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Norton Juster Quotes | Quotes said by Norton Juster

  • Norton Juster Quote #1

    ... what you learn today, for no reason at all, will help you discover all the wonderful secrets of tomorrow.


  • Norton Juster Quote #2

    ...it's just as bad to live in a place where what you do see isn't there as it is to live in one where what you don't see is.

  • Norton Juster Quote #3

    ...it's very much like your trying to reach infinity. You know that it's there, you just don't know where-but just because you can never reach it doesn't mean that it's not worth looking for.

  • Norton Juster Quote #4

    …it’s not just learning that’s important. It’s learning what to do with what you learn and learning why you learn things that matters.

  • Norton Juster Quote #5

    A slavish concern for the composition of words is the sign of a bankrupt intellect. Be gone, odious wasp! You smell of decayed syllables.

  • Norton Juster Quote #6

    AHA! interrupted Officer Shrift, making another note in his little book. Just as I thought: boys are the cause of everything.

  • Norton Juster Quote #7

    And Milo, full of thoughts and questions, curled up on the pages of tomorrow's music and eagerly awaited the dawn.

  • Norton Juster Quote #8

    And some looked even more like each other than they did like themselves.

  • Norton Juster Quote #9

    And that's why people no longer care which words they use as long as they use lots of them.

  • Norton Juster Quote #10

    And, most important of all, added the Mathemagician, here is your own magic staff. Use it well and there is nothing it cannot do for you.
    He placed in Milo's breast pocket a small gleaming pencil which, except for the size, was much like his own.

  • Norton Juster Quote #11

    But that can never be, said Milo, jumping to his feet.
    Don't be too sure, said the child patiently, for one of the nicest things about mathematics, or anything else you might care to learn, is that many of the things which can never be, often are. You see, he went on, it's very much like your trying to reach Infinity. You know that it's there, but you just don't know where — but just because you can never reach it doesn't mean that it's not worth looking for.

  • Norton Juster Quote #12

    But there's so much to learn, he said, with a thoughtful frown.
    Yes, that's true, admitted Rhyme; but it's not just learning things that's important. It's learning what to do with what you learn and learning why you learn things at all that matters.
    That's just what I mean, explained Milo as Tock and the exhausted bug drifted quietly off to sleep. Many of the things I'm supposed to know seem so useless that I can't see the purpose in learning them at all.
    You may not see it now, said the Princess of Pure Reason, looking knowingly at Milo's puzzled face, but whatever we learn has a purpose and whatever we do affects everything and everyone else, if even in the tiniest way.

  • Norton Juster Quote #13

    But why do only unimportant things? asked Milo, who suddenly remembered how much time he spent each day doing them.

    Think of all the trouble it saves, the man explained, and his face looked as if he'd be grinning an evil grin--if he could grin at all. If you only do the easy and useless jobs, you'll never have to worry about the important ones which are so difficult. You just won't have the time. For there's always something to do to keep you from what you really should be doing, and if it weren't for that dreadful magic staff, you'd never know how much time you were wasting.

  • Norton Juster Quote #14

    Dictionopolis is the place where all the words in the world come from. They're grown right here in our orchards.

    I didn't know that words grew on trees, said Milo timidly.

    Where did you think they grew? shouted the earl irritably. A small crowd began to gather to see the little boy who didn't know that letters grew on trees.

    I didn't know they grew at all, admitted Milo even more timidly. Several people shook their heads sadly.

    Well, money doesn't grow on trees, does it? demanded the count.

    I've heard not, said Milo.

    Then something must. Why not words? exclaimed the undersecretary triumphantly. The crowd cheered his display of logic and continued about its business.

  • Norton Juster Quote #15

    Don't try to leave for there's so very much to do, and you still have over eight hundred years to go on the first job.' 'But why do only unimportant things?' 'Think of all the trouble it saves. If you only do the easy and useless jobs, you'll never have to worry about the important ones which are so difficult. You just won't have the time. For there's always something to do to keep you from what you really should be doing.

  • Norton Juster Quote #16

    Expect everything so that nothing comes unexpected.

  • Norton Juster Quote #17

    Expect everything, I always say, and the unexpected never happens.

  • Norton Juster Quote #18

    Have you ever heard a blindfolded octopus unwrap a cellophane-covered bathtub?

  • Norton Juster Quote #19

    He paused again as a tear of longing rolled from cheek to lip with the sweet-salty taste of an old memory.

  • Norton Juster Quote #20

    How are you going to make it move? It doesn't have a –

    Be very quiet, advised the duke, for it goes without saying.

    And, sure enough, as soon as they were all quite still, it began to move quickly through the streets, and in a very short time they arrived at the royal palace.

  • Norton Juster Quote #21

    I never knew words could be so confusing, Milo said to Tock as he bent down to scratch the dog's ear.
    Only when you use a lot to say a little, answered Tock.
    Milo thought this was quite the wisest thing he'd heard all day.

  • Norton Juster Quote #22

    I warned you; I warned you I was the Senses Taker, sneered the Senses Taker. I help people find what they're not looking for, hear what they're not listening for, run after what they're not chasing, and smell what isn't even there. And, furthermore, he cackled, hopping around gleefully on his stubby legs, I'll steal your sense of purpose, take your sense of duty, destroy your sense of proportion — and, but for one thing, you'd be helpless yet.
    What's that? asked Milo fearfully.
    As long as you have the sound of laughter, he groaned unhappily, I cannot take your sense of humor — and, with it, you've nothing to fear from me.

  • Norton Juster Quote #23

    I write best in the morning, and I can only write for about half a day, that's about it.

  • Norton Juster Quote #24

    if something is there, you can only see it with your eyes open, but if it isn't there, you can see it just as well with your eyes closed. That's why imaginary things are often easier to see than real ones.

  • Norton Juster Quote #25

    If you want sense, you'll have to make it yourself.

  • Norton Juster Quote #26

    Is everyone who lives in Ignorance like you? asked Milo.
    Much worse, he said longingly. But I don't live here. I'm from a place very far away called Context.

  • Norton Juster Quote #27

    Is everyone with one face called a Milo?
    Oh no, Milo replied; some are called Henry or George or Robert or John or lots of other things.
    How terribly confusing, he cried. Everything here is called exactly what it is. The triangles are called triangles, the circles are called circles, and even the same numbers have the same name. Why, can you imagine what would happen if we named all the twos Henry or George or Robert or John or lots of other things? You'd have to say Robert plus John equals four, and if the four's name were Albert, things would be hopeless.
    I never thought of it that way, Milo admitted.
    Then I suggest you begin at once, admonished the Dodecahedron from his admonishing face, for here in Digitopolis everything is quite precise.

  • Norton Juster Quote #28

    It has been a long trip, said Milo, climbing onto the couch where the princesses sat; but we would have been here much sooner if I hadn't made so many mistakes. I'm afraid it's all my fault.
    You must never feel badly about making mistakes, explained Reason quietly, as long as you take the trouble to learn from them. For you often learn more by being wrong for the right reasons than you do by being right for the wrong reasons.

  • Norton Juster Quote #29

    It's completely logical, explained the Dodecahedron. The more you want, the less you get, and the less you get, the more you have. Simple arithmetic, that's all. Suppose you had something and added something to it. What would that make?
    More, said Milo quickly.
    Quite correct, he nodded. Now suppose you had something and added nothing to it. What would you have?
    The same, he answered again, without much conviction.
    Splendid, cried the Dodecahedron. And suppose you had something and added less than nothing to it. What would you have then?
    FAMINE! roared the anguished Humbug, who suddenly realized that that was exactly what he'd eaten twenty-three bowls of.

  • Norton Juster Quote #30

    Now, remember: they're not for eating, but for listening, because you'll often be hungry for sounds as well as food. Here are street noises at night, train whistles from a long way off, dry leaves burning, busy department stores, crunching toast, creaking bed springs, and of course, all kinds of laughter. There's a little of each, and in far off, lonely places, I think you will be glad to have them.

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