# Quote — Lev Grossman, The Magicians

> If he couldn’t go back, he would just have to do things differently going forward. He felt how infinitely safer and more sound this attitude was. The trick was just not wanting anything. That was power. That was courage: the courage not to love anyone or hope for anything.
>
> The funny thing about it was how easy everything got, when nothing mattered.

- Author: [Lev Grossman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lev-grossman.md)
- Book: [The Magicians](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lev-grossman/the-magicians.md)
- Page: 383
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lev_Grossman#The_Magicians_(2009)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/lev-grossman/the-magicians/if-he-couldnt

## More from this book

> He had no interest in TV anymore—it looked like an electronic puppet show to him, an artificial version of an imitation world that meant nothing to him anyway.

p. 167 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lev-grossman/the-magicians/he-had-no-interest.md)

> “Stop looking for the next secret door that is going to lead you to your real life. Stop waiting. This is it: there’s nothing else. It’s here, and you’d better decide to enjoy it or you’re going to be miserable wherever you go, for the rest of your life, forever.”
>
> “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?”

p. 333 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lev-grossman/the-magicians/stop-looking-for.md)

> He was experimenting cautiously with the idea of being happy, dipping and uncertain toe into those intoxicatingly carbonated waters. It wasn’t something he had much practice at.

p. 41 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lev-grossman/the-magicians/he-was-experimenting.md)