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cd15dac Film photography will always be superior to digital - because no matter how many lasers and instant buttons and HD pixels you've got, a human being can take a photograph with much more integrity and meaning than one a built-in robot took. art camera cellulod compassion digital film future hd history human instant kodak magic nature nostalgia photo photography robot Rebecca McNutt
2107024 We are touched by magic wands. For just a fraction of our day life is perfect, and we are absolutely happy and in harmony with the earth. The feeling passes much too quickly. But the memory - and the anticipation of other miracles - sustains us in the battle indefinitely. earth harmony magic miracles nature perfection sustenance John Nichols
0a7c027 "You want me to go back into that house protected by a magic sticky note?" "Don't even start," I told him. "It's working. If it weren't working, you couldn't drag me into that place." "What did you write on here? 'Don't die'?" "No, I wrote, 'Don't be an a-hole!'" I headed for the house. "On yours or mine?" humor jim magic Ilona Andrews
9ecdce4 I have no cause to love Mr. Norrell- far from it. But I know this about him: he is a magician first and everything else second- and Jonathan is the same. Books and magic are all either of them really care about. magic reading Susanna Clarke
881b1c8 As for her, I'd forgotten her for the moment. So I shall never understand why, suddenly, bewilderingly, I was certain that everything I had imagined to be truth was false. False. Only the magic and the dream are true--all the rest's a lie. Let it go. Here is the secret. Here. lies magic secrets truth Jean Rhys
b95bc32 How is a magician to exist without books? Let someone explain to me. It is like asking a politician to achieve high office without the benefit of bribes or patronage. 2004 books bribery corruption jonathan-strange magic patronage politicians Susanna Clarke
885e469 Out last chance is a cat's magic sight. We are doomed. cat humor magic Laurell K. Hamilton
093da30 Beware Stephen! There will probably be a magical combat of some sort. I daresay I shall have to take on different forms - cockatrice, raw head and bloody bones, rains of fire, etc., etc. You may wish to stand back a little! magic transformation Susanna Clarke
1016a52 Two things never mix: one is enchantments and the other is meddling with them. humorous magic meddling Lloyd Alexander
0d1a848 "Thank God!" he said, and kissed her. Kissing Mairelon was much nicer than anything she had ever dared to imagine, despite the headache." magic magicians Patricia C. Wrede
d84490b His touch warmed my whole body. I was longing to throw my arms around him and hold him close, but the magic of this moment was like a single, lovely strand of cobweb, fragile and delicate. One wrong move and it would snap beyond mending. magic ya-fantasy-romance Juliet Marillier
3bc0ec8 For magic consists in this, the true naming of a thing. fantasy magic Ursula K. LeGuin
a4e5043 They have no gods. They work magic, and think they are gods themselves. But they are not. And when they die, they (...) become dust and bone, and their ghosts whine on the wind a little while till the wind blows them away. They do not have immortal souls. fantasy magic sorcery tombs-of-atuan ursula-k-le-guin Ursula K. Le Guin
4c8d46b "That's a stupid name! Whirly-gig is much better, I think. Who in their right mind would point at this thing and say, 'I'm going to fly in my Model-A1'. amnesia androids apocalypse carrack cityisle cityspire count damnation death desolate dreams emily-dickinson empty fedora ghosts gothic greek-mythology haunting haunts horace-walpole jazz life magic magick mannequins masquerade music phillip-k-dick piano poems puddles rain reflections romance sacrifice science-fiction sex shakespeare ships songs specters spectre storms tempest waking water Nathan Reese Maher
13ec223 "We have a predator that came from the depths of the cosmos and took over the rule of our lives. Human beings are its prisoners. The Predator is our lord and master. It has rendered us docile, helpless. If we want to protest, it suppresses our protest. If we want to act independently, it demands that we don't do so... I have been beating around the bush all this time, insinuating to you that something is holding us prisoner. Indeed we are held prisoner! "This was an energetic fact for the sorcerers of ancient Mexico ... They took us over because we are food for them, and they squeeze us mercilessly because we are their sustenance. just as we rear chickens in chicken coops, the predators rear us in human coops, humaneros. Therefore, their food is always available to them." "No, no, no, no," [Carlos replies] "This is absurd don Juan. What you're saying is something monstrous. It simply can't be true, for sorcerers or for average men, or for anyone." "Why not?" don Juan asked calmly. "Why not? Because it infuriates you? ... You haven't heard all the claims yet. I want to appeal to your analytical mind. Think for a moment, and tell me how you would explain the contradictions between the intelligence of man the engineer and the stupidity of his systems of beliefs, or the stupidity of his contradictory behaviour. Sorcerers believe that the predators have given us our systems of belief, our ideas of good and evil, our social mores. They are the ones who set up our hopes and expectations and dreams of success or failure. They have given us covetousness, greed, and cowardice. It is the predators who make us complacent, routinary, and egomaniacal." "'But how can they do this, don Juan? [Carlos] asked, somehow angered further by what [don Juan] was saying. "'Do they whisper all that in our ears while we are asleep?" "'No, they don't do it that way. That's idiotic!" don Juan said, smiling. "They are infinitely more efficient and organized than that. In order to keep us obedient and meek and weak, the predators engaged themselves in a stupendous manoeuvre stupendous, of course, from the point of view of a fighting strategist. A horrendous manoeuvre from the point of view of those who suffer it. They gave us their mind! Do you hear me? The predators give us their mind, which becomes our mind. The predators' mind is baroque, contradictory, morose, filled with the fear of being discovered any minute now." "I know that even though you have never suffered hunger... you have food anxiety, which is none other than the anxiety of the predator who fears that any moment now its manoeuvre is going to be uncovered and food is going to be denied. Through the mind, which, after all, is their mind, the predators inject into the lives of human beings whatever is convenient for them. And they ensure, in this manner, a degree of security to act as a buffer against their fear." "The sorcerers of ancient Mexico were quite ill at ease with the idea of when [the predator] made its appearance on Earth. They reasoned that man must have been a complete being at one point, with stupendous insights, feats of awareness that are mythological legends nowadays. And then, everything seems to disappear, and we have now a sedated man. What I'm saying is that what we have against us is not a simple predator. It is very smart, and organized. It follows a methodical system to render us useless. Man, the magical being that he is destined to be, is no longer magical. He's an average piece of meat." "There are no more dreams for man but the dreams of an animal who is being raised to become a piece of meat: trite, conventional, imbecilic." aliens ancient-history anunnaki beliefs cause-and-effect chaos cognitive-dissonance cosmos dreams food human important magic manipulation matrix mind-control occult predator problems religion secrets service shamanism slavery sorcerer sorcery virus Carlos Castaneda
78e681e Sorcerers believe that an action taken for the right reasons has an unreasonable chance of success. adventure-travel fairy-tales-fairytale fantasy luck lucky-people magic middle-grade-fantasy Gail Carson Levine
1c7957c The Magic Circle by John William Waterhouse [...] stuck in my mind because of the subject's flagrant health and safety violation. As any competent practitioner will tell you, you always complete your protective circle *before* you start your workings. magic urban-fantasy Ben Aaronovitch
18986e3 It is entirely conceivable that life's splendour forever lies in wait about each one of us in all its fullness, but veiled from our view, deep down, invisible, far off. It is there, though, not hostile, not reluctant, not deaf. If you summon it by the right word, by its right name, it will come. This is the essence of magic, which does not create but summons Franz Kafka, 18 October 1921 Es ist sehr gut denkbar, dass die Herrlichkeit des Lebes um jeden und immer in ihrer ganzen Fulle bereitliegt, aber verhangt, in der Tiefe, unsichtbar, sehr weit. Aber sie liegt dort, nicht feindselig, nicht widerwillig, nicht taub. Ruft man sie mit dem richtigen Wort, beim richtigen Namen, dann kommt sie. Das ist das Wesen der Zauberei, die nicht schafft, sondern ruft. Kafkas Tagebucher,18 Oktober 1921 diary hope magic splendour Franz Kafka
fdf75cc Don't make me regret taking you on. If I get irritated, I might drown you a little bit. magic master-sebo numair teaching Tamora Pierce
fe3f5d5 He had discovered that it was easier - far easier than any one could have supposed - to make oneself mad, but like all magic it was full of obstacles and frustrations. Even if he succeeded in summoning the fairy (which did not seem very likely), he would be in no condition to talk to him. Every book he had ever read on the subject urged magicians to be on their guard when dealing with fairies. Just when he needed all his wits, he would have scarcely any wits at all. magic Susanna Clarke
a082b67 I was told once by some country people that a magician should never tell his dreams because the telling will make them come true. But I say that is great nonsense. magic magicians Susanna Clarke
37c2f9c Magic is like a lot of other disciplines that people have recently begun developing, in historic terms. Working with magic is a way of understanding the universe and how it functions. You can approach it from a lot of different angles, applying a lot of different theories and mental models to it. You can get to the same place through a lot of different lines of theory and reasoning, kind of like really advanced mathematics. There's no truly right or wrong way to get there, either--there are just ways, some more or less useful than others for a given application. And new vistas of thought, theory, and application open up on a pretty regular basis, as the Art develops and expands through the participation of multiple brilliant minds. But that said, once you have a good grounding in it,you get a pretty solid idea of what's possible and what isn't. No matter how much circumlocution you do with your formulae, two plus two doesn't equal five. (Except maybe very, very rarely, sometimes, in extremely specific and highly unlikely circumstances.) magic mathematics Jim Butcher
6f283be They were different colors: the right one blue, the left green. And her face in the light of the candle on the table startled me at first, just as it had in the icy night air. After seeing it on the street, I was afraid I had only imagined it: a still, luminous face with a silvery sheen. Finely hewn, with a long, straight nose and a wide mouth, it was nearly identical to another face, which I had photographed years before. Not on a person, bu on the fragment of a frieze I found in some ruins near Verona, The frieze, which depicted a band of musicians, had once been shadowed beneath a cornice high on the temple of Mercury, god of magic. Belonging to one of the musicians, it was a riveting face - like a puzzle that could not be solved - which I had never found, or expected to find, on a living woman. faces love magic reincarnation verona veronica Nicholas Christopher
b6fed72 "But that is impossible," said Peter. "Magic is always impossible," said the magician. "It begins with the impossible and ends with the impossible and is impossible in between. That is why it is magic." magic the-magician-s-elephant Kate DiCamillo
e89f10d "Oberon's been kidnapped along with one of the werewolves, and that's why we're all so upset. We'll talk more tomorrow, and I promise to answer all your questions if I survive the night," I said. The widow's eyebrows raised. "Ye've got all these nasty pooches to run around with and ye still might die?" "I'm going to go fight with a god, some demons, and a coven of witches who all want to kill me," I said, "so it's a distinct possibility." "Are y'goin' t'kill 'em back?" "I'd certainly like to." "Attaboy," the widow chuckled. "Off y'go, then. Kill every last one o' the bastards and call me in the mornin'." irish magic werewolf widow witch wolfhound Kevin Hearne
6856c97 (There was an idea much beloved and written about by this country's philosophers that magic had to do with negotiating the balance between earth and air and water; which is to say that things with legs or wings were out of balance with their earth element by walking around on feet or, worse, flying above the earth in the thin substance of air, obviously entirely unsuitable for the support of solid flesh. The momentum all this inappropriate motion set up in their liquid element unbalanced them further. Spirit, in this system, was equated with the fourth element, fire. All this was generally felt to be a load of rubbish among the people who had to work in the ordinary world for a living, unlike philosophers living in academies. But it was true that a favourite magical trick at fetes was for theatrically-minded fairies to throw bits of chaff or seed-pods or conkers in the air and turn them into things before they struck the ground, and that the trick worked better if the bits of chaff or seed-pods or conkers were wet.) Slower creatures were less susceptible to the whims of wild magic than faster creatures, and creatures that flew were the most susceptible of all. Every sparrow had a delicious memory of having once been a hawk, and while magic didn't take much interest in caterpillars, butterflies spent so much time being magicked that it was a rare event to see ordinary butterflies without at least an extra set of wings or a few extra frills and iridescences, or bodies like tiny human beings dressed in flower petals. (Fish, which flew through that most dangerous element, water, were believed not to exist. Fishy-looking beings in pools and streams were either hallucinations or other things under some kind of spell, and interfering with, catching, or--most especially--eating fish was strictly forbidden. All swimming was considered magical. Animals seen doing it were assumed to be favourites of a local water-sprite or dangerously insane; humans never tried.) magic Robin McKinley
f6f69a9 A man walked across the moors from Razorback to Lancre town without seeing a single marshlight, head-less dog, strolling tree, ghostly coach or comet, and had to be taken in by a tavern and given a drink to unsteady his nerves. humor magic Terry Pratchett
5871e1c "There are magic moments, involving great physical fatigue and intense motor excitement, that produce visions of people known in the past ("en me retracant ces details, j'en suis a me demander s'ils sont reels, ou bien si je les ai reves"). As I learned later from the delightful little book of the Abbe de Bucquoy, there are also visions of books as yet unwritten." dreams imagination magic visions writing Umberto Eco
d44e62a "I do know that the gardens of the first lands are still lying there, right under the skin of the world- pulsing the way our heartbeat drums under our own skin. And I believe that there's a connectedness between everything that gives some people a deep and abiding affinity to a certain kind of place or creature." "Like totems?" "Maybe. Or maybe something even more personal- something that's impossible to articulate with the vocabulary we have at the moment." "This is too weird." Annie shrugged. "What can I say? It's getting late, the stars are out. Once the sun sets, I tend to embrace whatever wild spirits are running around in the darkness, talking away to each other. I leave the logic of streets and pavement and cars and tall buildings behind and buy into the old magics that they're whispering about. Sometimes those little mysteries and bits of wisdom stick to the bones of my head and I carry them right out into the sunlight again. They're like Jack's stories, true and not true, all at the same time. They don't exactly shape my life, but they certainly colour it." She glanced at him, "I wouldn't like to live in a world where everything's as cut-and-dried as most people think it is" magic mysteries wild-spirits wisdom Charles de Lint
5999790 Es perfectamente imaginable que el esplendor de la vida esta dispuesto, siempre en toda plenitud, alrededor de cada uno, pero cubierto de un velo, en las profundidades, invisible muy lejos. Sin embargo esta ahi, no hostil, no a disgusto, no sordo, viene si uno lo llama con la palabra correcta, por su nombre correcto, Es la esencia de la magia, que no crea, sino llama. magic possibility Franz Kafka
f0f5108 There had been something gentle in her, a pool of magic, not a running stream that had washed away all the ordinary parts of her life. magic mythology-fiction Naomi Novik
7ea308a Writing was the only thing that populated my life and made it magic. magic populated thing writing Marguerite Duras
09ea63f You wish you had not come. If there were not so many around, you would reach out your arms, with the prayer on your lips for it all to come back to you. It seems cruel, cruel, to give us such a vision; to let us dream and drift through heaven for six months, and then to take it out of our lives. dreams madness magic murder the-worlds-fair world-fair Erik Larson
0d800aa Saying good-bye properly afforded me a measure of peace. It was a binding of a different sort, absent of the earth's power, but still hard proof that there is magic yet in the world. magic Kevin Hearne
d35f8fe Captain Harcourt-Bruce was not only dashing, handsome, and brave, he was also rather romantic. The reappearance of magic in England thrilled him immensely. He was a great reader of the more exciting sort of history - and his head was full of ancient battles in which the English were outnumbered by the French and doomed to die, when all at once would be heard the sound of strange, unearthly music, and upon a hilltop would appear the Raven King in his tall, black helmet with it's mantling of raven-feathers streaming in the wind; he would gallop down the hillside on his tall, black horse with a hundred human knights and a hundred fairy knights at his back, and he would defeat the French by magic. That was Captain Harcourt-Bruce's idea of a magician. That was the sort of thing which he now expected to see reproduced on every battlefield on the Continent. So when he saw Mr Norrell in his drawing-room in Hanoversquare, and after he had sat and watched Mr Norrell peevishly complain to his footman, first that the cream in his tea was too creamy, and next that it was too watery - well, I shall not surprize you when I say he was somewhat disappointed. In fact he was so downcast by the whole undertaking that Admiral Paycocke, a bluff old gentleman, felt rather sorry for him and only had the heart to laugh at him and tease him very moderately about it. humor magic magician tea Susanna Clarke
1170f92 Am I the same cold, ragged damp Sara? And to think I used to pretend and pretend and wish there were fairies! The one thing I always wanted was to see a fairy story come true. I am in a fairy story. I feel as if I might be a fairy myself, and able to turn things into anything else. fairy fairy-tales frances-hodgson-burnett magic the-little-princess Frances Hodgson Burnett
76f1aee He said he'd heard the sound of one hand clapping. He said, once his mind took in the wondrous no-sound of holy oneness, the empty echo of eternal bliss, he was never the same. He could hear it still, he said, resounding in the ether and tickling the back of his brain. Something not normal was going on with his brain. No argument there. carlos-castaneda epic-fantasy hippies magic mysticism new-age paranormal-romance tim-leary zen Brenda Marie Smith
b03e08d When you're writing, you're creating something out of nothing ... A successful piece of writing is like doing a successful piece of magic. magic writing Susanna Clarke
e97d7bd I agreed to keep the cards a secret and asked my grandmother if she believed in magic. She said she did not but that, surprisingly, magic worked even if you did not believe in it. humor magic trust Michael Chabon
91ec2c9 "The first handkerchief was tied to a second, yellow handkerchief. He fed both through the window and kept pulling. Attached to it was a red one. Then a green one. "Go away, you goddamn clown!" Jenny ordered. But Benny the Clown continued to pull out handkerchief after handkerchief. Five...ten...fifteen...then... That's not a handkerchief." dracula horror magic Blake Crouch
062fa4e You can't magic yourself out of the situation, you've got to live it as decently and as grimly as you can. grim iris-murdoch magic the-message-to-the-planet trapped Iris Murdoch
b3b34b3 But she wouldn't pray, she took what comfort and credit she could for not praying; it wasn't that one disbelieved in prayer; one never lost all one's belief in magic. It was that she preferred to plan, it was fairer, it wasn't loading the dice. comfort magic planning prayer religion secularism Graham Greene
d535cf9 For a moment or two before the spell took effect, he was aware of all the sounds around him: rain splashing on metal and leather, and running down canvas; horses shuffling and snorting; Englishmen singing and Scotsmen playing bagpipes; two Welsh soldiers arguing over the proper interpretation of a Bible passage; the Scottish captain, John Kincaid, entertaining the American savages and teaching them to drink tea (presumably with the idea that once a man had learnt to drink tea, the other habits and qualities that make up a Briton would naturally follow). Then silence. Men and horses began to disappear, few by few at first, and then more quickly - hundreds, thousands of them vanishing from sight. Great gaps appeared among the close-packed soldiers. A little further to the east an entire regiment was gone, leaving a hole the size of Hanover-square. Where, moments before, all had been life, conversation and activity, there was now nothing but the rain and the twilight and the waving stalks of rye. Strange wiped his mouth because he felt sick. magic Susanna Clarke
600c5d0 There was a magic: and the name of it was love. magic Philippa Gregory
021cf81 Sometimes, it seemed, the business of a Witch or a Godmother was not so much using magic as knowing when not to use it. godmother magic Mercedes Lackey
9d07045 Everybody has magic, it's just that most people either don't know it, or don't believe it. fantasy magic powers sorcery talent wizardry Rebecca McNutt
0d52659 "There was a time in Africa the people could fly. Mauma told me this one night when I was ten years old. She said, "Handful, your granny-mauma saw it for herself. She say they flew over trees and clouds. She say they flew like blackbirds. When we came here, we left that magic behind." She looked at my face, how it flowed with sorrow and doubt, and she said, "You don't believe me? Where you think these shoulder blades of yours come from, girl?" We weren't some special people who had lost our magic. We were slave people, and we weren't going anywhere. It was later I saw what she meant. We could fly all right, but it wasn't any magic to it." hope inspirational magic slavery-quotes Sue Monk Kidd
ea3229a It was like someone far away calling someone else's name. magic sense Garth Nix
a60f523 I'm a magician with no magic, and that's no one at all. magic Peter S. Beagle
ab3c9b6 Under his feet he felt the hillroots going down and down into the dark, and over his head he saw the dry, far fires of the stars. Between, all things were his to order, to command. He stood at the center of the world. magic power Ursula K. Le Guin
4fcd2fe "The bride waits here," she said, running her hands along her hair, taking in her image but seeming to drift away. "This is the moment you think about what you're doing. Who you're choosing. Who you will love. If it's right, Eddie, this can be such a wonderful moment." -- love magic marriage reflection relationship thoughts wedding Mitch Albom
a0fbb6b "It is not any common earth, Water or wood or air, camelot magic Rudyard Kipling
35e0dcb A spiritual reinterpretation of events gives us miraculous authority to command the winds, to part the waters, and to break all chains that bind us. breaking-free chains empowerment enlightenment healing-past-wounds healing-the-past inner-strength magic miracle-mindset miracles miraculous personal-power power-of-love reinventing-yourself self-empowerment spiritual-growth spiritual-healing spiritual-power spiritual-rebirth spiritual-reinterpretation spiritual-strength spiritual-wisdom spirituality Marianne Williamson
0e373be Magic is an honor, until it's a shackle. honor magic prison shackle Melissa de la Cruz
81503f1 The enduring rapture with magic and fable has always struck me as latently childish and somehow sexless (and thus also related to childlessness). childlessness fable fantasy-literature literary-criticism literature magic sex sexuality Christopher Hitchens
b411f10 If you keep doing it everyday as regularly as soldiers go through drill, we shall see what will happend and find out if the experiment succeeds. You learn things by saying them over and over and thinking about them until they stay in your mind for ever, and I think it will be the same with Magic. If you keep calling it to come to you and help you, it will get to be part of you and it will stay and do things. magic Frances Hodgson Burnett
bb9e4f1 "[the sheep] sidled up beside him and bumped him lovingly with its head. Val looked at it sadly. "I am sorry, you ugly creature," he said. "I have not used my magic in a long time, and I am very out of practice." magic sheep Robin McKinley
f1945f2 There are those amongst us who have erred, deeply and significantly. Who have wounded the world and broken themselves. The worst of them lose themselves in their errors. The best of them crawl back, one foot at a time, and seek to amend their breaches. That is the way of the brave. life-lessons magic Chloe Neill
6aaa593 "And at last she woke up in the middle of one warm night and said, "Yes, but now." magic unicorn Peter S. Beagle
f68fb68 Books were only one type of receptacle where we stored a lot of things we were afraid we might forget. There's nothing magical in them at all. Magic is only what books mean, what books say. How they stitch the patterns of the universe together into one garment for us. magic meaning Ray Bradbury
2746703 Of course there must be lots of magic in the world but people don't know what it is like or how to make it. Perhaps the beginning is just to say nice things are going to happen until you make them happen. classic magic Frances Hodgson Burnett
d672106 For always and for always I pray remember me Upon the moors, beneath the stars With the King's wild company. faeries magic raven raven-king spell Susanna Clarke
103ddef See, those who wield the primordial forces of creation have a long-running grudge with physics. magic physics science Jim Butcher
afcf071 "Ha!" cried Dr John contemptuously. "Magic! That is chiefly used for killing Frenchmen, is it not?" great-britain magic Susanna Clarke
db8b77c There are those amongst us who have erred, deeply and significantly. Who have wounded the world and broken themselves. The worst of them lose themselves in their errors. The best of them crawl back, one foot at a time, and seek to amend their breaches. That is the way of the brave. -Gabriel Keene, Pack Apex, pp. 37 magic Chloe Neill
69c5f27 "In ancient Greece, the word for "cook," "butcher," and "priest" was the same -- mageiros -- and the word shares an etymological root with "magic." food magic Michael Pollan
7e2ecc0 Only stories and magic really endure. iris-murdoch lasting magic stories the-black-prince Iris Murdoch
0719a03 Because, between 'reality' on the one hand, and the point where the mind strikes reality, there's a middle zone, a rainbow edge where beauty comes into being, where two very different surfaces mingle and blur to provide what life does not: and this is the space where all art exists, and all magic. magic Donna Tartt
717f5e7 "I'll tell you something," said Francis,urgent with shoe lace, "if we keep on saying things weren't when we know perfectly well they were, we shall soon dish up any sort of chance of magic we may ever have had. When do you find people in books going on like that? They just say 'This is magic!' and behave as if it was. They don't go pretending they're not sure. Why, no magic would stand it." Book: Wet Magic, Chapter 2" books magic E. Nesbit
089ebdf He felt a wonderful certainty. The impossible, he thought, the impossible is about to happen again. magic Kate DiCamillo
9f278b2 There's a little bit of magic in every box! funny magic Adam Rex
ca6ffed I'm only a kind of book doctor. I can give books new bindings, rejuvenate them a little, stop the bookworms from eating them, and prevent them from losing their pages over the years like a man loses his hair. But inventing the stories in them, filling new, empty pages with right words-- I can't do that. That's a very different trade. A famous writer once wrote, 'An author can be seen as three things: a storyteller, a teacher, or magician-- but a magician, the enchanter, is in the ascendant. magic writing Cornelia Funke
771a2ba You want to work spells,' Ogion said presently, striding along. 'You've drawn too much water from that well. Wait. Manhood is patience. Mastery is nine times patience. What is that herb by the path?' 'Strawflower.' 'And that?' 'I don't know.' 'Fourfoil, they call it.' Ogion had halted, the coppershod foot of his staff near the little weed, so Ged looked closely at the plant, and plucked a dry seedpod from it, and finally asked, since Ogion said nothing more, 'What is its use, Master?' 'None I know of.' Ged kept the seedpod a while as they went on, then tossed it away. 'When you know the fourfoil in all its seasons root and leaf and flower, by sight and scent and seed, then you may learn its true name, knowing its being: which is more than its use. What, after all, is the use of you? or of myself? Is Gont Mountain useful, or the Open Sea?' Ogion went on a half mile or so, and said at last, 'To hear, one must be silent. herbalist magic mastery patience plants Ursula K. Le Guin
4241222 Close' only counts in horseshoe games and fireball spells magic Elaine Cunningham
2e85e67 Have you never thought how danger must surround power as shadow does light? This sorcery is not a game we play for pleasure or for praise. Think of this: that every word, every act of our Art is said and is done either for good, or for evil. Before you speak or do you must know the price that is to pay! magic power Ursula K. Le Guin
6fd3f90 "Arren vide sempre meglio i draghi che si libravano nella brezza mattutina, e il suo cuore trasali di gioia nell'assistere a quel volo. Vi era racchiusa tutta la gloria della mortalita. La bellezza dei draghi era fatta di una forza terribile, della piu totale ferocia e nel contempo della grazia della ragione. fantasy ged magic Ursula K. Le Guin
dfb71e2 Not a hundred feet away the river roared over a cliff's-edge, and we weren't really leaves, even if I'd been careful to forget that. forget leaves magic river waterfall Naomi Novik
67ebb5c Once upon a time--which, when you come to think of it, is really the only proper way to begin a story--the only way that really smacks of romance and fairyland-- fairy-tale l-m-montgomery magic storytelling L.M. Montgomery
29a12c4 For an instant Stile was daunted by the improbability of it all: a man, a cyborg, a robot, an animalhead, and a wooden golem, all riding unicorns through a battlefield strewn with goblins and dragons, pursuing an invaluable ball of power-rock that rolled along a channel cleared by plastic explosive. What a mishmash! humor magic science Piers Anthony
a5388c5 "Not at all," persisted Chalmers, unaware that Shea was trying to shush him. "The people of the country have agreed to call magic 'white' when practised for lawful ends by duly authorized agents of the governing authority, and 'black' when practised by unauthorized persons for criminal ends. That is not to say that the principles of the science -- or art -- are not the same in either event. You should confine such terms as 'black' and 'white' to the objects for which the magic is performed, and not apply it to the science itself, which like all branches of knowledge is morally neutral --" "But," protested Belphebe, "is't not that the spell used to, let us say, kidnap a worthy citizen be different from that used to trap a malefactor?" "Verbally but not structurally," Chalmers went on. After some minutes of wrangling, Chalmers held up the bone of his drumstick. "I think I can, for instance, conjure the parrot back on this bone -- or at least fetch another parrot in place of the one we ate. Will you concede, young lady, that that is a harmless manifestation of the art?" "Aye, for the now," said the girl. "Though I know you schoolmen; say 'I admit this; I concede that,' are ere long one finds oneself conceded into a noose." "Therefore it would be 'white' magic. But suppose I desired the parrot for some -- uh -- illegal purpose --" "What manner of crime for ensample, good sir?" asked Belphebe. "I -- uh -- can't think just now. Assume that I did. The spell would be the same in either case --" "Ah, but would it?" cried Belphebe. "Let me see you conjure a brace of parrots, one fair, one foul; then truly I'll concede." Chalmers frowned. "Harold, what would be a legal purpose for which to conjure a parrot?" Shea shrugged. "If you really want an answer, no purpose would be as legal as any, unless there's something in gamelaws. Personally I think it's the silliest damned argument --" evil good-and-evil magic spells white L. Sprague de Camp
dcf1b1b Not a hundred feet away the river roared over a cliff's-edge, and were weren't really leaves, even if I'd been careful to forget that. forget leaves magic river waterfall Naomi Novik
c5d4935 Bir seyleri disari atip kapiyi kilitlediginde, aslinda kendini iceri kilitlemis oluyorsun. kukla love magic pawn Mercedes Lackey
caa3c5d If you understand what makes him tick-what is magic for him- then you can understand anyone imagination magic relationship understanding Rene Denfeld
721bc36 "She said, "Daddy thinks that all the world's magic is almost evolved out." I thought of Roebuck Lake, its swamps and sloughs and loblollies and breaks of cypress and cane, its sunken treetops and stobs and bream beds and sleepy gar rolling over and over and over, its baptizing pools and bridges and mussels and mosquitoes and turkey vultures and, now in the drought, the gray flaking mud-flats and logs crowded with turtles and sometimes a fat snake yawning its tame old cottony mouth like a well-fed dog in a pen. I said, "Is that what the freak show is?" She said, "Dirty miracles." faith home isolation love magic Lewis Nordan
62e1d35 Kir stood close to his father, watching. He seemed, Peri realized, finally becalmed; already he looked more like his mother, as if he were relinquishing his human experience. He found her looking at him wistfully; he gave her a sea-smile. She swallowed a briny taste of sadness in her throat. Already he was leaving her. magic sea Patricia A. McKillip
873cf1f I don't believe in magic, yet I see making wishes as a nod to hope, an acknowledgement of the power of will, the recognition of a goal. magic wish wishes-quotes wishful-thinking Cecelia Ahern
b91f52b "Now you must go" "But it's raining", Caerles said. Ferly danced to the door and opend it to the starless night.Her voice hushed. "Adventures comes on a night like this, when the whole world is whispering magic". Page 76" magic Patricia A. McKillip
bed7027 Every piece of that marvelous world was a silent tear. magic sadness Carlos Ruiz Zafón
0021d97 Our mum likes to tell us that magic usually happens outside of our comfort zone. magic Lisa Schroeder
ab1127d There are books about magic and there are books of magic, and the price of the latter is far above rubies. jonathan-strange-and-mr-norrell magic magic-of-books Susanna Clarke
742c6ca Together the magicks swirled and danced around us, invisible but tangible, like an breeze. This wasn't defensive or offensive magic. It wasn't used to gather information, for strategy or diplomacy, or to fight a war against supernatural enemy. It simply was. It was fundamental, inexorable. It was nothing and everything, infinity and oblivion, from the magnificent furnace of a star to the electrons that hummed in an atom. It was life and death and everything in between, the urge to fight and grow and swim and fly. It was a cascade of water across boulders, the slow-moving advance of mountain glaciers, the march of time. caroline-merit chicagoland-vampires chloe-neill magic magick magicks merit Chloe Neill
81397a8 Old ladies in the Gale family drove like they owned the roads. And the other drivers. And the local police department. And the laws of physics. magic Tanya Huff
0ae0873 "He was sitting in moonlight and candlelight, scratching the head of some beast that looked to Vevay a cross between a lion and a bear. It had black pelt, a flat, broad, fanged face, a powerful bulky body. It seemed to be purring. It cast a smoldering red glance at Vevay than closed it eyes again, leading heavy against Felan's knee. "what on earth is that?" Vavey asked. "I've no idea," Felon said. "It came out of an old book I was reading once and it never went back in again. It seems harmless and is very obliging: it let the students practice transformation spells on it. It eats strawberries when it can get them." -- cute magic Patricia A. McKillip
379648d Childermass knew what games the children on street-corners are playing - games that all other grown-ups have long since forgotten. Childermass knew what old people by firesides are thinking of, though no one has asked them in years. Childermass knew what young men hear in the rattling of the drums and the tooting of the pipes that makes them leave their homes and go to be soldiers - and he knew the half-eggcupful of glory and the barrelful of misery that await them. And all that Childermass knew made him smile; and some of what he knew made him laugh out loud; and none of what he knew wrung from him so much as ha'pennyworth of pity. clever-man jonathan-strange-and-mr-norrell magic sly susanna-clarke Susanna Clarke
c8c479a It seemed that it was not only live magicians which Mr. Norrell despised. He had taken the measure of all the dead ones too and found them wanting. funny magic magicians Susanna Clarke
f16c775 But if you are going to take up a profession - and I cannot see why you should want one at all, now that you have come into your property - surely you can chuse something better than magic! It has no practical application. magic profession Susanna Clarke
a862d3d Attention, Kmart shoppers! Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages! You've all looked up at the night sky and seen the sparkle of millions of silver stars, wondering no doubt what it's like to be one of them... well, tonight here in glorious Ocean City, the silver light will shine in your eyes, because we all have a little magic, every one of us, and you're about to witness it up close, in the amazing abilities of some of the best magicians this side of North America! announcement celebration kmart magic magician-ocean-city optimism silver star Rebecca McNutt
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