His Dark Materials Quotes

• Into this wild Abyss/ The womb of Nature, and perhaps her grave--/ Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire,/ But all these in their pregnant causes mixed/ Confusedly, and which thus must ever fight,/ Unless the Almighty Maker them ordain/ His dark materials to create more worlds,--/ Into this wild Abyss the wary Fiend/ Stood on the brink of Hell and looked a while,/ Pondering his voyage; for no narrow frith/ He had to cross.

  John Milton

  Fighting, Dark, Fire

  John Milton, Elijah Fenton, Samuel Johnson (1821). “Paradise lost”, p.63

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

  Philip Pullman

  Change, Being Yourself, Life Changing

  Philip Pullman (1995). “Northern lights”

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• I thought physics could be done to the glory of God, till I saw there wasn’t any God at all and that physics was more interesting anyway. The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that’s all.

  Philip Pullman

  Christian, Powerful, Mistake

  Philip Pullman (2007). “The Amber Spyglass”, Knopf Books for Young Readers

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• 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

  Maturity, Anxiety, Young

  Philip Pullman (1995). “Northern lights”

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• 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

  Life, Believe, Names

  Philip Pullman (2007). “The Amber Spyglass”, Knopf Books for Young Readers

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• 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

  Flower, Clouds, Light

  Philip Pullman (2007). “The Amber Spyglass”, Knopf Books for Young Readers

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• For a human being, nothing comes naturally,' said Grumman. 'We have to learn everything we do.

  Philip Pullman

  Inspirational, Students, Said

  Philip Pullman (2007). “The subtle knife”, Knopf Books for Young Readers

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• We have to build the Republic of Heaven where we are, because for us there is no elsewhere.

  Philip Pullman

  Heaven, Republic, Elsewhere

  Philip Pullman (2007). “The Amber Spyglass”, Knopf Books for Young Readers

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• Everything has a meaning, if only we could read it.

  Philip Pullman

  Ifs

  "Lyra's Oxford". Book by Philip Pullman, 2003.

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

  Philip Pullman

  Heaven, Republic, Said

  Philip Pullman (2007). “The Amber Spyglass”, Knopf Books for Young Readers

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• So Lyra and her daemon turned away from the world they were born in, and looked toward the sun, and walked into the sky.

  Philip Pullman

  Sky, World, Sun

  Philip Pullman (1995). “Northern lights”

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• He meant the Kingdom was over, the Kingdom of Heaven, it was all finished. We shouldn't live as if it mattered more than this life in this world, because where we are is always the most important place.... We have to be all those difficult things like cheerful and kind and curious and patient, and we've got to study and think and work hard, all of us, in all our different worlds, and then we'll build... The Republic of Heaven.

  Philip Pullman

  Hard Work, Thinking, Heaven

  Philip Pullman (2007). “The Amber Spyglass”, Knopf Books for Young Readers

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• All the history of human life has been a struggle between wisdom and stupidity.

  Philip Pullman

  Struggle, Stupidity, Human Life

  Philip Pullman (2007). “The Amber Spyglass”, Knopf Books for Young Readers

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• Into this wild abyss, The womb of Nature and perhaps her grave.

  John Milton

  Nature, Graves, Womb

  John Milton (1801). “The Poetical Works of John Milton: With the Principal Notes of Various Commentators. To which are Added Illustrations, with Some Account of the Life of Milton”, p.160

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• Everything means something.

  Philip Pullman

  Mean

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• Tolkien seems to me reactionary, conservative, fearful of a modern world. Fearful of anything that isn't sanctioned by the passage of long eons of time. I think what I'm doing in His Dark Materials is politically the reverse of that.

  Philip Pullman

  Dark, Thinking, Long

  "His Grimm Materials: A Conversation With Philip Pullman". Interview with Michael Mechanic, www.motherjones.com. November/December 2012.

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• The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake.

  Philip Pullman

  Christian, Powerful, Mistake

  Philip Pullman (2007). “The Amber Spyglass”, Knopf Books for Young Readers

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• But we can trust him Roger, I swear," she said with a final effort,"Because he's Will.

  Philip Pullman

  Effort, Finals, Roger

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