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262a913
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What is that other universe?" she said. "One of uncountable billions of parallel worlds. The witches have known about them for centuries, but the first theologians to prove their existence mathematically were excommunicated fifty or more years ago. However, it's true; there's no possible way of denying it. "But no one thought it would ever be possible to cross from one universe to another. That would violate fundamental laws, we thought. ..
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Philip Pullman |
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14560ba
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Well, where is God," said Mrs Coulter, "if he's alive? And why doesn't he speak anymore? At the beginning of the world, God walked in the garden and spoke with Adam and Eve. Then he began to withdraw, and Moses only heard his voice. Later, in the time of Daniel, he was aged - he was the Ancient of Days. Where is he now? Is he still alive, at some inconceivable age, decrepit and demented, unable to think or act or speak and unable to die, a ..
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mrs-coulter
the-amber-spyglass
his-dark-materials
philip-pullman
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Philip Pullman |
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d0e60cc
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In a valley shaded with rhododendrons, close to the snow line, where a stream milky with meltwater splashed and where doves and linnets flew among the immense pines, lay a cave, half, hidden by the crag above and the stiff heavy leaves that clustered below. The woods were full of sound: the stream between the rocks, the wind among the needles of the pine branches, the chitter of insects and the cries of small arboreal mammals, as well as th..
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beautiful-imagery
beautiful-scenery
valley-of-rhododendrons
setting
imagery
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Philip Pullman |
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ef53fd9
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She did not move. Nor did she scream or faint; her only actions were to draw back the hem of her dress from where it brushed the shiny dome of his skull and to breathe deeply, several times, with her eyes shut. Her father had taught her this as a remedy for panic. He had taught her well; it worked.
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sally-lockhart
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Philip Pullman |
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6470449
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Being cheerful starts now, Will thought as hard as he could, but it was like trying to hold a fighting wolf still in his arms when it wanted to claw at his face and tear out his throat; nevertheless, he did it, and he thought no one could see the effort it cost him.
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Philip Pullman |
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32119fa
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The visitor was about the same age as Hallgrimsson, but he looked older; certainly his face bore the marks of more experience and trial than did the professor's smooth cheeks and unlined brow. He was a gyptian of the people of Eastern Anglia, a man called Coram van Texel, who had travelled much in the far north. He was lean, of middle height, and his movements were careful, as if he thought he might break something inadvertently, as if he w..
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Philip Pullman |
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9dff829
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Each kiss was nearer to the last one of all.
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romantic
romance
love
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Philip Pullman |
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dbd1537
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It's about wrong and less wrong. Bad and less bad.
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Philip Pullman |
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0bcdbc9
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Seems to me the place to fight cruelty is where you find it, and the place you give help is where you see it needed.
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Philip Pullman |
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9d6dc1a
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There are two great powers," the man said, "and they've been fighting since time began. Every advance in human life, every scrap of knowledge and wisdom and decency we have has been torn by one side from the teeth of the other. Every little increase in human freedom has been fought over ferociously between those who want us to know more and be wiser and stronger, and those who want us to obey and be humble and submit."
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Philip Pullman |
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4bafbe4
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Finally, and almost simultaneously, the children discovered what it was like to be drunk. "Do they like doing this?" gasped Roger, after vomiting copiously. "Yes," said Lyra, in the same condition. "And so do I," she added stubbornly. Lyra" --
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Philip Pullman |
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ffa42a3
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The steamy, noisy kitchen was the safest place in the world, it seemed to him. Safety had never been anything to think about before; it was something you took for granted, like his mother's endless, effortless, generous food, and the fact that there would always be hot plates ready to serve it on.
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Philip Pullman |
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fe35fa6
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Stories aren't made of language: they're made of something else. A little earlier I said that stories were about life; perhaps they're made of life.
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writing
writing-advice
stories
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Philip Pullman |
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6f86d6f
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No literary work longer than a haiku is going to be entirely without faults.
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Philip Pullman |
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f427bcd
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And she sobbed so passionately he thought that hearts really did break, and hers was breaking now, for she fell to the ground wailing and shuddering, and Pantalaimon beside her became a wolf and howled with bitter grief.
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Philip Pullman |
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35b2430
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We love them; they are brave, proud, beautiful, clever; and they die almost at once. They die so soon that our hearts are continually racked with pain. We
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Philip Pullman |
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e744334
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When you choose one way out of many, all the ways you don't take are snuffed out like candles, as if they'd never existed. At the moment all Will's choices existed at once. But to keep them all in existence meant doing nothing. He had to choose, after all.
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Philip Pullman |
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5323820
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her." "That's the duty of the old," said the Librarian, "to be anxious on behalf of the young. And the duty of the young is to scorn the anxiety of the old."
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Philip Pullman |
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2c1029e
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your reading will be even better then, after a lifetime of thought and effort, because it will come from conscious understanding. Grace attained like that is deeper and fuller than grace that comes freely, and furthermore, once you've gained it, it will never leave you.
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Philip Pullman |
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78809a0
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jimsonweed
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Philip Pullman |
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f85b076
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Yes," Dr. Malone went on, "they know we're here. They answer back. And here goes the crazy part: you can't see them unless you expect to. Unless you put your mind in a certain state. You have to be confident and relaxed at the same time. You have to be capable--Where's that quotation ..." She reached into the muddle of papers on her desk and found a scrap on which someone had written with a green pen. She read: ' "... Capable of being in un..
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Philip Pullman |
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b0847de
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where there are priests, there is fear of Dust.
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Philip Pullman |
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d5748f7
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But there had always been ghosts in the mountains, everyone knew that.
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Philip Pullman |
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4e76b2f
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That's the duty of the old," said the Librarian, "to be anxious on behalf of the young. And the duty of the young is to scorn the anxiety of the old." They sat for a while longer, and then parted, for it was late, and they were old and anxious."
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Philip Pullman |
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1a59ceb
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Aveva detto una volta a Serafina Pekkala che a lui volare non importava, che era soltanto un lavoro come un altro, ma non parlava sul serio. Levarsi in alto, con un buon vento alle spalle e un nuovo mondo davanti: cosa poteva esserci di meglio in questa vita?
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Philip Pullman |
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96a8956
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And then Serafina understood something for which witches had no word: it was the idea of pilgrimage. She understood why these beings would wait for thousands of years and travel vast distances in order to be close to something important, and how they would feel differently for the rest of time, having been briefly in its presence.
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Philip Pullman |
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3959a91
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That is what the Church does, and every church is the same: control, destroy, obliterate every good feeling.
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Philip Pullman |
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c3dc608
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By the light of a candle, he composed a letter, saying everything as briefly as possible:
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Philip Pullman |
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0c7af34
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Whenever you turn your head, your deaths dodge behind you. Wherever you look, they hide. They hide in a teacup. Or in a dewdrop. Or in a breath of wind.
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the-amber-spyglass
his-dark-materials
philip-pullman
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Philip Pullman |
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d4cae09
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Labour without joy is base. Labour without sorrow is base. Sorrow without labour is base. Joy without labour is base. * JOHN RUSKIN
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Philip Pullman |
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33f3934
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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
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Philip Pullman |
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cba03b5
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Around them there was nothing but silence, as if all the world were holding its breath.
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silence
love
spyglass
theamberspyglass
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Philip Pullman |
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12440e9
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The powers of this world are very strong. Men and women are moved by tides much fiercer than you can imagine, and they sweep us all up into the current.
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Philip Pullman |
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6687359
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As Mary said that, Lyra felt something strange happen to her body. She found a stirring at the roots of her hair: she found herself breathing faster. She had never been on a roller-coaster, or anything like one, but if she had, she would have recognised the sensations in her breast: they were exciting and frightening at the same time, and she had not the slightest idea why. The sensation continued, and deepened, and changed, as more parts o..
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Philip Pullman |
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596f900
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And at half past nine in the evening at that restaurant table in Portugal," Mary continued, "someone gave me a piece of marzipan and it all came back. And I thought: am I really going to spend the rest of my life without ever feeling that again? I thought: I want to go to China. It's full of treasures and strangeness and mystery and joy. I thought, Will anyone be better off if I go straight back to the hotel and say my prayers and confess t..
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mary-malone
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Philip Pullman |
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cd397ff
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mr. makepeace, do you really turn lead into gold?" "no, of course not. no one can do that. but if people think you're foolish enough to try, they don't bother to look at what you're really doing. they leave you in peace."
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Philip Pullman |
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f474361
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So they had language, and they had fire, and they had society. And about then she found an adjustment being made in her mind, as the word creatures became the word people. These beings weren't human, but they were people, she told herself; it's not them, they're us. They
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Philip Pullman |
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216e5c2
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Maybe so," he said, "but whatever little chance of safety there is, I want her to have it."
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Philip Pullman |
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447e4b9
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We'll find a way. There is a way. We just don't know it yet. Don't stop....
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Philip Pullman |
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463f1f5
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Darling, no one would ever dream of performing an operation on a child without testing it first. And no one in a thousand years would take a child's daemon away altogether! All that happens is a little cut, and then everything's peaceful. Forever! You see, your daemon's a wonderful friend and com panion when you're young, but at the age we call puberty, the age you're coming to very soon, darling, daemons bring all sort of troublesome thoug..
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loneliness
grief
sadness
daemon
miss-coulter
dust
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Philip Pullman |
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d5f3537
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Rooks were cawing somewhere, and bells were ringing, and from the oxpens the steady beat of a gas engine announced the ascent of the evening Royal Mail zeppelin for London.
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Philip Pullman |
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60617ff
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Everyone's daemon instantly became warlike: each child was accompanied by fangs, or claws, or bristling fur, and Pantalaimon, contemptuous of the limited imaginations of these gyptian demons, became a dragon the size of a deer-hound.
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Philip Pullman |
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a10dbc1
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this is a different kind of knowing.... It's like understanding, I suppose....
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Philip Pullman |
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b00b284
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Maybe art itself was a kind of voodoo, possessing you, giving you supernatural power, letting you see in the dark.
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Philip Pullman |