Quotes from Diana Wynne Jones

These, Hern said, are the bodies of two kings. They were killed in senseless hatred, when both had lost nearly all they had. Someone is coming up the River who knows of this, and it pleases him very much. This will make it easy for him to suck out our souls, and the soul of this land, and rule us as his slaves.

Em primeiro lugar, leia sempre tudo cuidadosamente. A forma deve lhe dizer muito, quer seja pra auto-realização ou autodescoberta ou simples encantamento, ou um misto de ação e fala. Quando decidir isso, reveja tudo e defina que partes significam o que dizem e que partes são incluídas como quebra-cabeça. Você está chegando aos tipos mais poderosos.

Mallard, can you make nets? I made the best nets in Shelling, Duck said. Nothing will ever make Duck modest, but he does make good nets.

TONINO READ HALF THE NIGHT. With all the grown-ups hard at work in the Scriptorium, there was no one to tell him to go to bed.

If it had not been time to get up, he would have gone straight back to the beginning and started reading the book again.

And you call yourself a god! Tanamil fetched himself up onto one elbow and said, very earnestly, a very strange thing. I never called myself that, he said. Neither I nor any of the Undying ever made that claim. It is a claim men made for us, and that is how we came to be bound.

I think it was then that it dawned on me that Mum wasn't going to notice Chris was missing. She has been made so that she thinks Chris is just round the corner all the time. She doesn't realise that she never sees him. I don't know why I didn't understand earlier. If Aunt Maria can turn Chris into a wolf, she's surely strong enough to do this to Mum- except that it seems a different kind of thing, much more natural and ordinary, and I didn't really think she could do both kinds.

seen without clothes on. Their skins were greenish

Janet had an odd air of being dressed up, rather than dressed.

Granny always made Polly think of biscuits. She had a dry, shortbread sort of way to her, with a hidden taste that came out afterwards. Her kitchen had a biscuit smell to it, a nutty, butter smell like no other kitchen. (p. 9)

She was so happy that she had gone quiet all over. She felt like someone listening to great chords of music that were not to be interrupted by speaking. (p. 152)

I'm getting a figure now, by the way. If I breathe in, I almost have a waist. How about you?" "Sort of," said Polly. As Granny remarked when Polly introduced her to Fiona, both their figures were a pinch of faith, a spoonful of charity, and the rest entirely hope. But she admired Fiona's red hair and told them both not to wish their lives away. (p. 259-260)

people do lose sight of their ideals quite often in adolescence and young adulthood; they tend to see life as far too complex and then come up with the idea that things are only real and valid if they are unpleasant or boring.

That was Sophie's trouble. She was remorseless, but she lacked method.

In fact, I had time to be maddened by Christopher generally. He would keep calling me Grant in that superior way, and there were times when I wanted to hit him for it, or shout that it was only my alias, or - anyway he really annoyed me. Then he would say something that doubled me up with laughter and I discovered I liked him again. It was truly confusing.

When there's need enough, a way can often be found.

Seeing Seb's jeering face, it came to her that Seb had always loved her the way most people bear a grudge.

Ann left him there, kneeling among the violets looking out into the fog as if that glimpse of the castle had somehow broken his heart.

There's an enormous library, which boasts a copy of every book in the world — and many more from other worlds as well.

The best advice for dealing with cats is: Always greet them politely. Don't make an unnecessary fuss over them. Be on the alert for signs they want to communicate with you. Never, ever laugh at them! If you're lucky, you might just find that your cat will decide that you are a magical person worthy of attention. Or then again, maybe they'd just like some fish.

If you annoy me, watch out! I shall put you in a book as a baddie and then make people laugh at you.

When your surname is Smith, you need to make very sure everyone knows just which Smith you are.

I know Brian is nasty, but I had always thought it was his situation before this,' Nirupam remarked.... Charles could not answer at once, because he was not sure that a person's character could be separate from his situation in quite this way.

It was a very powerful politeness.