Key Insights & Memorable Quotes
Below are the most popular and impactful highlights and quotes from The Book of Three:
“Most of us are called on to perform tasks far beyond what we can do. Our capabilities seldom match our aspirations, and we are often woefully unprepared. To this extent, we are all Assistant Pig-Keepers at heart.”
“In some cases we learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.”
“Neither refuse to give help when it is needed,... nor refuse to accept it when it is offered.”
“By all means," cried the bard, his eyes lighting up. "A Fflam to the rescue! Storm the castle! Carry it by assault! Batter down the gates!""There's not much of it left to storm," said Eilonwy. "Oh?" said Fflewddur, with disappointment. "Very well, we shall do the best we can.”
“I'm trying to make myself invisible.""That's an odd thing to attempt.”
“You know how chickens are, imagining the world coming to an end one moment, then pecking corn the next.”
“I can't make sense out of that girl," he said to the bard, "Can you?" "Never mind," Fflewddur said, "We aren't really expected to.”
“Are you slow-witted? I'm so sorry for you. It's terrible to be dull and stupid.”
“No, no," said Taran slowly, "It would be folly to think of attacking them." He smiled quickly at Fflewddur. "The bards would sing of us," he admitted, "but we'd be in no position to appreciate it.”
“I can't stand people who say 'I told you so.' That's worse than somebody coming up and eating your dinner before you have a chance to sit down.”
“Do you not believe that animals know grief and fear and pain? The world of men is not an easy one for them.”
“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.”
“I know it isn't nice to vex people on purpose—it's like handing them a toad—but this is much too good to miss and I may never have another chance at it.”
“She was the most confusing person he had ever met”
“Gwydion stood as a wolf at bay, his green eyes glittering, his teeth bared.”
“we learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.”
“But it's very thoughtful of you to say that. It shows a kind heart, and I think that's so much more important than being clever.”
“It would be a shame if you were killed. I should be very sorry. I know I wouldn't like it to happen to me.”
“Surely you can entrust your task to your friends." "No," said Taran, after a long pause, "I have taken it on myself through my own choice.""If that is so," answered Medwyn, "then you can give it up through your own choice.”
“Nothing we do is ever done entirely alone. There is a part of us in everyone else—you, of all people, should know that. From what I hear, you have been as impetuous as your friend Fflewddur; I have been told, among other things, of a night when you dove head first into a thornbush. And you have certainly felt as sorry for yourself as Gurgi; and, like Doli, striven for the impossible.”
“I knew something was wrong when you started being so polite.”
“Hwoinch!’ said Hen Wen.”
“It is not given to men to know the ends of their journeys," Medwyn answered. "It may be that you will never return to the places dearest to you. But how can that matter, if what you must do is here and now?”
“What is the use of studying much when I’m to see nothing at all?”
“The bees!”
“It is not the trappings that make the prince,” he said gently, “nor, indeed, the sword that makes the warrior”
“Well, that is one of the three foundations of learning: see much, study much, suffer much.”
“But it’s very thoughtful of you to say that. It shows a kind heart, and I think that’s so much more important than being clever.”
“It is not given to men to know the ends of their journeys...It may be that you will never return to the places dearest to you. But how can that matter, if what you must do is here and now?”
“In some cases,” he said, “we learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.”
