In our loss and fear we craved the acts of religion, the ceremonies that allow us to admit our helplessness, our dependence on the great forces we do not understand.

But it doesn't take a thousand men to open a door, my lord."

"It might to keep it open.

I don't write tracts, I write novels. I'm not a preacher, I'm a fiction writer.

To light a candle is to cast a shadow.

Children know perfectly well that unicorns aren’t real, but they also know that books about unicorns, if they are good books, are true books.

Freedom is a heavy load, a great and strange burden for the spirit to undertake. It is not easy. It is not a gift given, but a choice made, and the choice may be a hard one. The road goes upward towards the light; but the laden traveler may never reach the end of it.