Quotes From "Wicked: The Life And Times Of The Wicked Witch Of The West" By Gregory Maguire

Staring at a world too horrible to comprehend, believing -- by dint of ignorance and innocence -- that beneath this unbearable contract of guilt and blame there is always an older contract that may bind and release in a more salutary way. Gregory Maguire

One never knows how the witch became wicked, or whether that was the right choice for her – is it ever the right choice? Does the devil ever struggle to be good again, or if so is he not a devil? It is the very least question of definitions. Gregory Maguire

You could say that Elphaba brought us together, ' said Boq softly. 'I'm closer to her and so I'm closer to you.' Galinda seemed to give up. She leaned her head back on the velvet cushions of the swing and said, 'Boq, you know despite myself I think you're a little sweet. You're a little sweet and you're a little charming and you're a little maddening and you're a little habit-forming.' Boq held his breath. But you're little! ' she concluded. 'You're a Munchkin, for god's sake! ' He kissed her, he kissed her, he kissed her, little by little by little. Gregory Maguire

Those times are over and gone, and good-riddance to them, too. We were hopelessly high-spirited. Now we're the thick-waisted generation, dragging along our children behind us and carrying our parents on our backs. And we're in charge, while the figures who used to command our respect are wasting away. Gregory Maguire

Where I'm from, we believe in all sorts of things that aren't true... we call it history. Gregory Maguire

The real thing about evil… you figure out one side of it - the human side, say - and the eternal side goes into shadow. Or vice versa. The real disaster of this inquiry is that it is the nature of evil to be secret. Gregory Maguire

The nature of the world is to be calm, and enhance and support life, and evil is an absence of the inclination of matter to be at peace. Gregory Maguire

For who was in thrall to whom, really? And could it ever be known? Each agent working in collusion and antagonism - like the cold and the sun alike creating a deadly spear of ice... Who is in thrall to whom? And while you wait to learn, the deadly icicle, formed by all opposing forces, falls and drives its cold nail into penetrable flesh. Gregory Maguire

Galinda didn't see the verdant world through the glass of the carriage; she saw her own reflection instead. She had the nearsightedness of youth. She reasoned that because she was beautiful she was significant, though what she signified, and to whom, was not clear yet... She was, after all, on her way to Shiz because she was smart. But there was more than one way to be smart. Gregory Maguire

I have always felt like a pawn... My skin color's been a curse, my missionary parents made me sober and intense, my school days brought me up against political crimes against Animals, my love life imploded and my lover died, and if I had any life's work of my own, I haven't found it yet, except in animal husbandry, if you could call it that. Gregory Maguire

I like the sound of words, but I don't ever really expect my slow, slanted impression of the world to change by what I read. Gregory Maguire

Oh, everything is gorgeous once it's gone. Gregory Maguire

At its most elemental, a spell is no more than a recipe for change. Gregory Maguire

The overdressed traveler betrays more interest in being seen than in seeing, while the true traveler knows that the novel world about her serves as the most appropriate accessory. Gregory Maguire

People who claim that they're evil are usually no worse than the rest of us... It's people who claim that they're good, or any way better than the rest of us, that you have to be wary of. Gregory Maguire

And of the Witch? In the life of a Witch, there is no "after", in the "ever after" of a Witch there is no "happily"; in the story of a Witch, there is no afterword. Of that part that is beyond the life story, beyond the story of the life, there is-alas, or perhaps thank mercy-no telling. She was dead, dead, and gone, and all that was left of her was the carapace of her reputation for malice. Gregory Maguire

The real thing about evil, " said the Witch at the doorway, "isn't any of what you said. You figure out one side of it - the human side, say - and the eternal side goes into shadow. Or vice versa. It's like the old saw: What does a dragon in its shell look like? Well no one can ever tell, for as soon as you break the shell to see, the dragon is no longer in its shell. The real disaster of this inquiry is that it is the nature of evil to be secret. Gregory Maguire

Evil is an act, not an appetite. How many haven't wanted to slash the throat of some boor across the dining room table? Present company excepted of course. Everyone has the appetite. If you give in to it, it, that act is evil. The appetite is normal. Gregory Maguire

It isn't hard to find evil in this world. Evil is always more easily imagined than good, somehow. Gregory Maguire

It isn’t hard to find evil in this world. Evil is always more easily imagined than good, somehow. Gregory Maguire

One never learns how the witch became wicked, or whether that was the right choice for her - is it ever the right choice? Does the devil ever struggle to be good again, or if so is he not a devil? It is at the very least a question of definitions. Gregory Maguire

Cross a man and you struggle, one of you wins, you adjust and go on - or you lie there dead. Cross a woman and the universe is changed, once again, for cold anger requires an eternal vigilance in all matters of slight and offense Gregory Maguire

The devil is a very big angel, but a very little man. Gregory Maguire

I do not listen when anyone uses the word immoral, " said the Wizard. "In the young it is ridiculous, in the old it is sententious and reactionary and an early warning sign of apoplexy. In the middle-aged, who love and fear the idea of moral life the most, it is hypocritical. Gregory Maguire

As the first hard drops of rain fell, the Witch caught sight, not of the girl's face, but of the shoes. Her sister's shoes. They sparkled even in the darkening afternoon. They sparkled like yellow diamonds, and embers of blood, and thorny stars. Gregory Maguire

Was it an accident... or is it just that the world unwraps itself to you again and again as soon as you are ready to see it anew? Gregory Maguire

Because no retreat from the world can mask what is in your face. Gregory Maguire

We only have babies when we're young enough not to know how grim life turns out. Gregory Maguire

We only have babies when we’re young enough not to know how grim life turns out. Gregory Maguire

Do you expect to learn anything at Shiz?” he asked. “I have already learned not to speak to strangers.” “Then I will introduce myself and we will be strangers no longer. I am Dillamond.” “I am disinclined to know you. Gregory Maguire

Her head had turned quickly away... Not to hide her tears but to soften the fact of their absence. Gregory Maguire

I may not be sure if monsters exist, but I’d rather live my life in doubt than be persuaded by a real experience of one. Gregory Maguire

He lingered at the door, and said, 'The Lion wants courage, the Tin Man a heart, and the Scarecrow brains. Dorothy wants to go home. What do you wan Gregory Maguire

The world unwraps itself to you, again and again as soon as you are ready to see it anew. Gregory Maguire

Nothing in the Grimmerie on how to depose a tyrant - nothing useful... Nothing there that described why men and women could turn out so horrible. Or so wonderful - if that ever happens anymore. Gregory Maguire

People always did like to talk, didn't they? That's why I call myself a witch now: the Wicked Witch of the West, if you want the full glory of it. As long as people are going to call you a lunatic anyway, why not get the benefit of it? It liberates you from convention. Gregory Maguire