I decided that adventure was the best way to learn about writing.

For man to be worthy of any rank, he must strive first to be a man.

Long ago I yearned to be a hero without knowing, in truth, what a hero was. Now, perhaps, I understand it a little better. A grower of turnips or a shaper of clay, a Commot...

The muse in charge of fantasy wears good, sensible shoes.

King Arthur was one of my heroes – I played with a trash can lid for a knightly shield and my uncle’s cane for the sword Excalibur.

My luck’s no greater than yours or any man’s. You need only sharpen your eyes to see your luck when it comes, and sharpen your wits to use what falls into your hands.

I only suggest to you: Will you dwell on killing this man? You wish for revenge? If you do, he has already killed you by slow poison. So, let it go. Why waste your time?...

When I was discharged, I attended the University of Paris and met a beautiful Parisian girl, Janine. We soon married and eventually returned to the States.

…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...

Is a man truly what he see himself to be?”Only if what he sees is true.

Every man is a hero if he strives more for others than for himself alone.

Hope is an essential thread in the fabric of all fantasies, an Ariadne’s thread to guide us out of the labyrinth … Human beings have always needed hope, and surely now more than ever.

My parents were horrified when I told them I wanted to be an author.

Is there worse evil than that which goes in the mask of good?

No matter what has happened, you’re not a pig-boy; you’re an Assistant Pig Keeper!

If you want truth, you should begin by giving it.

Is there not glory enough in living the days given to us? You should know there is adventure in simply being among those we love and the things we love, and beauty too.

I saw myself…. In the time I watched, I saw strength—and frailty. Pride and vanity, courage and fear. Of wisdom, a little. Of folly, much. Of intentions, many good ones; but many more left undone....

It is harsh enough for each man to bear his own wound. But he who leads bears the wounds of all who follow him.

After I saved some money, I quit work and went to a local college.

Thus, death begets death; evil begets evil.

The art is more important than the artist. The work is more important than the person who does it. You must be prepared to sacrifice all the you could possibly have, be, or do; you...

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...

The dear girl, I fear, may be contemplating some alarming, disruptive perhaps dangerous project. In which case, I would naturally do all in my power to keep her from any such rash or foolhardy enterprise...

Count the deed, not the thought.

Each day of war takes us farther from all we could hope to be or do. We gain nothing but heartbreak, and lose everything we cherish. Our lives erode and diminish, our children see no...

I loved all the world’s mythologies.

Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It’s a way of understanding it.

Who but lovers dream alike?

The only thing a cat worries about is what’s happening right now. As we tell the kittens, you can only wash one paw at a time.

The vitality of art is its capacity for infinite expansion. One form doesn’t preclude another any more than the existence of Mozart makes the existence of Bach superfluous.

A taste for adventure is by no means a masculine monopoly.

No, no,” said Taran slowly, “It would be folly to think of attacking them.” He smiled quickly at Fflewddur. “The bards would sing of us,” he admitted, “but we’d be in no position to appreciate...