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

"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.