“Funny how life had its little ways of surprising you. Little quirks of fate.” — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“and the rest of his life lay in front of him like a barren, meaningless postscript.” — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
If there's a single lesson that life teaches us, it's that wishing doesn't make it so. — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“who hadn’t at some point in his life wanted to climb to the top of a sailing ship in full flight?” — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“You do realize it's all right to have nice things sometimes, right?” — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
The life I should be living had been mislaid through some clerical error by the cosmic bureaucracy. — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“You just had to get some idea of what matters and what doesn't, and how much, and try not to be scared… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“But it wasn’t going to kill him. It wasn’t sexy, but it was real, and that was what mattered now. No more… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“Earth or Fillory, did it even matter? What was the huge conundrum? Everywhere you looked there was so much richness, you could… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“Never risking anything meant never having or doing or being anything either. Life is risk, it turned out.” — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
Stop looking for the next secret door that is going to lead you to your real life. Stop waiting. This is it:… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“A Black Madonna: the blackness of death, but also the blackness of good soil, dark with decay, which gives rise to life.” — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“In real life it was like they were playing some children’s game. It was a little kid’s idea of a magical object.… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
For just one second, look at your life and see how perfect it is. Stop looking for the next secret door that… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“When he graduated he’d thought life was going to be like a novel, starring him on his own personal hero’s journey, and… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“It's true," Eliot said. "Statistically, historically, and however else you want to look at it, you are almost never right. A monkey… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“All of it just confirmed his belief that his real life, the life he should be living, had been mislaid through some… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
Even though I have spent literally years of my life trying to learn another language, any other language - and even though… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“Your magician self, that loopy doppelgänger, was always with you, tugging at your sleeve, whispering silently that your real life was a… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“If you will, for just one second, look at your life and see how perfect it is. Stop looking for the next… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“I’ve learned that the creative life may or may not be the apex of human civilization, but either way it’s not what… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“The world was fucking awful. It was a wretched, desolate place, a desert of meaninglessness, a heartless wasteland, where horrific things happened… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“In real life humans didn’t slay giants, because it was impossible. It would be like killing an apartment building with your bare… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“There was enough hiding in life. Sometimes you just wanted to show somebody your tits.” — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“You can spend your life waiting and watching for perfect moments, but sometimes you have to make one happen.” — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“The separation of word and thing is the essential fact on which our adult lives are founded.” — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“it just confirmed his belief that his real life, the life he should be living, had been mislaid through some clerical error… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“You said the words, and they altered the universe. By merely speaking you could create damage and pain, cause tears to fall,… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“Sure, but real life’s not actually like that,” Quentin went on, fumbling after what he was sure was an important insight. “You… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“If there’s a single lesson that life teaches us, it’s that wishing doesn't make it so. Words and thoughts don’t change anything.… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
I think for a long time, I was paralyzed by some of my hopes and ideals for what my life was going… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
It was strange to be naked in front of anybody. It was like that cold water out there in the bay: scary,… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“He wanted to stick his finger in it and see what happened. Some story, some quest, started here, and he wanted to… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
In a way fighting was just like using magic. You said the words, and they altered the universe. By merely speaking you… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
In our world no one ever knows what to do, and everyone's just as clueless and full of crap as everyone else,… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“See, when you had magic in your life, it turned out, when you lived the double life of a secret underground magician,… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“...In books there's always somebody standing by ready to say hey, the world's in danger, evil's on the rise, but if you're… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“I can’t overstate how little I knew about myself at 22, or how little I’d thought about what I was doing. When… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
We're wired to expect the world to be brighter and more meaningful and more obviously interesting than it actually is. And when we realize… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“He was going to sign the papers and he was going to be a motherfucking magician.” — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“Being brave was easy when you would rather die than give up. Fatigue meant nothing when you actually wanted to suffer.” — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“He wasn't in a safe little story where wrongs were automatically righted; he was still in the real world, where bad bitter things happened… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
I love rare books. Not that I own a lot of them, mind you. You couldn't quite call me a rare-book collector. But I… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
By now he had learned enough to know that when he was getting annoyed at somebody else, it was usually because there was something… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
About as close you can get to the perfect cerebral thriller: searingly smart, ridiculously funny, and fast as hell... I defy anybody to read… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“It's true," Eliot said. "Statistically, historically, and however else you want to look at it, you are almost never right. A monkey making life… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
“God, I hope we don’t have to use that,” was all he said out loud. “Oh, come on, Quentina. We’re not looking for trouble.… — Lev Grossman Copy Share Image
