Philip Pullman: And then what?" said her daemon sleepily. "Build what?...

True education flowers at the point when delight falls in love with responsibility.

Philip Pullman

true-love falling-in-love flower

One curious thing about growing up is that you don't only move forward in time; you move backwards as well, as pieces of your parents' and grandparents' lives come to you.

Philip Pullman

grandparent growing-up moving

You cannot change what you are, only what you do.

Philip Pullman

being-yourself life-changing change

I'll be looking for you, Will, every moment, every single moment. And when we do find each other again, we'll cling together so tight that nothing and no one'll ever tear us apart. Every atom of me and every atom of you... We'll live in birds and flowers and dragonflies and pine trees and in clouds and in those little specks of light you see floating in sunbeams... And when they use our atoms to make new lives, they wont' just be able to take one, they'll have to take two, one of you and one of me, we'll be joined so tight.

Philip Pullman

light flower clouds

I stopped believing there was a power of good and a power of evil that were outside us. And I came to believe that good and evil are names for what people do, not for what they are.

Philip Pullman

names life believe

A story, to me, has a particular sprite, like the angel of the spirit of that story - and it's my job to attend to what it wants to do.

Philip Pullman

angel stories jobs

I'm for open-mindedness and tolerance. I'm against any form of fanaticism, fundamentalism or zealotry, and this certainty of 'We have the truth.' The truth is far too large and complex. Nobody has the truth.

Philip Pullman

truth-is tolerance form

If you want something you can have it, but only if you want everything that goes with it, including all the hard work and the despair, and only if you're willing to risk failure.

Philip Pullman

want-something risk hard-work

The idea hovered and shimmered delicately, like a soap bubble, and she dared not even look at it directly in case it burst. But she was familiar with the way of ideas, and she let it shimmer, looking away, thinking about something else.

Philip Pullman

soap-bubbles ideas thinking

This is the value for me of writing books that children read. Children aren't interested in your appalling self-consciousness. They want to know what happens next. They force you to tell a story.

Philip Pullman

writing book children

That's the duty of the old, to be anxious on behalf of the young. And the duty of the young is to scorn the anxiety of the old.

Philip Pullman

anxiety maturity young

There are some themes, some subjects, too large for adult fiction; they can only be dealt with adequately in a children's book.

Philip Pullman

adults book children

Maybe sometimes we don't do the right thing because the wrong thing looks more dangerous, and we don't want to look scared, so we go and do the wrong thing just because it's dangerous. We're more concerned with not looking scared than with judging right.

Philip Pullman

judging fear looks

I have stolen ideas from every book I have ever read.

Philip Pullman

stolen book ideas

As Jane Austen might have put it: It is a truth universally acknowledged that young protagonists in search of adventure must ditch their parents.

Philip Pullman

parent writing adventure

I don't know where my ideas come from, but I know where they come to. They come to my desk, and if I'm not there, they go away again.

Philip Pullman

going-away writing ideas

People are too complicated to have simple labels.

Philip Pullman

labels simple people

When you choose one way out of many, all the ways you don't take are snuffed out like candles, as if they'd never existed.

Philip Pullman

you-choose philosophy way

I have maintained a passionate interest in education, which leads me occasionally to make foolish and ill-considered remarks alleging that not everything is well in our schools. My main concern is that an over-emphasis on testing and league tables has led to a lack of time and freedom for a true, imaginative and humane engagement with literature.

Philip Pullman

passionate league school

Being in love was like China: you knew it was there, and no doubt it was very interesting, and some people went there, but I never would.

Philip Pullman

knowing love travel

And then what?" said her daemon sleepily. "Build what?" "The Republic of Heaven," said Lyra.