110+ Lloyd Alexander Quotes (Fantasy, Adventure And Humor)

Lloyd Alexander was an American author of fantasy novels for children and adults. He is best known for The Chronicles of Prydain, a series of five high fantasy novels set in the mythical land of Prydain. He also wrote many other books, including the Westmark Trilogy and The Vesper Holly series.

Top 10 Lloyd Alexander Quotes

1. Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It's a way of understanding it.
2. We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.
3. Using the device of an imaginary world allows me in some strange way to go to the central issues - it's one of many ways to express feelings about real people, about real human relationships.
4. Craftsmanship isn't like water in an earthen pot, to be taken out by the dipperful until it's empty. No, the more drawn out the more remains.
5. He [the cat] liked to peep into the refrigerator and risk having his head shut in by the closing door. He also climbed to the top of the stove, discontinuing the practice after he singed his tail.
6. The only thing a cat worries about is what's happening right now. As we tell the kittens, you can only wash one paw at a time.
7. Seize the day, whatever's in it to seize, before something comes along and seizes you.
8. I decided that adventure was the best way to learn about writing.
9. Thinking is a bit uncomfortable, but you'll get used to it. A matter of time and practice.
10. My concern is how we learn to be genuine human beings.

Lloyd Alexander Short Quotes

• There's this huge number of desperate people.
• All that writers can do is keep trying to say what is deepest in their hearts.
• Eventually, I was sent to Wales and Germany, and after the war, to Paris.
• It was 1943. The U.S. had already entered World War II, so I decided to join the army.
• The journey is the treasure.
• Most of my books have been written in the form of fantasy.
• My parents were horrified when I told them I wanted to be an author.
• After I saved some money, I quit work and went to a local college.
• I loved all the world's mythologies.
• Shakespeare, Dickens, Mark Twain, and so many others were my dearest friends and greatest teachers.

Lloyd Alexander Famous Quotes And Sayings

...Writings can be stolen, or changed, or used for evil purposes. But isn't the risk worth taking? The more people who share knowledge, the greater safeguard for it. Isn't there more danger in ignorance than knowledge? — Lloyd Alexander

If the pull of the outside world is strong, there is also a pull towards the human. The cat may disappear on its own errands, but sooner or later, it returns once again for a little while, to greet us with its own type of love. — Lloyd Alexander

I only suggest to you: Will you dwell on killing this man? You wish for revenge? If you do, he has already killed you by slow poison. So, let it go. Why waste your time? His life will see to his death. — Lloyd Alexander

I think imagination is at the heart of everything we do. Scientific discoveries couldn't have happened without imagination. Art, music, and literature couldn't exist without imagination. And so anything that strengthens imagination, and reading certainly does that, can help us for the rest of our lives. — Lloyd Alexander

Fantasy, in addition to being great storytelling, moves us at some unique and profound level. It has, I think, the power of mythology, or ancient dreams we have always and forever shared. In it, we find our real world and our real selves. — Lloyd Alexander

Fantasy is, I believe, the great nourisher of imagination. To paraphrase Einstein on how to develop intelligence in young people: Read fairy tales. Then read more fairy tales. — Lloyd Alexander

Most cats do not approach humans recklessly. The possibility of concealed weapons, clods or sticks, tend to make them reserved. Homeless cats in particular-with some justification, unfortunately-consider humans their natural enemies. Much ceremony must be observed, and a number of diplomatic feelers put out, before establishing a state of truce. — Lloyd Alexander

After seven years of writing - and working many jobs to support my family - I finally got published. — Lloyd Alexander

True allegiance is only given willingly. — Lloyd Alexander

Any fool can tell a story. Take a few odds and ends of things that happen to you, dress them up, shuffle them about, add a dash of excitement, a little color, and there you have it. — Lloyd Alexander

I'm convinced that imagination is at the heart of everything we do - in art, science, even astrophysics and higher mathematics. Imagination leads us to ask, "What if?" — Lloyd Alexander

My family pleaded with me to forget literature and do something sensible, such as find some sort of useful work. — Lloyd Alexander

The dear girl, I fear, may be contemplating some alarming, disruptive perhaps dangerous project. In which case, I would naturally do all in my power to keep her from any such rash or foolhardy enterprise – unless she wished me to accompany her. — Lloyd Alexander

Ever since human beings learned to talk to each other, we've been fascinated with storytelling of every kind. Blessed (or cursed) with insatiable curiosity, we have to know what happens next. — Lloyd Alexander

The muse in charge of fantasy wears good, sensible shoes. No foam-born Aphrodite, she vaguely resembles my old piano teacher, who was keen on metronomes. — Lloyd Alexander

Find what you want. I will find you. — Lloyd Alexander

-"He loved her...It was noble of him. It was beautiful." -"It was stupid. — Lloyd Alexander

The art is more important than the artist. The work is more important than the person who does it. You must be prepared to sacrifice all the you could possibly have, be, or do; you must be willing to go all the way for your art. If it is a question between choosing between your life and a work of art -- any work of art -- your decision is made for you. — Lloyd Alexander

Draw Dyrnwyn, only thou of noble worth, to rule with justice, to strike down evil. Who wields it in good cause shall slay even the Lord of Death. — Lloyd Alexander

Are you slow-witted? I'm so sorry for you. It's terrible to be dull and stupid. — Lloyd Alexander

He will not succeed in this," Taran said. "Somehow, we must find a way to escape. We dare not lose hope." "I agree absolutely," Fflewddur answered. "Your general idea is excellent; it's only the details that are lacking. — Lloyd Alexander

Hope is an essential thread in the fabric of all fantasies, an Ariadne's thread to guide us out of the labyrinth ... Human beings have always needed hope, and surely now more than ever. — Lloyd Alexander

Every man is a hero if he strives more for others than for himself alone. — Lloyd Alexander

In the race of men is much greed and envy; but of truth, little. — Lloyd Alexander

Life's a forge - Yes, and hammer and anvil, too. You'll be roasted, smelted, and pounded, and you'll scarce know what's happening to you. But stand proudly to it. Metal's worthless till it is shaped and tempered. More labor than luck. Face the pounding, don't fear the proving; and you'll stand well against any hammer and anvil. — Lloyd Alexander

He was a great poet" They lamented. No, he was not a great poet," said Theo, "He was a good poet, he could have been better. That's the real loss don't you see? — Lloyd Alexander

Miss Vesper Holly has the digestive talents of a goat and the mind of a chess master. She is familiar with half a dozen languages and can swear fluently in all of them. She understands the use of a slide rule but prefers doing calculations in her head. She does not hesitate to risk life and limb- mine as well as her own. No doubt she has other qualities as yet undiscovered. I hope not. — Lloyd Alexander

The point is not to look back, but to look ahead to what you hope still to do. — Lloyd Alexander

I have never known courage to be judged by the length of a man's hair. Or, for the matter of that, whether he has any hair at all. — Lloyd Alexander

Dealing with the impossible, fantasy can show us what may be really possible. If there is grief, there is the possibility of consolation; if hurt, the possibility of healing; and above all, the curative power of hope. If fantasy speaks to us as we are, it also speaks to us as we might be — Lloyd Alexander

A man who claims to be fearless is an idiot or a liar. — Lloyd Alexander

I intend to follow the path of virtue. It will not be overcrowded. — Lloyd Alexander

There is truth in all things, if you understand them well. — Lloyd Alexander

I can't stand people who say 'I told you so.' That's worse than somebody coming up and eating your dinner before you have a chance to sit down. — Lloyd Alexander

-I'm trying to make myself invisible. -That's an odd thing to attempt. — Lloyd Alexander

King Constantine IX of Regia had been killed three times and was bored with it. He wanted a bath. — Lloyd Alexander

King Arthur was one of my heroes - I played with a trash can lid for a knightly shield and my uncle's cane for the sword Excalibur. — Lloyd Alexander

All agreed that Quickset was the cleverest cat in the world. And, since Quickset had the same opinion, it was surely true. — Lloyd Alexander

That is why your sacrifice was all the more difficult. You chose to be a hero not through enchantment but through your own manhood. — Lloyd Alexander

When I was discharged, I attended the University of Paris and met a beautiful Parisian girl, Janine. We soon married and eventually returned to the States. — Lloyd Alexander

I can't single out one of my books or characters as a favorite. In the same way that I don't have a favorite kidney, my books are organically all part of myself. I might even say that put all together, the books are one ongoing, developing story - which, not coincidentally, happens to be my own lifestory. — Lloyd Alexander

Even in a fantasy realm, growing up is accomplished not without cost. — Lloyd Alexander

If a storyteller worried about the facts - my dear Lucian, how could he ever get at the truth? — Lloyd Alexander

At the end of knowledge, wisdom begins, and at the end of wisdom, there is not grief...but hope — Lloyd Alexander

Do you not believe that animals know grief and fear and pain? The world of men is not an easy one for them. — Lloyd Alexander

Books can truly change our lives: the lives of those who read them, the lives of those who write them. Readers and writers alike discover things they never knew about the world and about themselves. — Lloyd Alexander

Long ago I yearned to be a hero without knowing, in truth, what a hero was. Now, perhaps, I understand it a little better. A grower of turnips or a shaper of clay, a Commot farmer or a king--every man is a hero if he strives more for others than for himself alone. Once you told me that the seeking counts more than the finding. So, too, must the striving count more than the gain. — Lloyd Alexander

Child, child, do you not see? For each of us comes a time when we must be more than what we are. — Lloyd Alexander

For man to be worthy of any rank, he must strive first to be a man. — Lloyd Alexander

I know that some readers think (The High King) should have ended differently. I cried for three days afterwards. — Lloyd Alexander

For Wayfarers still journeying, for Wanderers at rest. — Lloyd Alexander

She had no particular breed in mind, no unusual requirements. Except the special sense of mutual recognition that tells dog and human they have both come to the right place. — Lloyd Alexander

And so they lived many happy years, and the promised tasks were accomplished. Yet long afterward, when all had passed away into distant memory, there were many who wondered whether King Taran, Queen Eilonwy, and their companions had indeed walked the earth, or whether they had been no more than dreams in a tale set down to beguile children. And, in time, only the bards knew the truth of it. — Lloyd Alexander

Llonio said life was a net for luck; to Hevydd the Smith life was a forge; and to Dwyvach the Weaver-Woman a loom. They spoke truly, for it is all of these. But you,' Taran said, his eyes meeting the potter's, 'you have shown me life is one thing more. It is clay to be shaped, as raw clay on a potter's wheel. — Lloyd Alexander

Forgive me....I called you an idiot. I spoke too hastily. You are not. Had I given it more thought, I would have called you a scoundrel. — Lloyd Alexander

How easy it is to think well of ourselves. Until the moment is upon us, we can never be certain. — Lloyd Alexander

It is harsh enough for each man to bear his own wound. But he who leads bears the wounds of all who follow him. — Lloyd Alexander

If we nourish imagination, we nourish everything else. — Lloyd Alexander

A crown is more discomfort than adornment. If you have learned that, you have already learned much. — Lloyd Alexander

She has given you something of value: the truth in her heart. — Lloyd Alexander

This much have I learned: A man's life weighs more than glory, and a price paid in blood is a heavy reckoning. — Lloyd Alexander

We hold each other's lives in our open hands, not in clenched fists. — Lloyd Alexander

For the deeds of a man, not the words of a prophecy, are what shape his destiny. — Lloyd Alexander

We don't need to have just one favorite. We keep adding favorites. Our favorite book is always the book that speaks most directly to us at a particular stage in our lives. And our lives change. We have other favorites that give us what we most need at that particular time. But we never lose the old favorites. They're always with us. We just sort of accumulate them. — Lloyd Alexander

If I do find pride, I'll not find it in what I was or what I am, but what I may become. Not in my birth, but in myself. — Lloyd Alexander

If writers learn more from their books than do readers, perhaps I may have begun to learn. — Lloyd Alexander

I can't make sense out of that girl," he said to the bard, "Can you?" "Never mind," Fflewddur said, "We aren't really expected to. — Lloyd Alexander

Trust your luck, Taran Wanderer. But don't forget to put out your nets! — Lloyd Alexander

Most of us are called on to perform tasks far beyond what we can do. Our capabilities seldom match our aspirations, and we are often woefully unprepared. To this extent, we are all Assistant Pig-Keepers at heart. — Lloyd Alexander

You know how chickens are, imagining the world coming to an end one moment, then pecking corn the next. — Lloyd Alexander

Keep out of this," Lucian said. "I'm not smiting anybody." "You're showing mercy." Catch-a-Tick nodded. "That's heroic, too. But not as good as smiting. — Lloyd Alexander

No matter what has happened, you're not a pig-boy; you're an Assistant Pig Keeper! — Lloyd Alexander

A crown is a pitiless master, harsher than the staff of a pig-keeper; while a staff bears up, a crown weighs down, beyond the strength of any man to wear it lightly. — Lloyd Alexander

...righteousness [is] always more believable when combined with dreariness. — Lloyd Alexander

Favorite books and authors while growing up - I'd need a book to list them all. For the sake of brevity: Shakespeare, Dickens, Mark Twain, Victor Hugo, world's mythology, the Arthurian legends. And the unabridged dictionary. And they're still my favorites. They get better each time I read them. — Lloyd Alexander

No, no," said Taran slowly, "It would be folly to think of attacking them." He smiled quickly at Fflewddur. "The bards would sing of us," he admitted, "but we'd be in no position to appreciate it. — Lloyd Alexander

You have a point," said Fronto, "and even a poet must occasionally bow to logic. — Lloyd Alexander

Paradoxically, in fantasy for young people I was able to express my own deepest feelings and attitudes more than I had ever done in writing for adults. — Lloyd Alexander

Is there not glory enough in living the days given to us? You should know there is adventure in simply being among those we love and the things we love, and beauty, too. — Lloyd Alexander

Stale water is a poor drink. Stale skill is worse. And the man who walks in his own footsteps only ends where he began. — Lloyd Alexander

Is there worse evil than that which goes in the mask of good? — Lloyd Alexander

And thus did an Assistant Pig-Keeper become High King of Prydain. — Lloyd Alexander

Morgant?" Taran asked, turning a puzzled glance to Gwydion. "How can there be honor for such a man?" "It is easy to judge evil unmixed," replied Gwydion. "But, alas, in most of us good and bad are closely woven as the threads on a loom; greater wisdom than mine is needed for the judging. — Lloyd Alexander

Go back' Taran shouted at the top of his voice.'Have you lost your wits?' Eilonwy, for it was she, half-halted. She had tucked her plaited hair under a leather helmet. The Princess of Llyr smiled cheerfully at him. 'I understand you're upset,' she shouted back, 'but that's no cause to be rude.' She galloped on. For a time, Taran could not believe he had really seen her. — Lloyd Alexander

Evil cannot be conquered by wishing. — Lloyd Alexander

Story, finally, is humanity's autobiography. — Lloyd Alexander

What you may seek and what you may find are not always one. — Lloyd Alexander

Two cats can live as cheaply as one, and their owner has twice as much fun — Lloyd Alexander

...alas, raising a young lady is a mystery even beyond an enchanter's skill. — Lloyd Alexander

If life is a loom, the pattern you weave is not so easily unraveled. — Lloyd Alexander

Life Lessons by Lloyd Alexander

1. Lloyd Alexander's work teaches us to be brave and to take risks in order to reach our goals. He also emphasizes the importance of friendship and loyalty, as well as the power of imagination and creativity. Lastly, his stories show us that no matter how dark and difficult the situation, there is always hope and a way to overcome any obstacle.