Quotes from Gregory Maguire

Well, said Madame Morrible in a carrying tone, one expects poetry, if it is Poetry, to offend. It is the Right of Art. I think she's bonders, said Elphaba.

I am a woman who slept with my father the Pope. They say I did, at least, and so does he. And who am I to make the Pope a liar, And who is he to make a liar of me?

I'm not good, I'm just quiet

Talking among children is an overrated concept.

She seems to float in a life next to ours, with limited contact.

I do not listen when anyone uses the word "immoral". In the young it is ridiculous. In the old, it is sententious and reactionary. In the middle-aged, who love and fear the idea of moral life the most, it is hypocritical.

Why were memories so independent? So jealous of corroborating detail?

You can't criticize the size of a world.

Was it an accident I saw that, Fiyero wondered, looking at the manager with new eyes. Or is it just that the world unwraps itself to you, again and again, as soon as you are ready to see it anew?

He hadn't yet had enough experience with humans to know that the thing they hold dearest to their hearts, the last thing they relinquish when all else is fading, is the consoling belief in the inferiority of others.

Le malheur est l'issue naturelle de la vie, et pourtant nous continuons à faire des bébés.

She'll have to cross the distance herself. Trust me on that, Brrr. I know about it. Either she'll choose to visit us when there is enough of her present to visit, or day by day she'll learn to survive without needing what you need and I need.

I do not listen when anyone uses the word 'immoral'. In the young it is ridiculous. In the old, it is sententious and reactionary. In the middle-aged, who love and fear the idea of moral life the most, it is hypocritical.

Memory is part of the present. It builds us up inside; it knits our bones to our muscles and keeps our heart pumping. It is memory that reminds our bodies to work, and memory that reminds our spirits to work, too: it keeps us who we are. It is the influence that keeps us from flying off into separate pieces like"—she looked around—"like this peel of orange, and that clutch of pips.

Let me be the first to welcome you to Shiz, Glinda. This is your first year? Please, it is Galinda. The proper old Gigllikinese pronunciation, if you don't mind.

She didn't want to say goodbye to Helia but her appetite for a dramatic occasion was immense.

Ada. Even if you run away from me like some I know, I'm still Ada.

One never learns how the witch became wicked, or whether that was the right choice for her -- is it ever the right choice? Does the devil ever struggle to be good again, or if so is he not a devil? It is at the very least a question of definitions.

I'd give a lot to achieve fun," Elphaba said. "The best I usually hope for is stirring, and when people say that they're usually referring to digestion-

The funeral was modest, a love-her-and-shove-her affair.

You always said I could see the present," said Candle, when she could speak. "But I can see nothing about her—my own daughter." Liir smoothed his hand over her silky flank. "Maybe that's not so surprising. Maybe all parents are blindest to their own offspring.

Listen to me, sister," she said. "Remember this: Nothing is written in the stars. Not these stars, nor any others. No one controls your destiny.

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. None

The typical male response to happiness, thought Melena: to predict its demise.