It's only through honesty and courage that science can work at all. The Ptolemaic understanding of the solar system was undermined and corrected by the constant pressure of more and more honest reporting. Philip Pullman More Quotes by Philip Pullman More Quotes From Philip Pullman The book is second only to the wheel as the best piece of technology human beings have ever invented. A book symbolises the whole intellectual history of mankind; it's the greatest weapon ever devised in the war against stupidity. Philip Pullman technology war book It takes long practice, yes. You have to work. Did you think you could snap your fingers, and have it as a gift? What is worth having is worth working for. Philip Pullman practice long thinking To get the best out of life here ...Good grief. There's plenty of it about, so indulge. Give yourself some thing to remember. Fall in love. Fall out of love. Gamble. Get drunk. See how long you can stay awake. Go for long walks at night. Discover what you're afraid of doing, and then do it. Philip Pullman falling-in-love grief night Symbols and emblems were everywhere. Buildings and pictures were designed to be read like books. Everything stood for something else; if you had the right dictionary, you could read Nature itself. It was hardly surprising to find philosophers using the symbolism of their time to interpret knowledge that came from a mysterious source. Philip Pullman philosopher symbolism book I told him I was going to betray you, and betray Lyra, and he believed me because I was corrupt and full of wickedness; he looked so deep I felt sure he'd see the truth. But I lied too well. I was lying with every nerve and fiber and everything I'd ever done...I wanted him to find no good in me, and he didn't. There is none. Philip Pullman nerves truth lying I think it's perfectly possible to explain how the universe came about without bringing God into it, but I don't know everything, and there may well be a God somewhere, hiding away. Actually, if he is keeping out of sight, it's because he's ashamed of his followers and all the cruelty and ignorance they're responsible for promoting in his name. If I were him, I'd want nothing to do with them. Philip Pullman ignorance sight thinking I am a strong believer in the tyranny, the dictatorship, the absolute authority of the writer. Philip Pullman strong authority writing Make this the golden rule, the equivalent of the Hippocratic oath: Everything we ask a child to do should be worth doing. Philip Pullman golden should children Men pass in front of our eyes like butterflies, creatures of a brief season. We love them; they are brave, proud, beautiful, and clever. Philip Pullman butterfly clever beautiful The fact was that where Will is concerned, she was developing a new kind of sense, as if he were simply more in focus than anyone she'd known before. Everything about him was clear and close and immediate. Philip Pullman focus kind facts ...his face bore an expression that mingled haughty disdain with a tender, ardent sympathy, as if he would love all things if only his nature could let him forget their defects. Philip Pullman expression faces forget From what we are, spirit; from what we do, matter. Matter and spirit are one. Philip Pullman spirit matter When it comes to telling children stories, they don’t need simple language. They need beautiful language. Philip Pullman simple beautiful children If you can't think of what to write, tough luck; write anyway. Philip Pullman luck writing thinking You don't win races by wishing, you win them by running faster than everyone else does. Philip Pullman race winning running If a coin comes down heads, that means that the possibility of its coming down tails has collapsed. Until that moment the two possibilities were equal. But on another world, it does come down tails. And when that happens, the two worlds split apart. Philip Pullman doe two mean Every little increase in human freedom has been fought over ferociously between those who want us to know more and be wiser and stronger, and those who want us to obey and be humble and submit. Philip Pullman stronger humble want Even if it means oblivion, friends, I'll welcome it, because it won't be nothing. We'll be alive again in a thousand blades of grass, and a million leaves; we'll be falling in the raindrops and blowing in the fresh breeze; we'll be glittering in the dew under the stars and the moon out there in the physical world, which is our true home and always was. Philip Pullman stars home fall All writing is difficult. The most you can hope for is a day when it goes reasonably easily. Plumbers don't get plumber's block, and doctors don't get doctor's block; why should writers be the only profession that gives a special name to the difficulty of working, and then expects sympathy for it? Philip Pullman doctors block writing After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world. Philip Pullman mind writing book
