Lloyd Alexander Men Quotations

I saw myself. . . in the time I watched, I saw strength and frailty, pride and vanity, courage and fear. Of wisdom, a little. Of folly much. Of intentions many good ones; but many more left undone. On this alas, I saw myself a man like any other. But this too I saw . . . Alike as men may seem, each is different as flakes of snow, no two the same.You told me you had no need to seek the Mirror, knowing you were Annlaw Clay-Shaper. Now I know who I am: myself and none other. I am Taran.

I have never known courage to be judged by the length of a man's hair. Or, for the matter of that, whether he has any hair at all.

Morgant?" Taran asked, turning a puzzled glance to Gwydion. "How can there be honor for such a man?" "It is easy to judge evil unmixed," replied Gwydion. "But, alas, in most of us good and bad are closely woven as the threads on a loom; greater wisdom than mine is needed for the judging.

For the deeds of a man, not the words of a prophecy, are what shape his destiny.

The destinies of men are woven one with the other, and you can turn aside from them no more than you can turn aside from your own.

A crown is a pitiless master, harsher than the staff of a pig-keeper; while a staff bears up, a crown weighs down, beyond the strength of any man to wear it lightly.

This much have I learned: A man's life weighs more than glory, and a price paid in blood is a heavy reckoning.

Stale water is a poor drink. Stale skill is worse. And the man who walks in his own footsteps only ends where he began.

A man who claims to be fearless is an idiot or a liar.

It is harsh enough for each man to bear his own wound. But he who leads bears the wounds of all who follow him.

In the race of men is much greed and envy; but of truth, little.

Every man is a hero if he strives more for others than for himself alone.

For man to be worthy of any rank, he must strive first to be a man.

I only suggest to you: Will you dwell on killing this man? You wish for revenge? If you do, he has already killed you by slow poison. So, let it go. Why waste your time? His life will see to his death.

Long ago I yearned to be a hero without knowing, in truth, what a hero was. Now, perhaps, I understand it a little better. A grower of turnips or a shaper of clay, a Commot farmer or a king--every man is a hero if he strives more for others than for himself alone. Once you told me that the seeking counts more than the finding. So, too, must the striving count more than the gain.