William Steig > Quotes

“Oh, Life, I am yours. Whatever it is you want of me, I am ready to give.”
― William Steig, Dominic

“Did you ever see anybody so disgusting: said lightning to thunder, "never," growled thunder, "let's give him the works.”
― William Steig, Shrek!

“Later she sat on the ground in the forest between school and home, and spring was so bright and beautiful, the warm air touched her so tenderly, she could almost feel herself changing into a flower. Her light dress felt like petals.
"I love everything," she heard herself say.
"So do I," a voice answered.
Pearl straightened up and looked around. No one was there.”
― William Steig, The Amazing Bone

“How deeply one felt when alone.”
― William Steig, Abel's Island

“People are no damn good.”
― William Steig, The Lonely Ones

“And they lived horribly ever after, scaring the socks off all who fell afoul of them.”
― William Steig, Shrek!

“He was able to love them again, but he loved them now in a wiser way, knowing their weakness.”
― William Steig, The Real Thief

“The world was all magic, and he had a special bottle of it in his right hand.”
― William Steig, Gorky Rises

“How did the world ever manage without me before I was born?' he wondered. 'Didn't they feel something was missing?”
― William Steig, Dominic

“I wish I were a rock,' he said, and he became a rock.”
― William Steig, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

“Otchky-potchky, itchky-pitch,
Pay attention to this witch.
A donkey takes you to a knight --
Him you conquer in a fight.
Then you wed a princess who
Is even uglier than you.
Ha ha ha and cockadoodle,
The magic words are 'Apple Strudel”
― William Steig, Shrek!

“Life was...sad. And yet it was beautiful. The beauty was dimmed when the sadness welled up. And the beauty would be there again when the sadness went. So the beauty and the sadness belonged together somehow, though they were not the same at all.”
― William Steig, Dominic

“Why had he wanted to be rich, or to feel rich? Was he an unhappy mouse before? Didn't he see the King himself often looking sad? Was anyone completely happy?”
― William Steig, The Real Thief

“He was suddenly thrilled to see his private, personal star arise in the east. This was a particular star his nanny had chosen for him as a child. As a child, he would sometimes talk to this star, but only when he was his most serious, real self, and not being any sort of a show-off or clown. As he grew up, the practice had somehow worn off.
He looked up at his old friend as if to say, “You see my predicament.”
The star seemed to respond, “I see.”
Abel next put the question: “What shall I do?”
The star seemed to answer, “You will do what you will do.” For some reason this reply strengthened Abel’s belief in himself. Sleep gently enfolded him. The constellations proceeded across the hushed heavens as if tiptoeing past the dreaming mouse on his high branch.”
― William Steig, Abel's Island

“Why did the world go on being so beautiful in spite of the ugliness he had experienced? The lake was beautiful, serenely beautiful. The forest was beautiful, greenly beautiful. Lake and forest, the whole shimmering world was painfully beautiful. He loved this world, but he was too hurt to enjoy it.”
― William Steig, The Real Thief

“Rain caused one to reflect on the shadowed, more poignant parts of life—the inescapable sorrows, the speechless longings, the disappointments, the regrets, the cold miseries. It also allowed one the leisure to ponder questions unasked in the bustle of brighter days; and if one were snug under a sound roof, as Abel was, one felt somehow mothered, though mothers were nowhere around, and absolved of responsibilities.”
― William Steig, Abel's Island

“Abel also kept busy taking it easy. Only when taking it easy, he'd learned, could one properly do one's wondering.”
― William Steig, Abel's Island

“His mother was ugly and his father was ugly, but Shrek was uglier than the two of them put together. By the time he toddled, Shrek could spit flame a full ninety-nine yards and vent smoke from either ear.”
― William Steig, Shrek!

“The damp occupants of the cave stood close together in the vaulted entrance like actors who had played their parts and could now watch the rest of the show from the wings.”
― William Steig, Abel's Island

“Somewhere out there, in the night sky-and it could only be night-were the glittering stars, and among them his, the one he had always known. This star, his, millions of miles away, was yet closer than Amanda, because if he had the will and the strength to get up, uncover his window, and look out, he could see it. He knew, therefore, that it existed. But as for Amanda, father, mother, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and the rest of society and the animal kingdom, he had to believe they were there, and it was hard to have this faith. As far as he really knew, he himself was the only, lonely, living thing that existed, and in his coma of coldness, he was not so sure of that.”
― William Steig, Abel's Island

“The stubbornness of his character stood him now in good stead. He refused to consider himself defeated.”
― William Steig, Abel's Island

“[T]he conviction grew in him that the earth and the sky knew he was there and also felt friendly; so he was not really alone, and not really entirely lonely.”
― William Steig, Abel's Island

“He began to develop an obstinate patience.”
― William Steig, Abel's Island

“Abel talked about Amanda, about her poetry, her grace, her tendency to dream. He speculated on why her movements, her gestures, her voice, her way of dressing, were so much more charming and heart-winning than those of any other female mouse he had ever known, including his own dear mother and favorite sister. It puzzled him. “It’s the magic of love,” burped Gower.”
― William Steig, Abel's Island:

“Never had he been subjected to such rude treatment. How long could it last? How long, he wondered, could he abide it?”
― William Steig, Abel's Island

“It began to seem it had always been winter and that there was nothing else, just a vague awareness to make note of the fact. The universe was a dreary place, asleep, cold all the way to infinity, and the wind was a separate thing, not part of the winter, but a lost, unloved soul, screaming and moaning and rushing about looking for a place to rest and reckon
up its woes.”
― William Steig, Abel's Island

“His thoughts were full of the future, but they were also full of the past.”
― William Steig, Abel's Island