Michael Ende Quotes

“Nothing is lost. . .Everything is transformed.”

“If you have never wept bitter tears because a wonderful story has come to an end and you must take your leave of the characters with whom you have shared so many adventures, whom you have loved and admired, for whom you have hoped and feared, and without whose company life seems empty and meaningless. If such things have not been part of your own experience, you probably won’t understand what Bastian did next.”

“When it comes to controlling human beings there is no better instrument than lies. Because, you see, humans live by beliefs. And beliefs can be manipulated. The power to manipulate beliefs is the only thing that counts.”

“Every real story is a never ending story.”

“There are many kinds of joy, but they all lead to one: the joy to be loved.”

“You wish for something, you’ve wanted it for years, and you’re sure you want it, as long as you know you can’t have it. But if all at once it looks as though your wish might come true, you suddenly find yourself wishing you had never wished for any such thing.”

“Once someone dreams a dream, it can’t just drop out of existence. But if the dreamer can’t remember it, what becomes of it? It lives on in Fantastica, deep under earth. There are forgotten dreams stored in many layers. The deeper one digs, the closer they are. All Fantastica rests on a foundation of forgotten dreams.”

“You must let what happens happen. Everything must be equal in your eyes, good and evil, beautiful and ugly, foolish and wise.”

“Bastian looked at the book. ‘I wonder,’ he said to himself, ‘what’s in a book while it’s closed. Oh, I know it’s full of letters printed on paper, but all the same, something must be happening, because as soon as I open it, there’s a whole story with people I don’t know yet and all kinds of adventures, deeds and battles. And sometimes there are storms at sea, or it takes you to strange cities and countries. All those things are somehow shut in a book. Of course you have to read it to find out. But it’s already there, that’s the funny thing. I just wish I knew how it could be.’ Suddenly an almost festive mood came over him. He settled himself down, picked up the book, opened it to the first page, and began to read...”

“Strange as it may seem, horror loses its power to frighten when repeated too often.”

“If you stop to think about it, you’ll have to admit that all the stories in the world consist essentially of twenty-six letters. The letters are always the same, only the arrangement varies. From letters words are formed, from words sentences, from sentences chapters, and from chapters stories.”

“There were thousands and thousands of forms of joy in the world, but that all were essentially one and the same, namely, the joy of being able to love.”

“Without a past you can’t have a future.”

“Human passions have mysterious ways, in children as well as grown-ups. Those affected by them can’t explain them, and those who haven’t known them have no understanding of them at all. Some people risk their lives to conquer a mountain peak. No one, not even they themselves, can really explain why. Others ruin themselves trying to win the heart of a certain person who wants nothing to do with them. Still others are destroyed by their devotion to the pleasures of the table. Some are so bent on winning a game of chance that they lose everything they own, and some sacrifice everything for a dream that can never come true. Some think their only hope of happiness lies in being somewhere else, and spend their whole lives traveling from place to place. And some find no rest until they have become powerful. In short, there are as many different passions as there are people.”

“A story can be new and yet tell about olden times. The past comes into existence with the story.”

“What I’ve started I must finish. I’ve gone too far to turn back. Regardless of what may happen, I have to go forward.”

“Maybe all the people who say ghosts don’t exist are just afraid to admit that they do.”

“-Everything will turn out all right. You’ll see. -I can’t imagine how, said Atreyu. -Neither can I, said the luckdragon. But that’s the best part of it.”

“You must live your story.”

“A person’s reason for doing someone a good turn matters as much as the good turn itself.”

“He had never been willing to believe that life had to be as gray and dull as people claimed. He heard them saying: “Life is like that,” but he couldn’t agree. He never stopped believing in mysteries and miracles.”

“Those who still think that listening isn’t an art should see if they can do it half as well.”

“Time is life itself, and life resides in the human heart.”

“Calendars and clocks exist to measure time, but that signifies little because we all know that an hour can seem as eternity or pass in a flash, according to how we spend it.”

“Now, for the first time ever, a story had escaped his control. It had taken on a life of its own, and all the imagination in the world would be insufficient to halt it. He felt numb.”

You must never think of the whole street at once, understand? You must only concentrate on the next step, the next breath, the next stroke of the broom, and the next, and the next. Nothing else. That way you enjoy your work, which is important, because then you make a good job of it. And that’s how it ought to be.

“...it’s like this. Sometimes, when you’ve a very long street ahead of you, you think how terribly long it is and feel sure you’ll never get it swept. And then you start to hurry. You work faster and faster and every time you look up there seems to be just as much left to sweep as before, and you try even harder, and you panic, and in the end you’re out of breath and have to stop--and still the street stretches away in front of you. That’s not the way to do it.

“People never seemed to notice that, by saving time, they were losing something else. No one cared to admit that life was becoming ever poorer, bleaker and more monotonous. The ones who felt this most keenly were the children, because no one had time for them any more. But time is life itself, and life resides in the human heart. And the more people saved, the less they had.”

“All the games were selected for them by supervisors and had to have some useful, educational purpose. The children learned these new games but unlearned something else in the process: they forgot to be happy, how to take pleasure in little things and last, but not least, how to dream”

“Life holds one great but quite commonplace mystery. Though shared by each of us and known to all, seldom rates a second thought. That mystery, which most of us take for granted and never think twice about, is time.

“All the world’s misfortunes stemmed from the countless untruths, both deliberate and unintentional, which people told because of haste or carelessness.”

“there are certain treasures that kill you if you can’t share them with others.”

“Luke worked as an engine driver and always appeared to be dirty, despite his daily showers. The King was seen only for the holidays as he was too busy during the holidays.”

“During the holidays at exactly a quarter to twelve, the king would appear at the window and everyone would shout and throw their hats into the sky - praising him. ”

“At this time Emma (the locomotive) would whistle and everyone would get vanilla and strawberry ice cream. Mrs. Whaat was very good at making ice creams so the King ordered them from her for the townspeople during the holiday celebrations when he would appear.”

“Life was peaceful on the island until one day something strange happened. One day a boat stopped at the shore and the mailman came out with a big package. ”

“He asked if Mrs. Krintuuth lived there, this shocked and surprised everyone as they knew that the mailman knew everyone on the island. He climbed up on a hill and gave the King the package.”

″ Everyone was curious so they decided to explore the island. Unfortunately, they couldn’t find Mrs. Krintuuth. The mailman said he would be back in a week to take back the package if they do not find Mrs. Krintuuth.”

“After a long meeting and discussions, the King gave permission for the package to be opened, once it was, they discovered that there was a little black boy inside. ”

“Luke was so angry with this that he said that he would beat up the person who puts a child inside a package. He yelled and the little boy started crying.”

“On a small island, Morrowland lived Luke, King Alfred, Mrs. Whaat and Mrs. Sleeve. Mrs. Whaat is the owner of the local store and Mrs. Sleeve supplies the store with souvenirs. ”

“The package had an address on it which mentioned the third floor of an Old Street and the number 133 of which no one ever heard of. The paper which had the address on it was a bit smudged so it was also hard to read the address. ”