Lloyd Chudley Alexander (January 30, 1924 - May 17, 2007) was a widely influential American author of more than forty books, primarily fantasy novels for children and young adults. His most famous work is The Chronicles of Prydain, a series of five high fantasy novels whose conclusion, The High King, was awarded the 1969 Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature. He won U.S. National Book Awards in 1971 and 1982. (Click here for full Wikipedia article)
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A crown is a pitiless master, harsher than the staff of a pig- keeper; while a staff bears up, a crown weighs down, beyond the strength of any man to wear it lightly.
Craftsmanship isn't like water in an earthen pot, to be taken out by the dipperful until it's empty. No, the more drawn out the more remains.
Even in a fantasy realm, growing up is accomplished not without cost.
Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It's a way of understanding it.
For each of us comes a time when we must be more than what we are.
I have learned there is greater honor in a field well plowed than in a field steeped in blood.
If I do find pride, I'll not find it in what I was or what I am, but what I may become. Not in my birth, but in myself.
If I fret over tomorrow, I'll have little joy today.
If life is a loom, the pattern you weave is not so easily unraveled.
If you want truth, you should begin by giving it.
In some cases we learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.
Is there not glory enough in living the days given to us? You should know there is adventure in simply being among those we love and the things we love, and beauty, too.
Is there worse evil than that which goes in the mask of good?
It is easy to judge evil unmixed. But, alas, in most of us good and bad are closely woven as the threads on a loom; greater wisdom than mine is needed for the judging.
It is not the trappings that make the prince, nor, indeed, the sword that makes the warrior.
Laws assure animals of protection- formally, officially, set down in black and white. But in the long run, the best protection is the human heart.
Many have pursued honor, and in the pursuit lost more of it than ever they could gain.
Neither refuse to give help when it is needed nor refuse to accept it when it is offered.
Once you have courage to look upon evil, seeing it for what it is and naming it by its true name, it is powerless against you, and you can destroy it.
Story, finally, is humanity's autobiography.
The deeds of a man, not the words of a prophecy, are what shape his destiny.
The destinies of men are woven one with the other, and you can turn aside from them no more than you can turn aside from your own.
The more we find to love, the more we add to the measure of our hearts.
The task counts more than the one who does it.
There is truth in all things, if you understand them well.
We hold each other's lives in our open hands, not in clenched fists.
We're neither good nor evil. We're simply interested in things as they are.
Well, that is one of the three foundations of learning: see much, study much, suffer much.
When I was a child I dreamed of adventure, glory, honor in feats of arms. I think now that these things are shadows.
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(January 30 is also the birthday of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.)
Categories: Lloyd Alexander, Quotes of the day
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