Jonathan Stroud Quotes

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Running Writing

And then, as if written by the hand of a bad novelist, an incredible thing happened.

Jonathan Stroud

Good Luck, Hands, Novelists

Jonathan Stroud (2003). “Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book One: Amulet of Samarkand, The (International Edition)”, Disney-Hyperion

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Can you define "plan" as "a loose sequence of manifestly inadequate observations and conjectures, held together by panic, indecision, and ignorance"? If so, it was a very good plan.

Jonathan Stroud

Ignorance, Together, Panic

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What was it that drew you back? My marvellous personality, I suppose? Or my sparkling conversation?

Jonathan Stroud

Personality, Conversation, Sparkling

Jonathan Stroud (2005). “Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book Three: Ptolemy's Gate”, Disney-Hyperion

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That did it. I'd gone through a lot in the past few days. Everyone I met seemed to want a piece of me: djinn, magicians, humans...it made no difference.I'd been summoned, manhandled, shot at, captured, constricted, bossed about and generally taken for granted. And now, to cap it all, this bloke is joining in too, when all I'd been doing was quietly trying to kill him.

Jonathan Stroud

Taken, Past, Joining In

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One magician demanded I show him an image of the love of his life. I rustled up a mirror.

Jonathan Stroud

Mirrors, Samarkand, Magician

"The Amulet of Samarkand (Bartimaeus trilogy, Book 1)". Book by Jonathan Stroud, September 30, 2003.

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Ambition is all very well, my lad, but you must cloak it.

Jonathan Stroud

Ambition, Cloaks, Wells

Jonathan Stroud (2003). “Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book One: Amulet of Samarkand, The (International Edition)”, Disney-Hyperion

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A dozen more questions occurred to me. Not to mention twenty-two possible solutions to each one, sixteen resulting hypotheses and counter-theorems, eight abstract speculations, a quadrilateral equation, two axioms, and a limerick. That's raw intelligence for you.

Jonathan Stroud

Eight, Two, Twenties

Jonathan Stroud (2005). “Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book Three: Ptolemy's Gate”, Disney-Hyperion

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Hey, we've all got problems, chum. I'm overly talkative. You look like a field of buttercups in a suit.

Jonathan Stroud

Looks, Hey, Fields

Jonathan Stroud (2004). “The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book Two: Golem's Eye”, Disney-Hyperion

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Ah, you coward! Look at you, running." "Actually, it's called improvising.

Jonathan Stroud

Running, Coward, Looks

Jonathan Stroud (2009). “Heroes of the Valley”, p.171, Random House

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According to some, heroic deaths are admirable things. I've never been convinced by this argument, mainly because, no matter how cool, stylish, composed, unflappable, manly, or defiant you are, at the end of the day you're also dead. Which is a little too permanent for my liking.

Jonathan Stroud

The End Of The Day, Littles, Matter

Jonathan Stroud (2005). “Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book Three: Ptolemy's Gate”, Disney-Hyperion

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Besides, if you're going to die horribly, you might as well do it with style.

Jonathan Stroud

Style, Might, Wells

"The Ring of Solomon". Book by Jonathan Stroud, October 14, 2010.

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He was a worried man (I'm stretching the term a bit here, I know. By now, in his mid to late teens, he might just about have passed for a man. When seen from behind. At a distance. On a very dark night).

Jonathan Stroud

Distance, Dark, Night

Jonathan Stroud (2005). “Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book Three: Ptolemy's Gate”, Disney-Hyperion

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We grow up being told about great figures in our society, and as you get older you have to question the stories you've been told and decide if these great figures are indeed as great as you've been told.

Jonathan Stroud

Growing Up, Stories, Our Society

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As a child I was really into fantasy books with elves and goblins and swords, and I went through a phase for a few years when I was reading endless series. But in the end I became totally fed-up with all these sub-Tolkien rip-offs because they all end up doing the same old things and there's no rigour to it.

Jonathan Stroud

Children, Rip, Book

"A kind of magic". Interview with Michelle Pauli, www.theguardian.com. October 7, 2010.

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Much has happened since last we met, Bartimaeus," he went on. "Do you remember how we parted?" "No." I did. "You set light to me, old friend. Struck a match and left me burning in a copse." The crow shifted uneasily beneath the cleaver."That's a gesture of endearment in some cultures. Some hug, some kiss, some set each other on fire in small patches of woodland.

Jonathan Stroud

Kissing, Fire, Light

Jonathan Stroud (2005). “Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book Three: Ptolemy's Gate”, Disney-Hyperion

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A typical master. Right to the end, he didn’t give me a chance to get a word in edgeways. Which is a pity, because at that last moment I’d have liked to tell him what I thought of him. Mind you, since in that split second we were, to all intents and purposes, one and the same, I rather think he knew anyway.

Jonathan Stroud

Thinking, Giving, Mind

Jonathan Stroud (2005). “Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book Three: Ptolemy's Gate”, Disney-Hyperion

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Check out that one at the end. He's taken the form of a footstool. Weird...but somehow I like his style." "That is a footstool.

Jonathan Stroud

Taken, Style, Form

Jonathan Stroud (2004). “The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book Two: Golem's Eye”, Disney-Hyperion

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The afrit batted his eyelashes with a ostentatious lack of concern. "Indeed? Have you a name?" "A name?" I cried. "I have MANY names! I am Bartimaeus! I am Sakhr al-Jinni! I am N'gorso the Mighty and the Serpent of Silver Plumes!" I paused dramatically. The young man looked blank. "Nope never heard of you. Now if you'll just-

Jonathan Stroud

Men, Eyelashes, Names

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Not bad in short, though the last one [understanding the language of animals], isn't half as useful as you might expect, since when all's said and done the language of the beasts tends to revolve around: a) the endless hunt for food, b) finding a warm bush to sleep in the evening, and c) the sporadic satisfication of certain glands. (Many would argue that the language of human kind boils down to this too)

Jonathan Stroud

Sleep, Animal, Understanding

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The important thing about any book is that you have to have a good story and that it has to be exciting. Then it's nice to add other levels underneath that people can pick up on.

Jonathan Stroud

Nice, Book, People

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Despite his crimped shirts and flowing mane (or perhaps because of them) I had seen no evidence as yet that Nathaniel even knew what a girl was. If he'd ever met one, chances are they'd both have run screaming in opposite directions.

Jonathan Stroud

Girl, Running, Opposites

Jonathan Stroud (2004). “The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book Two: Golem's Eye”, Disney-Hyperion

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And sure enough,the youth in question was not his usual dapper self. His face was puffy, his eyes red and wild; his shirt(distressingly unbuttoned)hung over his trousers in sloppy fashion. All very out of charactar: Mandrake was normally defined by his rigid self-control. Somthing seemed to have stripped all that away. Well, the poor lad was emotionally brittle.He needed sympathetic handling. "You're a mess," I sneered "You've lost it big time. What's happened? All the guilt and self-loathing suddenly get to you? It can't just be that someone else called me, surly?

Jonathan Stroud

Fashion, Eye, Self

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Did Lovelace's forces find you? Did Jabor break in?" He spoke slowly through clenched teeth. "I went to get a newspaper" This is getting better and better! I shook my head regretfully. "You should leave such a dangerous assignment to people better qualified: next time ask an old granny, or a toddler-

Jonathan Stroud

People, Get Better, Teeth

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Zealots: Wild eyed persons afflicted with incurable certainty about the workings of the world, a certainty that can lead to violence when the world doesn't fit.

Jonathan Stroud

World, Violence, Fit

Jonathan Stroud (2010). “The Ring of Solomon”, p.239, Random House

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Listen," I began, "this is an established,traditional form that-" "Traditional nothing.Where are your clothes?" "Clothes?" I said weakly. "I don't normally bother with them in this guise." "Well,you could put on a pair of shorts,at least.Your not decent." "I'm not sure they'd go with the wings..." The demon frowend,and blinked."Hold on,enough of this." "Lenderhosen would. They'd compliment the leather.

Jonathan Stroud

Wings, Clothes, Pairs

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Born: October 27, 1970
Occupation: Writer
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