His Dark Materials Quotes

“Men and women are moved by tides much fiercer than you can imagine.”

“Was there only one world, after all, that spent its time dreaming of others?”

“Put your foot through the hole in the seedpod where I was playing, and you will become wise.”

“To rebel was right and just, when you considered what the agents of the Authority did in His name.”

“Good and evil are names for what people do, not for what they are.”

“All the history of human life has been a struggle between wisdom and stupidity.”

“Dust is something bad, something wrong, something evil and wicked.”

“It’s impossible, and if it isn’t impossible, it’s irrelevant, and if it isn’t either of those things, it’s embarrassing.”

“All of us . . . are engaged in a war already, although not all of us know it.”

“The universe is full of intentions, you know. Everything happens for a purpose.”

“I’d rather not know what’s in the future. I’ll stick to the present.”

“Dust is only a name for what happens when matter begins to understand itself.”

“Human beings can’t see anything without wanting to destroy it, Lyra. That’s original sin.”

“The place you fight cruelty is where you find it, and the place you give help is where you see it needed.”

“That’s the duty of the old . . . to be anxious on behalf of the young. And the duty of the young is to scorn the anxiety of the old.”

“The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that’s all.”

“So she had passed her childhood, like a half-wild cat.”

“We have to build the Republic of Heaven where we are.”

“Being a practiced liar doesn’t mean you have a powerful imagination. Many good liars have no imagination at all.”

“We are all subject to the fates. But we must all act as if we are not.”