The Blue Fairy Book Quotes

“You would never have found out how extraordinary it was if it hadn’t hindered you from doing what you wanted to do. You see how self-love keeps us from knowing our own defects of mind and body. Our reason tries in vain to show them to us; we refuse to see them till we find them in the way of our interests.”

“I wish you would leave off mentioning my nose. It cannot matter to you what it is like. I am quite satisfied with it, and have no wish to have it shorter. One must take what is given one.”

“Your gardeners do not understand their business: but what can you expect of men whose fathers were cobblers and carpenters? How should they have learned to cultivate your garden?”

″ ‘Grandmamma, what great arms you have got!’ ‘That is the better to hug thee, my dear’ ‘Grandmama, what great legs you have got!’ ‘That is to run the better, my child’ ‘Grandmamma, what great ears you have got!’ ‘That is to hear the better, my child’ ‘Grandmamma, what great eyes you have got!’ ‘It is to see the better, my child’. ”

“at the foot of those steps you will find an open door leading into three large halls. Tuck up your gown and go through them without touching anything, or you will die instantly. These halls lead into a garden of fine fruit trees. Walk on until you come to a niche in a terrace where stands a lighted lamp. Pour out the oil it contains and bring it to me.”

“Good heavens! what a ninny my brother is! he’ll never come to any good; as the twig is bent, so is the tree inclined.”

“Assure yourselves, O King and Queen, that you daughter shall not die of this disaster. it is true, I have no power to undo entirely what my elder has done. The Princess shall indeed pierce her hand with a spindle; but, instead of dying, she shall only fall into a profound sleep, which shall last one hundred years, at the expiration of which a King’s son shall come and awake her.”

“Scarce had he advanced toward the wood when all the great trees, the bushes, and brambles gave way of themselves to let him pass through; he walked up to the castle which he saw at the end of a large avenue which he went into; and what a little surprised him was that he saw none of his people could follow him, because the trees closed again as soon as he passed through them. However, he did not cease from continuing his way; a young and amorous prince is always valiant.”

“Her godmother only just touched her with her wand, and, at the same instant, her clothes were turned into cloth of gold and silver, all beset with jewels. This done, she gave her a pair of glass slippers, the prettiest in the whole world...her godmother...commanded her not to stay till after midnight, telling her, at the same time, that if she stayed one moment longer, the coach would be a pumpkin again, her horses mice, her coachman a rat, her footmen lizards, and her clothes just as they were before.”

“If your daughter is as clever as you say, bring her to my palace to-morrow, and I’ll put her to the test.”