Quotes From "The Last Unicorn" By Peter S. Beagle

I am no king, and I am no lord, And I am no soldier at-arms, " said he." I'm none but a harper, and a very poor harper, That am come hither to wed with ye."" If you were a lord, you should be my lord, And the same if you were a thief, " said she." And if you are a harper, you shall be my harper, For it makes no matter to me, to me, For it makes no matter to me."" But what if it prove that I am no harper? That I lied for your love most monstrously?"" Why, then I'll teach you to play and sing, For I dearly love a good harp, " said she. Peter S. Beagle

Marveling at his own boldness, he said softly, "I would enter your sleep if I could, and guard you there, and slay the thing that hounds you, as I would if it had the courage to face me in fair daylight. But I cannot come in unless you dream of me. Peter S. Beagle

When I was alive, I believed – as you do – that time was at least as real and solid as myself, and probably more so. I said 'one o'clock' as though I could see it, and 'Monday' as though I could find it on the map; and I let myself be hurried along from minute to minute, day to day, year to year, as though I were actually moving from one place to another. Like everyone else, I lived in a house bricked up with seconds and minutes, weekends and New Year's Days, and I never went outside until I died, because there was no other door. Now I know that I could have walked through the walls. (..) You can strike your own time, and start the count anywhere. When you understand that – then any time at all will be the right time for you. Peter S. Beagle

Why did they go away, do you think? If there ever were such things."" Who knows? Times change. Would you call this age a good one for unicorns?"" No, but I wonder if any man before us ever thought his time a good time for unicorns. Peter S. Beagle

I think that love is stronger than habits or circumstances. I think it is possible to keep yourself for someone for a long time, and still remember why you were waiting when she comes at last.... I would enter your sleep if I could, and guard you there, and slay the thing that hounds you, as I would if it had the courage to face me in fair daylight. But I cannot come in unless you dream of me. Peter S. Beagle

My son, your ineptitude is so vast, your incompetence so profound, that I am certain you are inhabited by greater power than I have ever known. Unfortunately, it seems to be working backward at the moment, and even I can find no way to set it right. It must be that you are meant to find your own way to reach your power in time; but frankly, you should live so long as that will take you. Therefore I grant it that you shall not age from this day forth, but will travel the world round and round, eternally inefficient, until at last you come to yourself and know what you are. Don't thank me. I tremble at your doom. Peter S. Beagle

The last unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone. Peter S. Beagle

My son, your ineptitude is so vast, your incompetence so profound, that I am certain you are inhabited by greater power than I have ever known. Peter S. Beagle

I suppose I could understand it if men had simply forgotten unicorns, or if they had changed so that they hated all unicorns now and tried to kill them when they saw them. But not to see them at all, to look at them and see something else-what do they look like to one another, then? What do trees look like to them, or houses, or real horses, or their own children? Peter S. Beagle

And at last she woke up in the middle of one warm night and said, "Yes, but now. Peter S. Beagle

Unicorns are immortal. It is their nature to live alone in one place: usually a forest where there is a pool clear enough for them to see themselves-for they are a little vain, knowing themselves to be the most beautiful creatures in all the world, and magic besides. They mate very rarely, and no place is more enchanted than one where a unicorn has been born. The last time she had seen another unicorn the young virgins who still came seeking her now and then had called to her in a different tongue; but then, she had no idea of months and years and centuries, or even of seasons. It was always spring in her forest, because she lived there, and she wandered all day among the great beech trees, keeping watch over the animals that lived in the ground and under bushes, in nests and caves, earths and treetops. Generation after generation, wolves and rabbits alike, they hunted and loved and had children and died, and as the unicorn did none of these things, she never grew tired of watching them. Peter S. Beagle

I’m a magician with no magic, and that’s no one at all. Peter S. Beagle

When we go to the fair in disguise, we never win at archery or at singlestick. We do get some nice compliments on our disguises, but no more than that. Peter S. Beagle

I will kill you if you set me free, ' the eyes said. 'Set me free. Peter S. Beagle

Under the moon, the road that ran from the edge of her forest gleamed like water, but when she stepped out onto it, away from the trees, she felt how hard it was, and how long. She almost turned back then; but instead she took a deep breath of the woods air that still drifted to her, and held it in her mouth like a flower, as long as she could. Peter S. Beagle

- and you are truly human now. You can love, and fear, and forbid things to be what they are, and overact. Peter S. Beagle

We don't steal from the rich and give to the poor. We steal from the poor because they can't fight back --most of them-- and the rich take from us because they could wipe us out in a day. Peter S. Beagle

When I was a young man and very well thought of, I couldn't ask aught that the ladies denied. I nibbled their hearts like a handful of raisins, And I never spoke love but I knew that I lied. But I said to myself, 'Ah, they none of them know The secret I shelter and savor and save I wait for the one who will see through my seeming, And I'll know when I love by the way I behave.' The years drifted over like clouds in the heavens; The ladies went by me like snow on the wind. I charmed and I cheated, deceived and dissembled, And I sinned, and I sinned, and I sinned, and I sinned. But I said to myself, 'Ah, they none of them see There's part of me pure as the whisk of a wave. My lady is late but she'll find I've been faithful, And I'll know when I love by the way I behave.' At last came a lady both knowing and tender, Saying, 'you're not at all what they take you to be.' I betrayed her before she had quite finished speaking, And she swallowed cold poison and jumped in the sea. And I say to myself when there's time for a word, As I gracefully grow more debauched and depraved, 'Ah, love may be strong, but a habit is stronger And I knew when I loved by the way I behaved. . Peter S. Beagle

You're in the story with the rest of us now, and you must go with it, whether you will or no. Peter S. Beagle

Your name is a golden bell hung in my heart. I would break my body to pieces to call you once by your name. Peter S. Beagle

But what's left on earth that I haven't tried?" Prince Lír demanded. "I have swum four rivers, each in full flood and none less than a mile wide. I have climbed seven mountains never before climbed, slept three nights in the Marsh of the Hanged Men, and walked alive out of that forest where the flowers burn your eyes and the nightingales sing poison. I have ended my betrothal to the princess I had agreed to marry – and if you don't think that was a heroic deed, you don't know her mother. I have vanquished exactly fifteen black knights waiting by fifteen fords in their black pavilions, challenging all who come to cross. And I've long since lost count of the witches in the thorny woods, the giants, the demons disguised as damsels; the glass hills, fatal riddles, and terrible tasks; the magic apples, rings, lamps, potions, swords, cloaks, boots, neckties, and nightcaps. Not to mention the winged horses, the basilisks and sea serpents, and all the rest of the livestock." He raised his head, and the dark blue eyes were confused and sad." And all for nothing, " he said. "I cannot touch her, whatever I do. For her sake, I have become a hero – I, sleepy Lír, my father's sport and shame – but I might as well have remained the dull fool I was. My great deeds mean nothing to her. . Peter S. Beagle

From that first moment of doubt, there was no peace for her; from the time she first imagined leaving her forest, she could not stand in one place without wanting to be somewhere else. She trotted up and down beside her pool, restless and unhappy. Unicorns are not meant to make choices. She said no, and yes, and no again, day and night, and for the first time she began to feel the minutes crawling over her like worms. . Peter S. Beagle

..no meal is good enough to justify all the money and effort wasted in preparing it. It is an illusion and an expense. Live as I do, undeceived. Peter S. Beagle

I don't think I could ever see her closely, " the sentinel replied, "however close she came." His own voice was hushed and regretful, echoing with lost chances. "She has a newness, " he said. "Everything is for the first time. See how she moves, how she walks, how she turns her head -- all for the first time, the first time anyone has ever done these things. See how she draws her breath and lets it go again, as though no one else in the world knew that air was good. It is all for her. If I learned that she had been born this very morning, I would only be surprised that she was so old." The second sentinel stared down from his tower at the three wanderers. The tall man saw him first, and next the dour woman. Their eyes reflected nothing but his armor, grim and cankered and empty. But then the girl in the ruined black cloak raised her head, and he stepped back from the parapet, putting out one tin glove against her glance. In a moment she passed into the shadow of the castle with her companions, and he lowered his hand. "She may be mad, " he said calmly. "No grown girl looks like that unless she is mad. That would be annoying, but far preferable to the remaining possibility." "Which is?" the younger man prompted after a silence." Which is that she was indeed born this morning. I would rather that she were mad. Peter S. Beagle

I am what I am. I would tell you what you want to know if I could, for you have been kind to me. But I am a cat, and no cat anywhere ever gave anyone a straight answer. Peter S. Beagle

The Lady Amalthea beckoned, and the cat wriggled all over, like a dog, but he would not come near.. She was offering her open palm to the crook-eared cat, but he stayed where he was, shivering with the desire to go to her"..[later, Molly asked the cat] "Why were you afraid to let her touch you? I saw you. You were afraid of her."" If she had touched me, " he said very softly, "I would have been hers and not my own, not ever again. I wanted her to touch me but I could not let her. No cat will.. The price is more than a cat can pay. Peter S. Beagle

Sing to me, " she said. "That would be valiant, to raise your voice in this dark, lonely place, and it will be useful as well. Sing to me, sing loudly-drown out my dreams, keep me from remembering whatever wants me to remember it. Sing to me, my lord prince, if it please you. It may not seem a hero's task, but I would be glad of it. Peter S. Beagle

You were the one who taught me, " he said. "I never looked at you without seeing the sweetness of the way the world goes together, or without sorrow for its spoiling. I became a hero to serve you, and all that is like you. Peter S. Beagle

Men have to have heroes, but no man can ever be as big as the need, and so a legend grows around a grain of truth, like a pearl. Peter S. Beagle

I think love is stronger than habits or circumstances. I think it is possible to keep yourself for someone for a long time and still remember why you were waiting when she comes at last. Peter S. Beagle

I like being brave well enough, but I will be a lazy coward again if you think that would be better. Peter S. Beagle

Unicorns know naught of shame, or need, or doubt, or debt; But mortals, as you may have noticed, take what they can get. Peter S. Beagle

I would have chosen any other than this for my prison. A rhinoceros is as ugly as a human being, and it too is going to die, but at least it never thinks that it is beautiful. Peter S. Beagle