# Quote — Philip Pullman, The Subtle Knife: His Dark Materials 2

> "You have a strange way about you, Dr. Grumman. You ever spend any time among the witches?"
>
> "Yes," said Grumman. "And among academicians, and among spirits. I found folly everywhere, but there were grains of wisdom in every stream of it. No doubt there was much more wisdom that I failed to recognize. Life is hard, Mr. Scoresby, but we cling to it all the same."
>
> "And this journey we're on? Is that folly or wisdom?"
>
> "The greatest wisdom I know."
>
> "Tell me again what your purpose is. You're going to find the bearer of this subtle knife, and what then?"
>
> "Tell him what his task is."
>
> "And that's a task that includes protecting Lyra," the aeronaut reminded him.
>
> "It will protect all of us."

- Author: [Philip Pullman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-pullman.md)
- Book: [The Subtle Knife: His Dark Materials 2](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-pullman/the-subtle-knife-his-dark-materials-2.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Pullman#The_Subtle_Knife_(1997)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-pullman/the-subtle-knife-his-dark-materials-2/you-have-a-strange

## More from this book

> I hold the subtle knife on behalf of the Guild.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-pullman/the-subtle-knife-his-dark-materials-2/i-hold-the.md)

> Who is this man who's got the knife?

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-pullman/the-subtle-knife-his-dark-materials-2/who-is-this.md)

> Both the Oblation Board and the Specters of Indifference are bewitched by this truth about human beings: that innocence is different from experience. The Oblation Board fears and hates Dust, and the Specters feast on it, but it's Dust both of them are obsessed by.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-pullman/the-subtle-knife-his-dark-materials-2/both-the-oblation.md)