"the amber spyglass" του philip pullman

"Maybe sometimes we don't do the right thing because the wrong thing looks more dangerous, and we don't want to look scared, so we go and do the wrong thing just because it's dangerous. We're more concerned with not looking scared than with judging right. It's very hard."


"Can is not the same as must."
"But if you must and you can, then there's no excuse."
"While you are alive, your business is with life."
"No, Iorek," she said gently, "our business is to keep promises, no matter how difficult they are."


"Well, where is God", said Mrs Coulter, "if he's alive? And why doesn't he speak any more? At the beginning of the world, God walked in the garden and spoke with Adam and Eve. Then he began to withdraw, and Moses only heard his voice. Later, in the time of Daniel, he was aged - he was the Ancient of Days. Where is he now? Is he still alive, at some inconceivable age, decrepit and demented, unable to think or act or speak and unable to die, a rotten hulk? And if that is his condition, wouldn't it be the most merciful thing, the truest proof of our love for God, to seek him and give him the gift of death?"


"I can't bear the thought of oblivion, Asriel", she continued. "Sooner anything than that. I used to think pain would be worse - to be tortured for ever - I thought that must be worse... But as long as you were conscious, it would be better, wouldn't it? Better than feeling nothing, just going into the dark, everything going out for ever and ever?"