The act of true reading is in its very essence democratic. Consider the nature of what happens when we read a book - and I mean, of course, a work of literature, not an instruction manual or a textboo...
I am a religious person, although I am not a believer.
You are so young, Lyra, too young to understand this, but I shall tell you anyway and you'll understand it later: men pass in front of our eyes like butterflies, creatures of a brief season. We love t...
Who are you? the woman said at last.Lyra Silver—No, where d'you come from? What are you? How do you know things like this? Wearily Lyra sighed; she had forgotten how roundabout Scholars could be. It w...
When you live for many hundreds of years, you know that every opportunity will come again.
When you choose one way out of many, all the ways you don't take are snuffed out like candles, as if they'd never existed.
We shouldn't live as if [other worlds] mattered more than this life in this world, because where we are is always the most important place.
The Specters feast as vampires feast on blood, but the Specters’ food is attention. A conscious and informed interest in the world. The immaturity of children is less attractive to them.
The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake.
She’s innocent, and she loves easily.
She did not move. Nor did she scream or faint; her only actions were to draw back the hem of her dress from where it brushed the shiny dome of his skull and to breathe deeply, several times, with her...
Religion is, as I say, something universal and something human, and something impossible to eradicate, nor would I want to eradicate it. I am a religious person, although I am not a believer.
My flat's about half a mile away, and you know what I'd like most of all in the world? I'd like a cup of tea. Come on, let's go and put the kettle on.
Maybe sometimes we don't do the right thing because the wrong thing looks more dangerous, and we don't want to look scared, so we go and do the wrong thing just because it's dangerous. We're more conc...
Life is hard, Mr. Scoresby, but we cling to it all the same. And this journey we’re on? Is that folly or wisdom? The greatest wisdom I know.
It was such a strange tormenting feeling when your daemon was pulling at the link between you; part physical pain deep in the chest, part intense sadness and love. Everyone tested it when they were gr...
Human beings can’t see anything without wanting to destroy it, Lyra. That’s original sin.
Her last conscious thought was disgust at life; her senses had lied to her. The world was not made of energy and delight but of foulness, betrayal, and lassitude. Living was hateful, and death was no...
ACTRESS: Nonsense! It was an automaton controlled by the boy’s mesmeric waves as part of a plot organised by my rivals.
If I have to die to do what’s proper, then I will, and be happy while I do.