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82efb2b
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For him, Halloween was not All Hallows Eve
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Susan Cooper |
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b31722f
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First of all, you have heard me talk of Logres. It was the old name for this country, thousands of years ago; in the old days when the struggle between good and evil was more bitter and open than it is now. That struggle goes on all round us all the time, like two armies fighting. And sometimes one of them seems to be winning and sometimes the other, but neither has ever triumphed altogether. Nor ever will," he added softly to himself, "for..
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Susan Cooper |
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e1baaee
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The hope is always here, always alive, but only your fierce caring can fan it into a fire to warm the world.
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passion
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Susan Cooper |
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6c0d6f7
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They had nothing to eat but Ryan's food, and they ate little of that because it was so dry, but it seemed to sustain them. Their greatest worry was water. Though they drank only a little each day, Westerly's flask was empty and the bottle in Cally's pack now only half-full. "I wish I was a camel," Cally said. Westerly said, "I wouldn't want to spend this much time with a girl who looked like a camel." She tried to laugh, but her tongue fel..
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Susan Cooper |
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a18c239
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He was woken by music. It beckoned him, lilting and insistent; delicate music, played by delicate instruments that he could not identify, with one rippling, bell-like phrase running through it in a gold thread of delight. There was in this music so much of the deepest enchantment of all his dreams and imaginings that he woke smiling in pure happiness at the sound.
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music
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Susan Cooper |
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a640170
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There was something about Great-Uncle Merry that was like the hills, or the sea, or the sky; something ancient, but without age or end.
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Susan Cooper |
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fbd9e66
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Real is a hard word", he said. "Almost as hard as true, or now..."
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Susan Cooper |
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5f01bf2
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He was not for that moment a human being, but a frenzied creature possessed by rage, turned into an animal. All that could be seen in him was the urge to hurt, and it was, as it always will be, the most dreadful sight in the world.
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violence
immaturity
malice
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Susan Cooper |
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1fb2c16
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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.
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free-will
choice
satan
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Susan Cooper |
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83c9b81
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The snow lay thin and apologetic over the world.
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Susan Cooper |
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325bb9b
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Tommy looked blank. "What's a flashlight?" "You don't have flashlights?" Jessup said. "Jeeze! A cylinder, like, with batteries inside it, and a light bulb behind glass at one end--" Tommy's blue eyes glinted dangerously. "We have a thing in Scotland that's a cylinder too. Very thin, made of wood, with graphite in the center. We call it a pencil." Jessup hooted. "You think we don't have pencils?" "You think we don't have flashlights?" Tommy ..
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humor
flashlight
pencil
scotland
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Susan Cooper |
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896f208
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Writing is one of the loneliest professions in the world because it has to be practiced in this very separate private world, in _here_. Not in the mind; in the imagination. And I think it is possible that the writing of fantasy is the loneliest job of the lot, since you have to go further inside. You have to make so close a connection with the unconscious that the unbiddable door will open and the images fly out, like birds.
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Susan Cooper |
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a5b9524
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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.
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Susan Cooper |
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fcec2b4
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Every human being who loves another loves imperfection, for there is no perfect being on this earth--nothing is so simple as that.
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love
imperfection
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Susan Cooper |
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255733a
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The Three Elders of the World,' he said, 'are the Owl of Cwm Cawlwyd, the Eagle of Gwernabwy, and the Blackbird of Celli Gadarn.
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Susan Cooper |
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0665ed4
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In the name of King Arthur, and of the old world before the dark came.
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Susan Cooper |
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4b894d0
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No, he didn't win," Great-Uncle Merry said, and even in the clear afternoon sunshine he seemed with every word to become more remote, as ancient as the rock behind him and the old world of which he spoke."
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Susan Cooper |
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c237d2b
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The children stared at him, awed and a little afraid. For a moment he was a stranger, someone they did not know. Jane had a sudden fantastic feeling that Great-Uncle Merry did not really exist at all, and would vanish away if they breathed or spoke.
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merriman
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Susan Cooper |
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79fcf68
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Great-Uncle Merry stopped reading; but the children sat as still and speechless as if his voice still rang on. The story seemed to fit so perfectly into the green land rolling below them that it was as if they sat in the middle of the past.
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Susan Cooper |
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dbef3f6
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The Herdsman passed, nodding, the bright star Arcturus at his knee; the Bull roared by, bearing the great sun Aldebaran and the small group of the Pleiades singing in small melodic voices, like no voices he had ever heard.
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Susan Cooper |
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48eb231
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They are English," Merriman said. "Quite right," said Will's father. "Splendid in adversity, tedious when safe. Never content, in fact. We're an odd lot."
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Susan Cooper |
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6ed3638
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But if you work and care and are watchful, as we have tried to be for you, then in the long run the worse will never, ever, triumph over the better.
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Susan Cooper |
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cdcd521
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Now especially since man has the strength to destroy the world, it is the responsibility of man to keep it alive, in all its beauty and marvelous joy.
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Susan Cooper |
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fec506c
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Open for sun, closed for rain, that's the poor man's weathervane.
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optimism
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Susan Cooper |
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2a8227f
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He was among trees then, spring trees tender with the new matchless green of young leaves, and a clear sun dappling them; summer trees full of leaf, whispering, massive; dark winter firs that fear no master and let no light brighten their woods. He learned the nature of all trees, the particular magics that are in oak and beech and ash.
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Susan Cooper |
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b4cd06e
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the sky dark with wheeling birds.
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Susan Cooper |
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7b857d1
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the house and everyone in it lay in a sleep that would not be broken.
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Susan Cooper |
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aeb311f
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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...
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racism
opinions
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Susan Cooper |
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91e424d
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The future can not blame the present, just as the present cannot blame the past.
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Susan Cooper |
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3c9e753
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Jane clutched her mug like a talisman of reality; then suddenly jumped so hard that she spilt half the cocoa on the window-sill.
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Susan Cooper |
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6a54f63
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The surface of the iron was irregular, but though it showed no sign of having been polished it was completely smooth--smooth in a way that reminded him of a certain place in the rough stone floor of the kitchen, where all the roughness had been worn away by generations of feet turning to come round the corner from the door.
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Susan Cooper |
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c2a7215
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For this was Christmas, which had always been a time of magic, to him and to all the world.
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christmas-quotes
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Susan Cooper |
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703cca5
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I remember it was a damn funny thing for a stranger to say," Stephen said. "Old Ones, we Old Ones. With capital letters-- you could *hear* them."
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Susan Cooper |
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388f5e9
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Where did they go?" "Where the leaves go in autumn," Will said. Bran looked at him and seemed suddenly to relax; he grinned. "There's poetic, now." Will laughed. "It's true. Of course, the trouble with leaves is, they grow again..."
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Susan Cooper |
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f699100
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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.
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simon-drew
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Susan Cooper |
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d0a18cd
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And any ending that may seem to come is not truly an ending, but an illusion. For Time does not die, Time has neither beginning nor end, and so nothing can end or die that has once had a place in Time.
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Susan Cooper |
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389a589
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Honest. I know. But all the same... woo!" It was a head-back, beaming, yelping shout of joyful excitement, spontaneous and startling, and every face turned; their apprehensiveness faded for a moment, and even Merriman, stern for the first instant, laughed aloud. "Yes!" he said. "We need that as much as the sword, Barney."
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Susan Cooper |
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a20c8e8
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In a way," Great -Uncle Merry said. His eyes seemed dazed, unable to focus anywhere, but there was a twitching at the corners of his mouth. Somehow, without smiling, he looked happier than they had ever seen him look before. Jane thought, watching: it is a sad face usually, and that's why there is such a difference."
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Susan Cooper |
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d54d955
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maybe because the dark can only reach people at the extremes-- those bound by their own shiny ideas or locked up in the darkness of their own heads.
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Susan Cooper |
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be07290
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the dark tree, the cold sea" although I know you can never be found although I know that from the highest height you cannot be seen you are not hiding from me or are you is it how you look now or maybe how I look now all these years gone by places seen people met not knowing at any time who I was or how others saw me or did not see me and how are you wherever you are if I write you a letter
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Susan Cooper |
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bd78eb7
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Great-Uncle Merry, coming back towards the car from the Grey House, had suddenly stopped in his tracks in the middle of the road. He was gazing down at the sea; and she realised that he had caught sight of the yacht. What startled her was the expression on his face. Standing there like a craggy towering statue, he was frowning, fierce and intense, almost as if he were looking and listening with senses other than his eyes and ears. He could ..
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Susan Cooper |
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787a825
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Your father... doesn't work late for you to pinch his dinner.
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gratitude
sacrifice
father
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Susan Cooper |
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3dd87f0
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They came generally from people writing theses on fantasy or on the Dark Is Rising books. They were full of questions I'd never thought about and false assumptions that I didn't want to think about. They would ask me in great detail for, say, the specific local and mythical derivations of my Greenwitch, a leaf-figure thrown over a Cornish cliff as a fertility sacrifice, and I would have to write back and say, "I'm terribly sorry; I made it ..
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Susan Cooper |
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d020936
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including him in the words.
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Susan Cooper |