more than the one who does it."