I do, I’m afraid, understand books far more readily than I understand people. Books are so easy to get along with.
People say we can’t do anything about the way the world is; they say it’s set in stone. I say it looks like stone, but it’s mostly paint and cardboard.
No harm in listening. Alexei’s a child, not a wizard. We don’t lose control of our brains by listening.
You will never be tougher than you are now. Children are the toughest creatures on the planet. They endure.
Sometimes it seemed difficult for the adults in Sophie’s life to tell between ‘carried away’ and ‘absolutely correct but unbelieved.
You have been the great green adventure of my life. Without you my days would be unlit.
He was thirty-six years old, and six foot three. He spoke English to people and French to cats, and Latin to the birds. He had once nearly killed himself trying to read and ride a horse at the same time.
Let me introduce you. Sophie, this is Miss Eliot, from the National Childcare Agency. Miss Eliot, this is Sophie, from the ocean.
It’s inhuman to take your books away before you know the end.
Wolves, and stars, and snow: Those things made sense.
Cowardice is for cowards. Fear is for people with brains and eyes and functioning nerve endings.
Keep you secret, then, my darling. Everybody needs them. Secrets make you tough, and wily.
It’s like they’ve forgotten everything important, isn’t it? I mean, forgotten things like cats and dancing exist.
But those coins are wishes! You’re stealing other people’s wishes!”The look Matteo gave her was so flinty, she could have chipped a tooth on it. “If you have money to waste on wishes, you don’t need the wishes as badly as I need the money.