Quotes from Philip Pullman

when a witch offers you her love, you should take it. If you don't, it's your own fault when bad things happen to you. It's like having to make a choice: a blessing or a curse. The one thing can't do is choose neither.

But he was a human being, or part of one, and he felt just as Lyra did: unhappy, and guilty, and wretchedly lonely.

No, we're renegades, she said. Not by our choice, but by his malice. Once the church learns about this, we're done for anyway. Take every advantage we can in the meantime. Go on, take the ring and stow it away, and mebbe we can use it.

obsequious submissiveness to the religious authorities, and ultimately to Geneva.

and asked the I Ching: Should I be here doing this, or should I go on somewhere else and keep searching? The reply came: Keeping still, so that restlessness dissolves; then, beyond the tumult, one can perceive the great laws.

We are all subject to the fates. But we must all act as if we are not, or die of despair.

Every atom of me, and every atom of you.

and asked the I Ching: Should I be here doing this, or should I go on somewhere else and keep searching? The reply came: Keeping still, so that restlessness dissolves; then, beyond the tumult, one can perceive the great laws. It went on: As a mountain keeps still within itself, thus a wise man does not permit his will to stray beyond his situation.

and it would all go back to the way it used to be. At the same time, he knew it wouldn't, but he had to hold on to something in the dark nights, and imagination was all he had.

Being invisible was hard work, unrewarding, soul-crushing work.

And Lord Asriel has a way special to himself of bringing about what he wants, he just has to call for something and—

I wish..." she said, and stopped. There was nothing that could be gained by wishing for it. A final deep shaky breath, and she was ready to go on.

because the pleasure of knowing secrets was doubled by telling them to people.

She was genuinely startled. Will had appeared out of nowhere in order to help her; surely that was obvious. The idea that she had come all this way in order to help him took her breath away.

They were all talking now; the excitement and relief had loosened everyone's tongue.

The intentions of a tool are what it does. A hammer intends to strike, a vise intends to hold fast, a lever intends to lift. They are what it is made for. But sometimes a tool may have other uses that you don't know. Sometimes in doing what you intend, you also do what the knife intends, without knowing. Can you see the sharpest edge of that knife?

Thoughts that didn't bear thinking kept crowding in and shouldering aside her pretended passivity.

A veces no hacemos lo debido porque lo indebido parece más peligroso, y no queremos demostrar que estamos asustados, de modo que hacemos algo que está mal simplemente porque es peligroso.

Many good liars have no imagination at all; it's that which gives their lies such wide-eyed conviction.

Look at that light up there: that's the sun of another world! Feel the warmth of it on your skin, now!

Iofur's playing a difficult game. But he's clever. He's done what they both want. He's kept Lord Asriel isolated, to please Mrs. Coulter; and he's let Lord Asriel have all the equipment he wants, to please him . Can't last, this equilibrium. Unstable. Pleasing both sides. Eh? The wave function of this situation is going to collapse quite soon. I have it on good authority.

It was the most dangerous thing she had ever said. She could see quite clearly that only his astonishment prevented him from killing her at once.

Lyra was bursting to interrupt, because she knew this process. So did Dr Malone, and so did the poet Keats, whoever he was, and all of them knew you couldn't get it by straining towards it.

To be sure, there's a warm passion behind what you say. But if you give in to that passion, friends, you're doing what I always warned you agin: you're a placing the satisfaction of your own feelings above the work you have to do... Don't you worry that John Faa's heart is too soft to strike a blow when the time comes. And the time will come under judgement. Not under passion.