Taran Quotes

“Life's a forge! Yes, and hammer and anvil, too! You'll be roasted, smelted, and pounded, and you'll scarce know what's happening to you. But stand boldly to it! Metal's worthless till it's shaped and tempered! More labor than luck. Face the pounding, don't fear the proving; and you'll stand well against any hammer and anvil.”
― Lloyd Alexander, Taran Wanderer

“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.”
― Lloyd Alexander, The Book of Three

“I saw myself.... In the time I watched, I saw strength—and frailty. Pride and vanity, courage and fear. Of wisdom, a little. Of folly, much. Of intentions, many good ones; but many more left undone. In this, alas, I saw myself a man like any other.

But this, too, I saw.... Alike as men may seem, each is different as flakes of snow, no two the same. You told me you had no need to seek the Mirror, knowing you were Annlaw Clay-Shaper. Now I know who I am: myself and none other. I am Taran.”
― Lloyd Alexander, Taran Wanderer

“For Wayfarers still journeying, for Wanderers at rest.”
― Lloyd Alexander, Taran Wanderer

“Once," he added, "you told me that the seeking counts more than the finding. So, too, must the striving count more than the gain.”
― Lloyd Alexander , The High King

“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.”
― Lloyd Alexander, The Book of Three

“He is here now," Taran said quietly.
"He has long sought you and in ways even he himself did not know. Now that he has found you, can you not find your path back to him?”
― Lloyd Alexander, The Castle of Llyr