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The Magicians (The Magicians, #1) QUOTES

The Magicians (The Magicians, #1) QUOTES

1 " I got my heart's desire, and there my troubles began. "

― Lev Grossman , The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)

2 " [F]or just one second, look at your life and see how perfect it is. Stop looking for the next secret door that is going to lead you to your real life. Stop waiting. This is it: there's nothing else. It's here, and you'd better decide to enjoy it or you're going to be miserable wherever you go, for the rest of your life, forever. "

― Lev Grossman , The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)

3 " It was so much easier to be angry. Being angry made him feel strong, even though-- and this contradiction did nothing to diminish his anger-- he was angry only because his position was so weak. "

― Lev Grossman , The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)

4 " In Fillory you felt the appropriate emotions when things happened. Happiness was a real, actual, achievable possibility. It came when you called. Or no, it never left you in the first place. "

― Lev Grossman , The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)

5 " It wasn't nothing, but it wasn't everything either. "

― Lev Grossman , The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)

6 " If there's a single lesson that life teaches us, it's that wishing doesn't make it so. "

― Lev Grossman , The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)

7 " As a teenager in Brooklyn Quentin had often imagined himself engaged in martial heroics, but after this he knew, as a cold immutable fact, that he would do anything necessary, sacrificing whatever or whomever he had to, to avoid risking exposure to physical violence. Shame never came into it. He embraced his new identity as a coward. He would run in the other direction. He would lie down and cry and put his arms over his head or play dead. It didn't matter what he had to do, he would do it and be glad. "

― Lev Grossman , The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)

8 " Well, why would you create something that had the power to hurt You? Or any of Your creatures? Why don't You help us? Do You have any idea how much we hurt? How much we suffer?

I know all things, daughter.

Well, okay, then know this. We human beings are unhappy all the time. We hate ourselves and we hate each other and sometimes we wish You of Whoever had never created us or this shit-ass world or any other shit-ass world. Do You realize that? So next time You might think about not doing such a half-assed job. "

― Lev Grossman , The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)

9 " I think you’re magicians because you’re unhappy. A magician is strong because he feels pain. He feels the difference between what the world is and what he would make of it. Or what did you think that stuff in your chest was? A magician is strong because he hurts more than others. His wound is his strength. Most people carry that pain around inside them their whole lives, until they kill the pain by other means, or until it kills them. But you, my friends, you found another way: a way to use the pain. To burn it as fuel, for light and warmth. You have learned to break the world that has tried to break you. "

― Lev Grossman , The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)

10 " Language and reality are kept strictly apart—reality is tough, unyielding stuff, and it doesn’t care what you think or feel or say about it. Or it shouldn’t. "

― Lev Grossman , The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)

11 " If there’s a single lesson that life teaches us, it’s that wishing doesn't make it so. Words and thoughts don’t change anything. Language and reality are kept strictly apart — reality is tough, unyielding stuff, and it doesn't care what you think or feel or say about it. Or it shouldn't. You deal with it, and you get on with your life. "

― Lev Grossman , The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)

12 " Becoming me was the greatest creative project of my life. "

― Lev Grossman , The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)

13 " You said the words, and they altered the universe. By merely speaking you could create damage and pain, cause tears to fall, drive people away, make yourself feel better, make your life worse. "

― Lev Grossman , The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)

14 " In a way fighting was just like using magic. You said the words, and they altered the universe. By merely speaking you could create damage and pain, cause tears to fall, drive people away, make yourself feel better, make your life worse. "

― Lev Grossman , The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)

15 " By the standards of magical society they’d fallen at the first hurdle: they hadn’t had the basic good sense to keep their shit to themselves. "

― Lev Grossman , The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)

16 " You just had to get some idea of what matters and what doesn't, and how much, and try not to be scared of the stuff that doesn't. Put it in perspective. "

― Lev Grossman , The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)

17 " Emily Greenstreet was one of these girls that nobody ever notices, who are only friends with other girls nobody notices. Nobody likes or dislikes them. They have weak chins, or chicken-pox scars, or their glasses are too big. I know I'm being mean. But you know, they're just sort of at the edge of everything. "

― Lev Grossman , The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)

18 " Quentin was thin and tall, though he habitually hunched his shoulders in a vain attempt to brace himself against whatever blow was coming from the heavens, and which would logically hit the tall people first. "

― Lev Grossman , The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)

19 " I have a little theory that I'd like to air here, if I may. What is it that you think makes you magicians?" More silence. Fogg was well into rhetorical-question territory now anyway. He spoke more softly. "Is it because you are intelligent? Is it because you are brave and good? Is is because you're special?

Maybe. Who knows. But I'll tell you something: I think you're magicians because you're unhappy. A magician is strong because he feels pain. He feels the difference between what the world is and what he would make of it. Or what did you think that stuff in your chest was? A magician is strong because he hurts more than others. His wound is his strength.

Most people carry that pain around inside them their whole lives, until they kill the pain by other means, or until it kills them. But you, my friends, you found another way: a way to use the pain. To burn it as fuel, for light and warmth. You have learned to break the world that has tried to break you. "

― Lev Grossman , The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)

20 " God, I hope we don’t have to use that,” was all he said out loud. “Oh, come on, Quentina. We’re not looking for trouble. We just want to be ready if it comes.” Josh could hardly contain himself. “Dungeons & Dragons, motherfucker! "

― Lev Grossman , The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)