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1 " Ambition without direction is like milk without a cup. "
― Gregory Maguire , Egg & Spoon
2 " Think of egg and spoon. If there is an egg, well, fine. You eat. Unless you use your spoon to hold the egg out of my reach. Does being in possession of a spoon give you more right to the egg? "
3 " Now we'd help her if we could. We can't. So we're helping you. That's all that most of us who are not Tsars or witches can manage to do. "
4 " Perplexity isn’t as noble as conviction, but perhaps more good is done in the name of muddling through uncertainty than is done hacking away with the righteous sword of self-confidence. "
5 " As an old friend of mine once said when I brought him some interesting brownies, ‘You must accept the truth from whatever source it comes,’” she replied. “Haven’t you read your Maimonides? "
6 " Your life story is really about how the hands of history caught you up, played with you, and you with them. History plays for keeps; individuals play for time. When "
7 " Furniture!" bellowed the witch. "Tables, bathtub, the lot of you. It's time to go out in the world and seek your fortunes, if that's your hope." There was a crashing sound as all the furniture went and tried to hide under the bed, and the bed tried to hide under itself. "
8 " Elena had always felt like the center of her own world - who doesn't? The world arranged itself around her like petals around the stem of a flower. This way the meadows, that way the woodland. Over here, the baryn's estate, out there, the hills that hug the known world close and imply a world at beyond. She could never come up with the edge of a world, because it always kept going on beyond. She moved the center of the world as she walked. The world was balanced on her head. "
9 " No doubt Noah offered his wife that olive branch. Forty days in a boat with those animals to clean up after? A peace offering likely all that stood between their marriage and bloody murder. "
10 " As Solomon said in the Old Book, if two women squabble over which of them is the mother of a certain infant, the way to solve the problem is to cut the baby in half and share the baby in parts.” “That’s revolting.” “Is it? I always wondered if that baby was a colicky brat and both women were really trying to pawn it off on the other one. "
11 " She added, perhaps to herself, "You have to become old and ugly before anyone listens to you, and then they don't, because you're ugly and old. "
12 " Listen, we’re all trapped in our own lives. You, me, everyone we’ve ever met. "
13 " Her voice is hoarse. She’s caught a catarrh from that dreadful draft. "
14 " It seems there is no shortage of regret among the young -- but then, they are young, they make mistakes. They have time to correct them and the courage to admit their failings aloud. "
15 " Yes, freedom is magnificent. But freedom is hard work. "
16 " One should see the world, and see himself, as a scale with an equal balance of good and evil. When he does one good deed, the scale is tipped to the good — he and the world are saved. When he does one evil deed, the scale is tipped to the bad — he and the world are destroyed.’” “Interesting. Who said that, your grandmother?” “Maimonides. The great Jewish scholastic.” “I didn’t know you read Jewish philosophers.” “It is said, ‘You must accept the truth from whatever source it comes.’” “And who said that?” “Also Maimonides. "
17 " Ravens aren’t usually nocturnal, but hunger can be. "
18 " As Solomon said in the Old Book, if two women squabble over which of them is the mother of a certain infant, the way to solve the problem is to cut the baby in half and share the baby in parts. "
19 " In my raveling thoughts I flew away, as if my spirit were nestled in the breast feathers of some passing hornbill or waxwing. "
20 " So Elena goes out. Can you see her? Over there, on the path by the fence made of wire and disoriented wooden rails. Now in the shadows of the juniper, now coming into the light. There. "
