Northern Lights: His Dark Materials 1

"But suppose your dæmon settles in a shape you don't like?"

"Well, then, you're discontented, en't you? There's plenty of fold as'd like to have a lion as a dæmon and they end up with a poodle. And till they learn to be satisfied with what they are, they're going to be fretful about it. Waste of feeling, that is."

In Lyra’s heart, revulsion struggled with compassion, and compassion won.

You cannot change what you are, only what you do.

“That’s the duty of the old,” said the Librarian, “to be anxious on behalf of the young. And the duty of the young is to scorn the anxiety of the old.”

Human beings can’t see anything without wanting to destroy it, Lyra. That’s original sin.

“We are all subject to the fates. But we must all act as if we are not,” said the witch, “or die of despair.”

Being a practiced liar doesn't mean you have a powerful imagination. Many good liars have no imagination at all; it's that which gives their lies such wide-eyed conviction.