Quotes by Jane Yolen

“And at twelve, heading for adulthood, a child fears that the way she is at that moment is all she's ever going to be.”

“Fiction cannot recite the numbing numbers, but it can be that witness, that memory. A storyteller can attempt to tell the human tale, can make a galaxy out of the chaos, can point to the fact that ...”

“Well,' the Goddess said, 'your heart didn't heal straight the last time it broke. So we'll break it again and reset it so it heals straight this time.”

“The tales of Elfland do not stand or fall on their actuality but on their truthfulness, their speaking to the human condition, the longings we all have for the Faerie Other.”

“In fiction, the characters have their own lives. They may start as a gloss on the authors life, but they move on from there. In poetry, especially confessional poetry but in other poetry as well, t...”

“Do not expect too much from your child and she will grow in your love... But if you push her too much, you will push her away. A child is not yours to own but to raise. She may not be what you will...”

“You've got some power," Jakkin said. "One hugand the lights go out!”

“Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the mus...”

“1. Write every day2. Write what interests you.3. Write for the child inside of you. (Or the adult, if you are writing adult books.)4. Write with honest emotion5. Be careful of being facile6. Be war...”

“We write not just to show off, not just to tell, or only to have written. We write to know ourselves.”

“Love the writing, love the writing, love the writing... the rest will follow.”

“Literature is a textually transmitted disease, normally contracted in childhood.”

“Know, my son, that the enemy will always be with you. He will be in the shadow of your dreams and in your living flesh, for he is the other part of yourself. There will be times when he will surrou...”

“Touch magic. Pass it on.”

“Their lips were too thin to ask forgiveness, and their minds too mean to understand love.”

“I do not know where I am going or what I will do when I get there. I know only that to put one foot in front of the other, moves me on, away from you to a place, where I do not want to be.”

“from Taking Your Clothes to the Salvation Army:Okay, so strangers will be grateful for this, will wear the socks to keep their feet warm, blow their noses in your handkerchiefs, pull up the shorts,...”

“A book is a wonderful present. Though it may grow worn, it will never grow old.”

“Because though women lie when they have to and men lie all the time, the mirror always tells the truth.”

“You can only chase a butterfly for so long.”