Yes, freedom is magnificent. But freedom is hard work.
All of life hinges on what one does next, until finally one makes the wrong choice.
Come what may and hell to pay.
In order to remember who you are, you have to have known it in the first place.
It was hard to tell what her weapons were, except for that sort of inane good sense and emotional honesty.
If you’re ever dragged from your chambers at midnight, blindfolded and gagged, without being told whether you’re off to a firing squad or a surprise birthday party, you’ll find that you turn and return to that pivotal moment.
Those born dull remain dull.
Such silly things, children – and so embarrassing – because they keep changing themselves out of shame, out of a need to be loved or something.
The wickedness of men is that their power breeds stupidity and blindness... Women are weaker, but their weakness is full of cunning and an equally rigid moral certainty. Since their arena is smaller, their capacity for real damage is less alarming.
Some realities are too onerous to be borne by nations, let alone by children.
The alien girl – she called herself Dorothy – was by virtue of her survival elevated to living sainthood. The dog was merely annoying.
But to be most effective, the faces of the children would need to be painted in a blur, the way all children’s faces truly are. For they blur as they run; they blur as they grow and change so fast; and they blur to keep us from loving them too deeply, for their protection, and also for ours.
But what is character? How solid? We cut our hair, we shave our beards, we lose a limb. We remain ourselves. In dreams, however, we swap identities licentiously. We sabotage the structures of our character without a thought.
We are an experiment in situation ethics set by the unnamed god.
So Oxford, at its inception a huddle of theologicians and divines, grew into a city of dreams, and much good may come of that. Little surprise that Middle-earth and Narnia were both discovered here.
Little Miss Muffet and Mary Contrary, Found in a garden a spider most scary: It stung them and hung them to save them for dinner, A fate that awaits the conventional sinner.
Animals in pens have lots of time to develop theories”, said the Cow, “I’ve heard more than one clever creature draw a connection between the rise of tiktokism and the erosion of traditional Animal labour. We weren’t beasts of burden, but we were good reliable labourers. If we were made redundant in the workforce, it was only a matter of time before we’d be socially redundant too.
He spoke in one of the American accents; Lydia couldn’t distinguish among them. To her they all sounded dry and tinny. Almost quack-like.
She reasoned that because she was beautiful she was significant, though what she signified, and to whom, was not clear to her yet.
I’m no pawn,” said Glinda. “I take all the credit in the world for my own foolishness. Good gracious, dear, all of life is a spell. You know that. But you do have some choice.