It is the right of a traveller to vent their frustration at every minor inconvenience by writing of it to their friends.
I was told once by some country people that a magician should never tell his dreams because the telling will make them come true. But I say that is great nonsense.
A Nottinghamshire man called Tubbs wished very much to see a fairy and, from thinking of fairies day and night, and from reading all sorts of odd books about them, he took it into his head that his co...
Perhaps mortals are not formed for fairy bliss?
Hatching his poems..
It may be laid down as a general rule that if a man begins to sing, no one will take any notice of his song except his fellow human beings. This is true even if his song is surpassingly beautiful. Oth...
Thaumatomane: a person possessed of a passion for magic and wonders, Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson.
Strange, said Henry Woodhope, where did you get this nonsense? From the man under the hedge. Henry, you do not listen. And he seemed honest, did he? Honest? No, not particularly. He seemed, I would sa...
Oh, Mr Norrell! Such a noodle I am upon occasion!
Nothing was more characteristic of Sir Walter Pole than Surprize. His eyes grew large, his eyebrows rose half an inch upon his face and he leant suddenly backwards and altogether he resembled nothing...
In the fairy’s song the earth recognized the names by which it called itself.
He understood for the first time that the world is not dumb at all, but merely waiting for someone to speak to it in a language it understands.
He screamed.Mmm?' inquired the gentleman.I...I would never presume to interrupt you, sir. But the ground appears to be swallowing me up.'It is a bog,' said the gentleman, helpfully.It is certainly a m...
Excess of grief may bring on quite as fine a bout of madness an an excess of any thing else. Truth to tell, I was not quite myself for a time. Truth to tell, I was a little wild.
Above all remember this: that magic belongs as much to the heart as to the head and everything which is done, should be done from love or joy or righteous anger.
You mean to say he became mad deliberately?'...Nothing is more likely,' said the duke.
What nobility of feeling! To sacrifice your own pleasure to preserve the comfort of others! It is a thing, I confess, that would never occur to me.
This is the genius of my enemy! Lock a door against him and all that happens is that he learns first how to pick a lock and second how to build a better one against you!
The man under the hedge, sir. He is a magician. Did you never hear that if you wake a magician before his time, you risk bringing his dreams out of his head into the world?
Mr Norrell determined to establish himself in London with all possible haste. You must get a house, Childermass, he said. Get me a house that says to those that visit it that magic is a respectable pr...