"What Louis had said about the mystery. He has always been a reflection of what one brings to him. So if you came to him with violence or lust in your heart, that was what was reflected back. But if you came to him with goodness, without evil… Nobody was perfect, but if you really tried to be good and approached him, then he’d be good for you – wouldn’t he?"

"The mystery didn’t concern himself overly much with the workings of the world. He simply went where he went, did what he did, amoral as a wind that is neither good nor evil, but simply is."

"It was beauty that needed preserving, whether it lay in a forest, a field, or a city street. Whether it was the workings of a plant, from seed to new growth to mulch, or the workings of some complex machine. There was room for everything in the world, so long as men remembered the beauty."

"“When all’s said and done,” Mally said, “all roads lead to the same end. So it’s not so much which road you take, as how you take it.”"

"“It scares me.” “But only because you don’t understand. The unknown doesn’t have to be grim.”"

"What hole did people like that crawl out of?"

"Those gospels of theirs – if you look hard enough through them, you can find a passage to forbid anything you want, and another to condone the same thing."

"“But it’s always been that way. The leaders that men follow must always do away with the leaders that went before. ‘Great Pan is dead!’ They cried – not because he was dead, but because they wanted him to be dead.”"

"I can remember the first time you told me about what the Church did to the mystery. The one they called Jesus – the Green Man they hung from a tree in the desert. How St. Paul took the mystery and twisted it to make a religion of intolerance and self-torment."

"Feel sorry for yourself, regret the things you’ve done and the things you’ll never get to do. But just remember that you aren’t what you were, but what you are now."

"There is no power in the world, not that of any religion’s god or mystery, that can change people from being what they are. The world’s history – what little we have recorded of it – proves that beyond a doubt."

"“I don’t care what he told you. He’s an asshole, plain and simple.” “Well, then how’d you get to know him?” “Even assholes come in handy sometimes. You ever try to take a shit through your nose?”"

"All of the mysteries were represented, but it was up to the reader to discover which, out of those thousands of volumes, held a kernel of truth, and which were out-and-out quackeries."

"Maybe he didn’t know about magic, but he knew about weird."

"There's enough weirdness in the world as it is without having to give it supernatural trappings, don't you think?"

"But while the tale itself, its truth, is of the utmost importance, it is the telling that allows it to be remembered or forgotten. The trueness of the telling is what makes up a storyteller’s craft."

"There are few joys to compare with the telling of a well-told tale."

"“What in God’s name….” “I don’t know ’bout you,” Wilson said, “but I don’t think God’s got a whole lot to do with this place.”"

"Remember the quiet wonders. The world has more need of them than it has for warriors. And this I will tell you as well: One cannot seek to uphold honor in a being that has none."

"Watching him, Sara knew that what he said was ninety percent bravado. Still there was nothing wrong with that. Bravery was in knowing the odds and still going against them."

"While he was out of the room, Tucker sauntered over to the worktable and had a look at the poetry. He read a line here and there, but couldn’t make a lot of sense out of any of it. That was the trouble with poems. It seemed you had to have a doctorate just to understand the references. Still. Some of it had a nice ring to it. …like Manjushri, I have met death, and bear my own victory, though not a sword… Nice. Yeah. If you knew what the hell it meant."

"“Sometimes it feels like we’re living in the middle of a comic book. You know what I mean?” “All too well.” “Thing I always ask,” Tucker said, “is where’s Superman when you need him?”"

"And just because she and her uncle were loaded, that didn’t automatically make them useless as human beings."

"That was the trouble with not paying attention to money. It was never there when you needed it."

"Nothing’s different, but everything has changed."

"If you understand, things are just as they are. If you do not understand, things are just as they are."

"Life’s like art. You have to work hard to keep it simple and still have meaning."

"By enlarging your knowledge of things, you will find your knowledge of self is enlarged."

"The best artists know what to leave out. They know how much of the support should show through as the pigment is applied, what details aren’t necessary."

"“Compromise is necessary,” Max agreed, “so long as you never give up who you are. That isn’t compromise; that’s spiritual death. You have to remain true to yourself.”"

"Without mysteries, life would be very dull indeed. What would be left to strive for if everything were known?"

"“The thing is,” Coyote says, “nothing’s as easy as we’d like it to be.” “Don’t I know it,” I mutter, but he’s not even listening to me. “And the real trouble comes from not knowing what we really want in the first place.”"

"You’re not a nun, are you? You haven’t taken one of those absurd vows that cut you off from what otherwise might be a full and healthy human existence?"

"“You’re confusing me.” “But not deliberately so,” Coyote says. “Let it go on record that any confusion arose simply because we lacked certain commonalities of reference.”"

"Only fools think they’re wise; the rest of us just muddle through as we can."

"A long time ago a bunch of people reached a general consensus as to what’s real and what’s not and most of us have been going along with it ever since."

"You can talk all you want about consensual reality, Jilly, but that doesn’t change the fact that some things are real and some things aren’t. There’s a line drawn between the two that separates reality from fantasy."

"When you’re invisible, no one can see that you’re different."

"That dichotomy between who she was and who she thought she should be was what really killed her."

"Our time’s the most precious thing we’ve got to offer folks, and the worst thing a body can do is to take it away from us."

"I had the same questions for Superman as I did for God: If he was so powerful, why didn’t he deal with some real problems? Why didn’t he stop wars, feed the starving in Ethiopia, cure cancer? At least God had the Church to do His PR work for Him — if you can buy their reasoning, they have any number of explanations ranging from how the troubles of this life build character to that inarguable catchall, “God’s will.” And the crap in this life sure makes heaven look good. When I was growing up, the writers and artists of Superman never even tried to deal with the problem. And since they didn’t, I could only see Superman as a monster, not a hero. I couldn’t believe his battles with criminals, superpowered geniuses and the like. I never believed in God either."

"There are people who take the heart out of you, and there are people who put it back."

"What I’ve got to talk about, I don’t think a priest wants to hear. What does a priest know or care about secular concerns? All they want to talk about is God. All they want to hear is a tidy list of sins so that they can prescribe their penances and get on to the next customer."

"Wisdom never comes to those who believe they have nothing left to learn."

"The real problem is, people think life is a ladder, and it’s really a wheel."

"“Often,” he says, “what we take from the spirit world is only a reflection of what lies inside ourselves.”"