LaBelle

“I think that the rich can always call themselves democratic, but the sick people are not among the rich.” I thought he was done, but he was only pausing for the interpreter to catch up. “Look, I’m very proud to be an American. I have many opportunities because I’m American. I can travel freely throughout the world, I can start projects, but that’s called privilege, not democracy.”
― Tracy Kidder, Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World

“The parents of some fellow students in the gifted and talented class owned a bookstore, and when he was about eleven they gave him a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. He read it all in the space of a couple of days, and immediately read it again. Then he brought the book to the public library and told the woman at the desk, „I want other books like this”. She gave him a handful of fantasy novels. He brought them back. „No, this isn't it.” That went on for a time, until finally one day the librarian – no doubt with some misgivings; the boy was only eleven years old – handed him a copy of War and Peace. „This is it!” he told the librarian about a week later. „This is just like Lord of the Rings!” Years afterward he'd say, „I mean, what could be more religious than Lord of the Rings or War and Peace?”
― Tracy Kidder, Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World

“Egyetlen feltétel van, amit el kell fogadnunk: ha a szatírának akár legkisebb nyoma is fellelhető a mesében, akkor is van valami, amiből sohasem szabad tréfát űzni, s ez a kivétel nem más, mint maga a varázserő. Ez az, amit a történetben mindig komolyan kell venni – azaz: nem szabad nevetni rajta, s nem szabad magyarázatot keresni-adni rá.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, Tree and Leaf

“Magát Tündérföldet talán Varázslat segítségével érthetnénk meg legjobban, de ezen egy igen sajátos hangulat és erő mágiája értendő, mely a lehető legtávolabb áll az izzadságszagú, kísérletező, tudományoskodó bűvészkedés vulgáris eszközkészletétől.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, Tree and Leaf