Mads

“The unrealistic nature of these tales (which narrowminded rationalists object to) is an important device, because it makes obvious that the fairy tales’ concern is not useful information about the external world, but the inner process taking place in an individual.”
― Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales

“For the first time in a long time I thought about Maman. I felt as if I understood why at the end of her life she had taken a 'fiancé,' why she had played at beginning again. Even there, in that home where lives were fading out, evening was a kind of wistful respite. So close to death, Maman must have felt free then and ready to live it all again. Nobody, nobody had the right to cry over her. And I felt ready to live it all again too.”
― Albert Camus, The Stranger

“The child intuitively comprehends that although these stories are unreal, they are not untrue ...”
― Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales

“All the history of human life has been a struggle between wisdom and stupidity.”
― Philip Pullman, The Amber Spyglass