Quotes By Author: Peter S. Beagle

“Why did they go away, do you think? If there ever were such things.””Who knows? Times change. Would you call this age a good one for unicorns?””No, but I wonder if any man before us ever thought his time a good time for unicorns.”

“You have to be very deep to be dead, he thought, and I’m not. He began to have some concept of forever, and his mind shivered as his body had when he had wakened in the cold nights and thrust his hands between his thighs to keep warm. It will be a long night, he thought.”

“I will miss it so,” she said beside him. “This hell of a place, I will miss it so much. This fat body, walking mud puddle, deceived by everything, this impossible, ruinous accident of a world, these people who would truly rather hurt one another than eat—oh, there is nothing, nothing, nothing I would not do to stay here ten minutes longer. Oh, I will leave claw marks, I will drag mountains and forests away under my fingernails when I am dragged off. Such a stupid way to feel. I will be all dirty from clutching at this stupid planet, and the gods will laugh at me.”

“Whatever can die is beautiful — more beautiful than a unicorn, who lives forever, and who is the most beautiful creature in the world. Do you understand me?”

“Sparrows and cats will live in my shoe,Sooner than I will live with you.Fish will come walking out of the sea,Sooner than you will come back to me.”

“Envy nobody. It is the true secret of happiness, or at least the only one I know. (By Moonlight)”

“The magician stood erect, menacing the attackers with demons, metamorphoses, paralyzing ailments, and secret judo holds. Molly picked up a rock.”

“Marveling at his own boldness, he said softly, “I would enter your sleep if I could, and guard you there, and slay the thing that hounds you, as I would if it had the courage to face me in fair daylight. But I cannot come in unless you dream of me.”

“When I was alive, I believed — as you do — that time was at least as real and solid as myself, and probably more so. I said ‘one o’clock’ as though I could see it, and ‘Monday’ as though I could find it on the map; and I let myself be hurried along from minute to minute, day to day, year to year, as though I were actually moving from one place to another. Like everyone else, I lived in a house bricked up with seconds and minutes, weekends and New Year’s Days, and I never went outside until I died, because there was no other door. Now I know that I could have walked through the walls. (…) You can strike your own time, and start the count anywhere. When you understand that — then any time at all will be the right time for you.”

“I am no king, and I am no lord,And I am no soldier at-arms,” said he.”I’m none but a harper, and a very poor harper,That am come hither to wed with ye.””If you were a lord, you should be my lord,And the same if you were a thief,” said she.”And if you are a harper, you shall be my harper,For it makes no matter to me, to me,For it makes no matter to me.””But what if it prove that I am no harper?That I lied for your love most monstrously?””Why, then I’ll teach you to play and sing,For I dearly love a good harp,” said she.”

“Real magic can never be made by offering someone else’s liver. You must tear out your own, and not expect to get it back.”

“Great heroes need great sorrows and burdens, or half their greatness goes unnoticed. It is all part of the fairy tale.”