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f7a3306
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Something about doing a hateful and dangerous action for the sake of decency--for they knew that the fight was to be fought in blood and death without reward. They would get nothing but the unmarketable conscience of having done what they ought to do in spite of fear--something which wicked people have often debased by calling it glory with too much sentiment, but which is glory all the same.
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T.H. White |
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b67295c
|
Life is too bitter already, without territories and wars and noble feuds.
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T.H. White |
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9265a4d
|
Gilbert White,' said Merlyn, 'remarks, or will remark, however you like to put it, that 'the language of birds is very ancient, and, like other ancient modes of speech, little is said, but much is intended.' He also says somewhere that 'the rooks, in the breeding season, attempt sometimes, in the gaiety of their hearts, to sing - but with no great success.
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T.H. White |
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9495a08
|
The best thing for being sad,' replied Merlyn, beginning to puff and blow, 'is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in you anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then - ..
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T.H. White |
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47ff5e8
|
It was a grey September day, with the blue and copper butterflies flitting in the after-grass, the partridges calling like crickets, the blackberries colouring, and the hazel nuts still nursing their tasteless little kernels in the cradles of cotton wool.
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T.H. White |
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d536d51
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War is like a fire, Agnes. One man may start it, but it will spread all over. It is not about any one thing in particular.
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T.H. White |
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634a941
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There are no boundaries among the geese. How can you have boundaries if you fly?
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inspirational-quotes
t-h-white
the-once-and-future-king
the-sword-in-the-stone
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T.H. White |
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4a61068
|
for love can exist with hatred, each preying on the other, and this is what gives it its greatest fury.
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T.H. White |
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e66770b
|
Everybody is always saying what a parfit, gentle knight I am, but it has nothing to do with me. It is Arthur's idea. It is what he has wished on all the younger generation, like Gareth, and now it is fashionable.
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T.H. White |
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1f5ddba
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The destiny of Man is to unite, not to divide. If you keep on dividing you end up as a collection of monkeys throwing nuts at each other out of separate trees.
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T.H. White |
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1ba404a
|
He was feeling a new heresy coming over him, possibly as a result of the spirits, and it had something to do about the celibacy of the clergy. He had one already about the shape of his tonsure and the usual one about the date of Easter, as well as his of Pelagian business-but the latest was beginning to make him feel as if the presence of children was unnecessary.
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religion
heresy
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T.H. White |
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9f18627
|
It was Christmas night in the Castle of the Forest Sauvage, and all around length. It hung on the boughs of the forest trees in rounded lumps, even better than apple-blossom, and occasionally slid off the roofs of the village when it saw the chance of falling on some amusing character and giving pleasure to all. The boys made snowballs with it, but never put stones in them to hurt each other, and the dogs, when they were taken out to scombr..
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evocative
imagery
nostalgic
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T.H. White |
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a83801e
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Kings can only use their best tools.
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softhearted
submission
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T.H. White |
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d7a3f45
|
Wart draggled off to the tower room, where Merlyn was busy knitting himself a woollen night-cap for the winter. "I cast off two together at every other line," said the magician, "but for some reason it seems to end too sharply. Like an onion. It is the turning of the heel that does one, every time."
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T.H. White |
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da7b4f6
|
Hemos pasado muy buenos momentos, mientras erais jovenes, pero esta en la propia naturaleza del Tiempo, el tener que marcharse un dia.
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juventud
merlin
tiempo
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T.H. White |
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a339f67
|
You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then - to learn.
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learning
wisdom
knowledge
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T.H. White |
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cd8c94e
|
Merlyn took the Wart's hand and said kindly, "You are young, and do not understand these things. But you will learn that owls are the most courteous, single-hearted and faithful creatures living. You must never be familiar, rude or vulgar with them, or make them look ridiculous. Their mother is Athene, the goddess of wisdom, and, although they are often ready to play the buffoon to amuse you, such conduct is the prerogative of the truly wis..
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T.H. White |
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f8b4049
|
On the contrary, he made it clear that the business of the philosophers was to make ideas available, and not to impose them on people.
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T.H. White |
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e3dd716
|
It is generally the trustful and optimistic people who can afford to retreat. The loveless and faithless ones are compelled by their pessimism to attack. Arthur
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T.H. White |
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17b7043
|
Ought to be havin' a first-rate eddication, at their age. When I was their age I was doin' all this Latin and stuff
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T.H. White |
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3191f38
|
for few people can hate so bitterly and so self-righteously as the members of a ruling caste which is being dispossessed.
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T.H. White |
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313b453
|
People are dupes, and wicked too. That is what makes it interesting to get them better.
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T.H. White |
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a1b58c9
|
at the same time so distant that unutterable thoughts of space and eternity would baffle themselves in his sighing breast, and he would imagine to himself how he was falling upward higher and higher among them, never reaching, never ending, leaving and losing everything in the tranquil speed of space.
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T.H. White |
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56857cf
|
I would recommend a solo flight to all prospective suicides. It tends to make clear the issue of whether one enjoys being alive or not.
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suicide
life
flying
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T.H. White |
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9a06556
|
I am a failure in the world. I do not rule people, nor deceive them for the sake of power, nor try to swindle their livelihood into my own possession. I say to them: Please go freely on your way, and I will do my best to follow mine. Well then, Maria, although this is not a fashionable way of going on, nor even a successful one, it is a thing which I believe in--that people must not tyrannize, nor try to be great because they are little.
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T.H. White |
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eea0b89
|
He had conquered murder only to be faced with war. There were no laws for that.
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violence
warfare
|
T.H. White |
|
8c00707
|
Any one war seems rooted in its antecedents.
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violence
revenge
|
T.H. White |
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bff445c
|
They killed
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|
T.H. White |
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c2d91d5
|
Who said that?" asked Sir Grummore.
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funny
talkative
sword
|
T.H. White |
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a3bf42b
|
I suppose one has to be desperate, to be a successful writer. One has to reach a rock-bottom at which one can afford to let everything go hang. One has got to damn the public, chance one's living, say what one thinks, and be oneself. Then something may come out.
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writing
|
T.H. White |
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fd7fd9d
|
Neither force, nor argument, nor opinion," said Merlyn with the deepest sincerity, "are thinking. Argument is only a display of mental force, a sort of fencing with points in order to gain a victory, not for truth. Opinions are the blind alleys of lazy or of stupid men, who are unable to think."
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T.H. White |
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2fdf7ac
|
When Other blood spurts from the knife, Then everything is fine.
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T.H. White |
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2f52f8f
|
One more try,' he asked, 'We are not quite done.' 'What is the use of trying?' 'It is a thing which people do.
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T.H. White |
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a52473c
|
made of stone. It had no windows and only one door, through which you had to crawl.
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T.H. White |
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f0a267b
|
Queen Morgause," said Gwenever thoughtfully, "must have been a strange person."
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T.H. White |
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78431bd
|
Grey damp would be around them, and the sun, a copper penny, would fade away. The wings next to their own wings would shade into vacancy, until each bird was a lonely sound in cold annihilation, a presence after uncreation. And there they would hang in chartless nothing, seemingly without speed or left or right or top or bottom, until as suddenly as ever the copper penny glowed and the serpents writhed.
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T.H. White |
|
3acb3e2
|
The best thing for being sad," replied Merlyn, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then--..
|
|
|
T.H. White |
|
4287db8
|
The Queen dried her tears and looked at him, smiling like a spring shower. In a minute they were kissing, feeling like the green earth refreshed by rain. They thought that they understood each other once more - but their doubt had been planted. Now, in their love, which was stronger, there were the seeds of hatred and fear and confusion growing at the same time: for love can exist with hatred, each preying on the other, and this is what giv..
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T.H. White |
|
16b9988
|
It is like...I don't know what. Not like silk. It is more like pouring water, only there is something cloudy about it too. The clouds are made of water, aren't they? Is it a pale mist, or a winter sea, or a waterfall, or a hayrick in the frost? Yes, it is a hayrick, deep and soft and full of scent.
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|
T.H. White |
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5a3297f
|
For happiness is only a bye-product of function, as light is a bye-product of the electric current running through the wires. If the current cannot run efficiently, the light does not come. That is why nobody finds happiness, who seeks it on its own account.
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|
T.H. White |
|
e2a030e
|
If I were to be made a knight," said the Wart, staring dreamily into the fire, "I should insist on doing my vigil by myself, as Hob does with his hawks, and I should pray to God to let me encounter all the evil in the world in my own person, so that if I conquered there would be none left, and, if I were defeated, I would be the one to suffer for it." "That would be extremely presumptuous of you," said Merlyn, "and you would be conquered, a..
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|
T.H. White |
|
a7aae95
|
The eyes, circled by this sad and beautiful darkness, were so sorrowful, lonely, gentle and nobly tragic, that they killed all other emotion except love.
|
|
|
T.H. White |
|
d933f98
|
The fortress was entered by tunnels in the rock, and, over the entrance to each tunnel, there was a notice which said: EVERYTHING NOT FORBIDDEN IS COMPULSORY
|
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|
T.H. White |
|
f0142aa
|
Who doth ambition shun And loves to lie in the sun, Seeking the food he eats And pleased with what he gets,
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T.H. White |