The future reshapes the memory of the past in the way it recalibrates significance; some episodes are advanced, others lose purchase. Gregory Maguire More Quotes by Gregory Maguire More Quotes From Gregory Maguire Always the bridesmaid , never the bride." Always the godfather, never the god". Gregory Maguire bridesmaids brides I never use the words HUMANIST or HUMANITARIAN, as it seems to me that to be human is to be capable of the most heinous crimes in nature. Gregory Maguire humanitarian crime use Begging your pardon, sir....One population can't make peace with another by force. Gregory Maguire pardon population force Not everyone is born a witch or a saint. Not everyone is born talented, or crooked, or blessed; some are born definite in no particular at all. We are a fountain of shimmering contradictions, most of us. Beautiful in the concept, if we're lucky, but frequently tedious or regrettable as we flesh ourselves out. Gregory Maguire saint blessed beautiful Even God used silence as a strategy. Gregory Maguire strategy used silence Starlight and comet tails burned the tips of endless grass below into hammered silver. Like thousands of tapers in the chapel, just blown out but still glowing. If one could drown in the grass...it might be the best way to die. Gregory Maguire glowing tails might And girls need cold anger. They need the cold simmer, the ceaseless grudge, the talent to avoid forgiveness, the side stepping of compromise. They need to know when they say something that they will never back down, ever, ever. Gregory Maguire girl sides needs There were more ways to live than the ones given by one's superiors Gregory Maguire way-to-live given way One never learns how the witch became wicked, or whether that was the right choice for her~is it ever the right choice? Does the devil ever struggle to be good again, or if so is he not a devil? Gregory Maguire wicked choices struggle In summer moonlight, she was dangerously, inebriatingly magnified. Gregory Maguire moonlight summer The answer of course, is that the clock isn't meant to measure earthly time, but the time of the soul. Redemption and condemnation time. For the soul, each instant is always a minute short of judgment. Gregory Maguire redemption soul answers Yet who can say how our souls have been stamped by witnessing such a cruel drama? All souls are hostages to their human envelopes, but souls must decay and suffer at such indignity, don't you agree? Gregory Maguire soul suffering drama Memory is a part of the present. It builds us up inside; it knits our bones to our muscles and keeps our hearts pumping. It is memory that reminds our bodies to work, and memory that reminds our spirits to work to: it keeps us who we are.~Candle Gregory Maguire body heart memories She dropped her shyness like a nightgown, and in the liquid glare of sunlight on old boards she held up her hands-as if, in the terror of the upcoming skirmish, she had at last understood that she was beautiful. In her own way. Gregory Maguire boards beautiful hands That was such a wonderful time, even in its strangeness and sadness-and life isn't the same now. It's wonderful, but it isn't the same. Gregory Maguire strangeness sadness wonderful Not an ugly color, Nanny thought. Just not a human color. Gregory Maguire nannies ugly color Happy endings are still endings. Gregory Maguire happy-endings stills A capacity for inferiority in the growing adult is threatened by the temptation by squander that capacity ruthlessly, to revel in hallowness. The syndrom especially plaques anyone who lives behind a mask. An elephant in her disquise as a human princess, a scarecrow with painted features, a glittering tiara under which to glow and glide in anonymous glamour. A witch's hat, a wizards stole, a scholars gown, a soldiers dress sartorials. A hundred ways to duck the question: how will I live with myself now that I nkow what I know. Gregory Maguire princess ducks elephants And of the Witch? In the life of a Witch, there is no "after", in the "ever after" of a Witch there is no "happily"; in the story of a Witch, there is no afterword. Of that part that is beyond the life story, beyond the story of the life, there is-alas, or perhaps thank mercy-no telling. She was dead, dead, and gone, and all that was left of her was the carapace of her reputation for malice. Gregory Maguire wicked gone stories If you're ever in doubt, throw a pepper in the air. If it fails to come down, you have gone mad, so don't trust in anything. Gregory Maguire mad doubt air