Quotes from Norton Juster

Ah, this is fine, he cried triumphantly, holding up a small medallion on a chain. He dusted it off, and engraved on one side were the words WHY NOT? That's a good reason for almost anything - a bit used perhaps, but still quite serviceable.

And now, he continued, speaking to Milo, where were you on the night of July 27? What does that have to do with it? asked Milo. It's my birthday, that's what, said the policeman as he entered Forgot my birthday in his little book. Boys always forget other people's birthdays.

You can't improve sound by having only silence. The problem is to use each at the proper time.

We never choose which words to use, for as long as they mean what they mean to mean, we don't care if they make sense or nonsense.

For you often learn more by being wrong for the right reasons than you do by being right for the wrong reasons.

I know one thing for certain; it is much harder to tell whether you are lost than whether you were lost, for, on many occasions, where you are going is exactly where you are. On the other hand, if you often find that where you've been is not at all where you should have gone, and, since it's much more difficult to find your way back from someplace you've never left, I suggest you go there immediately and then decide.

I don't know of any wrong road to Dictionopolis, so if this road goes to Dictionopolis at all it must be the right road, and if it doesn't it must be the right road to somewhere else, because there are no wrong roads to anywhere. Do you think it will rain?

So many things are possible as long as you don't know they're impossible.

it's not just learning that's important. It's learning what to do with what you learn and learning why you learn things that matters.

Infinity is a dreadfully poor place. They can never manage to make ends meet.

Is everyone who lives in Ignorance like you? asked Milo. Much worse, he said longingly. But I don't live here. I'm from a place very far away called Context.

The Mathemagician nodded knowingly and stroked his chin several times. "You'll find," he remarked gently, "that the only thing you can do easily is be wrong, and that's hardly worth the effort.

You see. . . it's really quite strenuous doing nothing all day, so once a week we take a holiday and go nowhere, which was just where we were going when you came along. Would you care to join us?

Sometimes I find the best way of getting from one place to another is simply to erase everything and begin again.

When he was in school he longed to be out, and when he was out he longed to be in. On the way he thought about coming home, and coming home he thought about going. Wherever he was he wished he were somewhere else, and when he got there he wondered why he'd even bothered.

We're right here on this very spot. Besides, being lost is never a matter of not knowing where you are; it's a matter of not knowing where you aren't - and I don't care at all about where I'm not.

You can swim all day in the Sea of Knowledge and still come out completely dry. Most people do.

He paused again as a tear of longing rolled from cheek to lip with the sweet-salty taste of an old memory.

So each one of you agrees to disagree with whatever the other one agrees with, but if you both disagree with the same thing, aren't you really in agreement?

How can you see something that isn't there? yawned the Humbug, who wasn't fully awake yet. Sometimes, it's much simpler than seeing things that are,he said. For instance, if something is there, you can only see it with your eyes open, but if it isn't there, you can see it just as well with your eyes closed. That's why imaginary things are often easier to see than real ones. Then where is Reality? barked Tock. Right here,cried Alec, waving his arms.

AHA! interrupted Officer Shrift, making another note in his little book. Just as I thought: boys are the cause of everything.

Oh dear, all those words again, thought Milo as he climbed into the wagon with Tock and the cabinet members. How are you going to make it move? It doesn't have a-- Be very quiet, advised the duke, for it goes without saying.

You often learn more by being wrong for the right reasons than right for the wrong reasons.

And remember, also...that many places you would like to see are just off the map and many things you want to know are just out of sight or a little beyond your reach. But someday you'll reach them all, for what you learn today, for no reason at all, will help you discover all the wonderful secrets of tomorrow.