# Quote — Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth

> Whether or not you find your own way, you're bound to find some way. If you happen to find my way, please return it, as it was lost years ago. I imagine by now the toy is quite rusty.

- Author: [Norton Juster](https://www.leafyquotes.com/norton-juster.md)
- Book: [The Phantom Tollbooth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/norton-juster/the-phantom-tollbooth.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Phantom_Tollbooth#Quotes) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/norton-juster/the-phantom-tollbooth/whether-or-not

## More from this book

> You must never feel badly about making mistakes, as long as you learn from them.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/norton-juster/the-phantom-tollbooth/you-must-never.md)

> Many of the things which can never be, often are.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/norton-juster/the-phantom-tollbooth/many-of-the.md)

> "I can hardly see a thing," said Milo, taking hold of Tock's tail as a sticky mist engulfed the moon. "Perhaps we should wait until morning."
>
> "They'll be mourning for you soon enough," came a reply from directly above, and this was followed by a hideous cackling laugh very much like someone choking on a fishbone.
>
> "I don't think you understand," said Milo timidly as the watchdog growled a warning. "We're looking for a place to spend the night."
>
> "It's not yours to spend," the bird shrieked again, and followed it with the same horrible laugh.
>
> "That doesn't make any sense, you see--" he started to explain.
>
> "Dollars or cents, it's still not yours to spend," the bird replied haughtily.
>
> "But I didn't mean--" insisted Milo.
>
> "Of course you're mean," interrupted the bird, closing the eye that had been open and opening the one that had been closed. "Anyone who'd spend a night that doesn't belong to him is very mean."
>
> "Well, I thought that by--" he tried again desperately.
>
> "That's a different story," interjected the bird a bit more amiably. "If you want to buy, I'm sure I can arrange to sell, but with what you're doing you'll probably end up in a cell anyway."
>
> "That doesn't seem right," said Milo helplessly, for, with the bird taking everything the wrong way, he hardly knew what he was saying.
>
> "Agreed," said the bird, with a sharp click of his beak, "but neither is it left, although if I were you I would have left a long time ago."
>
> "Let me try once more," he said in an effort to explain. "In other words--"
>
> "You mean you have other words?" cried the bird happily. "Well, by all means, use them. You're certainly not doing very well with the ones you have now."

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/norton-juster/the-phantom-tollbooth/i-can-hardly.md)