Gregory Maguire > Quotes

“People who claim that they're evil are usually no worse than the rest of us... It's people who claim that they're good, or any way better than the rest of us, that you have to be wary of.”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“Remember this: Nothing is written in the stars. Not these stars, nor any others. No one controls your destiny.”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“Where I'm from, we believe in all sorts of things that aren't true... we call it history.”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“Happy endings are still endings.”
― Gregory Maguire, Son of a Witch

“One never learns how the witch became wicked, or whether that was the right choice for her~is it ever the right choice? Does the devil ever struggle to be good again, or if so is he not a devil?”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“Books fall open, you fall in. When you climb out again, you're a bit larger than you used to be.”
― Gregory Maguire

“And girls need cold anger. They need the cold simmer, the ceaseless grudge, the talent to avoid forgiveness, the side stepping of compromise. They need to know when they say something that they will never back down, ever, ever.”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“So he stalked her again. Love makes hunters of us all.”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“In the lives of children, pumpkins turn into coaches, mice and rats turn into men. When we grow up, we realize it is far more common for men to turn into rats.”
― Gregory Maguire, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

“There was much to hate in this world and too much to love.”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“You confuse not speaking with not listening.”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“She dropped her shyness like a nightgown, and in the liquid glare of sunlight on old boards she held up her hands-as if, in the terror of the upcoming skirmish, she had at last understood that she was beautiful. In her own way.”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“The body apologizes to the soul for its errors, and the soul asks forgiveness for squatting in the body without invitation.”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“As long as people are going to call you lunatic anyway, why not get the benefit of it? It liberates you from convention.”
― Gregory Maguire

“The eye is always caught by light, but shadows have more to say.”
― Gregory Maguire, Mirror Mirror

“People always did like to talk, didn't they? That's why I call myself a witch now: the Wicked Witch of the West, if you want the full glory of it. As long as people are going to call you a lunatic anyway, why not get the benefit of it? It liberates you from convention.”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“Because no retreat from the world can mask what is in your face.”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“He lingered at the door, and said, 'The Lion wants courage, the Tin Man a heart, and the Scarecrow brains. Dorothy wants to go home. What do you want?'...
She couldn't say forgiveness, not to Liir. She started to say 'a soldier,' to make fun of his mooning affections over the guys in uniform. But realizing even as she said it that he would be hurt, she caught herself halfway, and in the end what came out of her mouth surprised them both.
She said, 'A soul-'
He blinked at her.”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“No one controls your destiny. Even at the very worst - there is always choice.”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“Not everyone is born a witch or a saint. Not everyone is born talented, or crooked, or blessed; some are born definite in no particular at all. We are a fountain of shimmering contradictions, most of us. Beautiful in the concept, if we're lucky, but frequently tedious or regrettable as we flesh ourselves out.”
― Gregory Maguire, Son of a Witch

“The wickedness of men is that their power breeds stupidity and blindness.”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“Memory is a part of the present. It builds us up inside; it knits our bones to our muscles and keeps our hearts pumping. It is memory that reminds our bodies to work, and memory that reminds our spirits to work to: it keeps us who we are.~Candle”
― Gregory Maguire, Son of a Witch

“I know you don't want to hear this but someone has to say it! You are out of control! I mean they're just shoes... let it go!”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“There are two kinds of anger: hot and cold. Boys and girls experience both, but as they grow up the anger separates according to the sex. Boys need hot anger to survive. They need inclination to fight, the drive to sink the knife into the flesh, the energy and initiative of fury. It's a requirement of hunting, of defense, of pride. Maybe of sex too. And girls need cold anger. They need the cold simmer, the ceaseless grudge, the talent to avoid forgiveness, the sidestepping of compromise. They need to know when they say something that they will never back down, ever, ever. It's the compensation for a more limited scope in the world. Cross a man and you struggle, one of you wins, you would adjust and go on -- or you lie there dead. Cross a woman and the universe is changed, once again, for cold anger requires an eternal vigilance in all matters of slight and offense.”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“Maybe the definition of home is the place where you are never forgiven. So you may always belong there, bound by guilt. And maybe the cost of belonging is worth it.”
― Gregory Maguire

“Waking up was a daily cruelty, an affront, and she avoided it by not sleeping.”
― Gregory Maguire, A Lion Among Men

“I never use the words HUMANIST or HUMANITARIAN, as it seems to me that to be human is to be capable of the most heinous crimes in nature.”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“That was such a wonderful time, even in its strangeness and sadness-and life isn't the same now. It's wonderful, but it isn't the same.”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“I shall pray for your soul,' promised Nessarose.
I shall wait for your shoes,' Elphie answered.”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“And of the Witch? In the life of a Witch, there is no "after", in the "ever after" of a Witch there is no "happily"; in the story of a Witch, there is no afterword. Of that part that is beyond the life story, beyond the story of the life, there is-alas, or perhaps thank mercy-no telling. She was dead, dead, and gone, and all that was left of her was the carapace of her reputation for malice.”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West