“Then very faintly, he heard above his head the low familiar murmur of the sea outside. At once the comfortable noise made him cheerful, and he even remembered what they were supposed to be.”

“It is a burden...(M)ake no mistake about that. Any great gift or power or talent is a burden and this more than any, and you will long to be free of it. But there is nothing to be done. If you were born with the gift, then you must serve it, and nothing in this world or out of it may stand in the way of that service, because that is why you were born and that is the Law."- Susan Cooper ("Merriman" The Dark is Rising)”

“Never dismiss anyone's value until you know him.”

“Then very faintly, he heard above his head the low familiar murmur of the sea outside. At once the comfortable noise made him cheerful, and he even remembered what they were supposed to be.”

“The night became silver again; looking up, it was as if they saw the moon sailing through the clouds instead of the other way around; racing smoothly across the sky, passing puffs and wisps of cloud on either side, and yet never moving from its place.”

“She understood about the comfort you can get from a small separate world, whether it's a theatre or a basketball team or the inside of a book.”

“For this was Christmas, which had always been a time of magic, to him and to all the world.”

“You know how many there are. You can't convince them and you can't kill 'em. You can only do your best in the opposite direction...”

“I do not believe any power can possess the mind of a man or woman... I believe in God-given free will, you see. I think nothing is forced on us, except by other people like ourselves. I think our choices are our own.”

“Open for sun, closed for rain, that's the poor man's weathervane.”

“Your father... doesn't work late for you to pinch his dinner.”