Lloyd Alexander

Quotes

1. This much have I learned: A man’s life weighs more than glory, and a price paid in blood is a heavy reckoning.

2. 

   “You are the oaken staff I lean on,” Taran said. “More than that.” He laughed. “You are the whole sturdy tree, and a true warrior.”

   Coll, instead of beaming, looked wryly at him. “Do you mean to honor me?” he asked. “Then say, rather, I am a true grower of turnips, and a gatherer of apples. No warrior whatever, save that I am needed thus for a while. My garden longs for me as much as I long for it.”

3. 

   There is truth in all things, if you understand them well.

4. 

   If I fret over tomorrow, I'll have little joy today.

5. 

   “Count yourself lucky,” the potter went on, “that you have understood this now and not spent your years in vain hope. This much have you learned, and no learning is wasted.”

6. 

   “So you say, so you say,” murmured Fflewddur, hurrying after him. “Look closer into your heart. You may find your opinion to be somewhat different.”

7. 

   If I do find pride, I'll not find it in what I was or what I am, but what I may become. Not in my birth, but in myself.

8. 

   “I saw myself,” Taran answered. “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. In this, alas, I saw myself a man like any other.

   “But this, too, I saw,” he went on. “Alike as men may seem, each is different as flakes of snow, no two the same. You told me you had no need to seek the Mirror, knowing you were Annlaw Clay-Shaper. Now I know who I am: myself and none other. I am Taran.”

9. 

   “There is much to be known,” said Adaon, “and above all much to be loved, be it the turn of the seasons or the shape of a river pebble. Indeed, the more we find to love, the more we add to the measure of our hearts.”

10. 

    Even in a fantasy realm, growing up is accomplished not without cost.

11. 

    "I have marched in many a battle host," Adaon answered quietly, "but I have also planted seeds and reaped the harvest with my own hands. And I have learned there is greater honor in a field well plowed than in a field steeped in blood."

12. 

    “Believe what you like. You'll be surprised how comforting it is.”

    “I ask no comfort,” Taran replied, “but the truth, be it harsh or happy.”