He was not without philosophy, this shopkeeper, and he knew that if a raven comes into your delicatessen and steals a whole baloney it is either an act of God or it isn't, and in either case there isn't very much you can do about it.
~~~A Fine and Private Place~~~

He knew very well that the great majority of human conversation is meaningless. A man can get through most of his days on stock answers to stock questions, he thought. Once he catches onto the game, he can manage with an assortment of grunts. This would not be so if people listened to each other, but they don't.
~~~A Fine and Private Place~~~

The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone. She was very old, though she did not know it, and she was no longer the careless color of sea foam, but rather the color of snow falling on a moonlit night. But her eyes were still clear and unwearied, and she still moved like a shadow on the sea.
~~~The Last Unicorn~~~

Generation after generation, wolves and rabbits alike they hunted and loved and had children and died, and as the unicorn did none of these things, she never grew tired of watching them.
~~~The Last Unicorn~~~

You know better than to expect a butterfly to know your name. All they know are songs and poetry, and anything else they hear. They mean well, but they can't seem to keep things straight. And why should they? They die so soon.
~~~The Last Unicorn~~~

"I am Schmendrick the Magician, and I make a bad enemy," he declared. " I am older than I look, and less amiable. . . ."
~~~The Last Unicorn~~~

...for any true philosopher this world is zoo enough, complete with cages, feeding times, breeding programs, and earnest docents...
~~~"Professor Gottesman and the Indian Rhinoceros"

"Something looks out for him," she said to her husband. "I always knew that, I couldn't tell you why. Uncle Gustav is somebody's dear stuffed Charles."
~~~"Professor Gottesman and the Indian Rhinoceros"

"Me, I drink, I still smoke, I still eat all kinds of stuff they tell me not to eat - I don't even floss, for God's sake. My circulation works like the post office, and even my cholesterol has arthritis. Only reason I've lasted this long is I had this stupid job teaching beautiful, useless stuff to idiots."
~~~"Professor Gottesman and the Indian Rhinoceros"

"Death undoubtedly lives in London," said Lady Neville, "like everyone else of any importance, though he probably goes to Deauville for the summer. Actually Death must live fairly near my own house. ... When I stop to think of it, it's really rather strange that we haven't met before now, on the street."
~~~"Come Lady Death"

Death's laughter was gay and soft. "I thought that among so many beautiful people it might be better to be beautiful. I was afraid of frightening everyone and spoiling the party."
~~~"Come Lady Death"

When he held her, she rolled in his arms like a stranded ship with the waves slamming into her. I always get the criers, he thought sadly. My girls always cry, sooner or later. But never for me.
~~~"Lila the Werewolf"

That's the great advantage of making the same mistake a lot of times. You come to know it, and you can study it and get inside it, really make it yours.
~~~"Lila the Werewolf"

"Hey, I'm sane. All things considered. Weird is not wacko, there's a fine but definite line."
~~~"Julie's Unicorn"

It was a lonesome, stupid time, and if I learned anything from it, it doesn't show.
~~~"My Last Heroes"

Douglas Adams Richard Adams Richard Bach Peter S. Beagle Victor Hugo Philip Pullman J.K. Rowling Bram Stoker Tom Stoppard

Russian writers Mikhail Bulgakov Venedikt Erofeev Vladimir Nabokov Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoi Mikhail Zoschenko Russian proverbs Miscellany A-C Anonymous/Unknown Aesop Margaret Atwood Natalie Babbitt Dan Brown Hugh Brown Shu Bill Bryson Anthony Burgess Michael Chabon Robert Cormier Sharon Creech

Miscellany D-E Avram Davidson Charles Dickens Steven Dietz George Eastman Umberto Eco Albert Einstein Ralph Waldo Emerson Michael Ende Juliana Ewing Miscellany F-K John Fowles Neil Gaiman Parke Godwin James Goldman William Goldman Simon R. Green The Brothers Grimm Ursula Hegi Aldous Huxley Helen Keller

Miscellany L-T Robert Lasner John Le Carre Nathaniel Lee Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont C. S. Lewis Mary Little David Mamet Merrill Markoe A. A. Milne Jean Baptiste Moliere Garth Nix Edgar Allan Poe Anne Rice Francois de la Rochefoucald Arthur Schopenhauer Lemony Snicket Henry David Thoreau Mark Twain

Miscellany U-Z Voltaire Edith Wharton Oscar Wilde Tennessee Williams Budge Wilson Tom Wolfe Personal Quotebook

Email Me