Nicholas Stuart Gray > Quotes

“When a unicorn is slain, men have destroyed again the image of beauty that they seek.”
― Nicholas Stuart Gray

“[T]o give the children a sense of magic. Nobody attends to this enough. They give them too much realism. They can see it all on the box, they can see frightful things there. But they’re not being given a world to escape to … the world of the imagination. Children must have an escape line somewhere.”
― Nicholas Stuart Gray

“Chorus for a Cat

I will never subject be,
I am free.
Try to curb me and, no doubt,
You'll find out
Just exactly what a claw
Is for!
Or I'll dematerialize
Before your eyes:
Ere you lay a finger on
Me, I'm gone!
You may think I'm in the lane;
Think again!
You may guess I'm on the roof;
Any proof?
I am not to hold or bind,
Or find.
I will hunt and sing and fight
In the night.
All day long I lie and doze,
Comatose:
Never answer when you call
And bawl.
If to order me you choose,
You will lose.
Try to understand my mind
And you'll find
Truest friendship I will give
While I live;
Kindly amiability,
And sympathy.
If subservience you prefer,
Buy a cur!”
― Nicholas Stuart Gray, The Random House Book of Fantasy Stories

“My name is Tomlyn. I am very beautiful. Marshall says I am spiteful and wicked and a barbarian to boot. He’s jealous of my thick grey fur, my white chin and breast, and the snowy end of my tail. I suppose he can’t help being envious, the great rusty-black thing! He’s got a big, blunt beak, and stubby wings, and tiny little eyes... He’s old and stupid and a coward; with an endless flow of long words that he can’t possibly understand.”
― Nicholas Stuart Gray, The Stone Cage