Quotes by Lev Grossman, The Magicians

“I got my heart's desire, and there my troubles began.”

“In Fillory you felt the appropriate emotions when things happened. Happiness was a real, actual, achievable possibility. It came when you called. Or no, it never left you in the first place.”

“As a teenager in Brooklyn Quentin had often imagined himself engaged in martial heroics, but after this he knew, as a cold immutable fact, that he would do anything necessary, sacrificing whatever ...”

“[F]or just one second, look at your life and see how perfect it is. Stop looking for the next secret door that is going to lead you to your real life. Stop waiting. This is it: there's nothing else...”

“A magician is strong because he feels pain. He feels the difference between what the world is and what he would make of it. Or what did you think that stuff in your chest was? A magician is strong ...”

“Well, why would you create something that had the power to hurt You? Or any of Your creatures? Why don't You help us? Do You have any idea how much we hurt? How much we suffer?I know all things, da...”

“I think youre magicians because youre unhappy. A magician is strong because he feels pain. He feels the difference between what the world is and what he would make of it. Or what did you think that...”

“The truth doesn't always make a good story, does it? ”

“It was so much easier to be angry. Being angry made him feel strong, even though-- and this contradiction did nothing to diminish his anger-- he was angry only because his position was so weak.”

“Becoming me was the greatest creative project of my life.”

“Language and reality are kept strictly apartreality is tough, unyielding stuff, and it doesnt care what you think or feel or say about it. Or it shouldnt.”

“If theres a single lesson that life teaches us, its that wishing doesn't make it so. Words and thoughts dont change anything. Language and reality are kept strictly apart reality is tough, unyield...”

“You said the words, and they altered the universe. By merely speaking you could create damage and pain, cause tears to fall, drive people away, make yourself feel better, make your life worse.”

“It wasn't nothing, but it wasn't everything either.”

“If there's a single lesson that life teaches us, it's that wishing doesn't make it so.”

“I have a little theory that I'd like to air here, if I may. What is it that you think makes you magicians?" More silence. Fogg was well into rhetorical-question territory now anyway. He spoke more ...”

“In a way fighting was just like using magic. You said the words, and they altered the universe. By merely speaking you could create damage and pain, cause tears to fall, drive people away, make you...”

“By the standards of magical society theyd fallen at the first hurdle: they hadnt had the basic good sense to keep their shit to themselves.”

“It's time to live with what we have and mourn what we lost. ”

“You just had to get some idea of what matters and what doesn't, and how much, and try not to be scared of the stuff that doesn't. Put it in perspective.”