Quotes from Stephen R. Donaldson

The purpose of life—if it may be said to have purpose—is not ease. It is to choose, and to act upon the choice. In that task, we are not measured by outcomes. We are measured only by daring and effort and resolve.

Joy is in the ears that hear, not in the mouth that speaks. The world has few stories glad in themselves, and we must have gay ears to defy Despite" Foamfollower from (Lord Foul's Bane; 1977)

When all hope was gone, they heeded the counsels of despair. Had they continued to strive, defying their doom, some unforseen wonder might have occurred. And if it did not, still their glory would have surpassed their failure.

Oh, I have dreams, you fool. I have dreams. I dream of blood .

There is no doom so black or deep that courage and clear sight may not find another truth beyond it.

It may be that hope misleads. But hate—hate corrupts. I have been too quick to hate. I become like what I abhor.

Everything dies, from the smallest blade of grass to the biggest galaxy.

Of the authors published under Ballantine's Adult Fantasy logo, only Evangeline Walton 'spoke' to me.

I may not yet be as old as dirt, but dirt and I are starting to have an awful lot in common.

The portal structure is simply a technique: it is neither necessary nor unnecessary, except as the writer and the story make it so. In the case of 'The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant,' it was absolutely necessary to my intentions.

For a variety of reasons, my books struck the marketplace like a thunderclap; and one of those reasons was that there were so few alternatives available. Readers who loved Tolkien, and who were not satisfied by Terry Brooks, had nowhere else to turn.

When you've tried all the salves in the world and they don't work, you start thinking about fire

Whatever the explanation, it's perfectly obvious that our educational system has nothing to do with education: it's a babysitting service designed to replicate the worst qualities of the parents.