Real magic can never be made by offering someone else's liver. You must tear out your own, and not expect to get it back.
Peter S. BeagleRead
I suppose I could understand it if men had simply forgotten unicorns, but not to see them at all, to look at them and see something else — what do they look to one another, then? What do trees look like to them, or houses, or real horses, or their own children?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote questions the limitations of human perception and the ability to recognize beauty and wonder in the world.
In this quote, Peter S. Beagle explores the concept of perception and the idea that if one cannot see the extraordinary, like unicorns, in the world around them, it raises questions about what else they might be overlooking. It suggests a deeper contemplation of how individuals interpret their surroundings and the implications of a mundane, unappreciative view of life, which might lead to a lack of connection with the wonders of existence, such as nature, imagination, or even their relationships with others.
Themes
PerceptionWonderImaginationBeautyExistence
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about the importance of imagination in children's education.
More from Peter S. Beagle
All quotes →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. BeagleRead
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. BeagleRead
...because in a way it happened to someone else. I don't really speak that person's language anymore, and when I think about her, she embarrasses me sometimes, but I don't want to forget her, I don't want to pretend she never existed. So before I start forgetting, I have to get down exactly who she was, and exactly how she felt about everything. She was me a lot longer than I've been me so far.
Peter S. BeagleRead
Whatever can die is beautiful — more beautiful than a unicorn, who lives forever, and who is the most beautiful creature in the world. Do you understand me?
Peter S. BeagleRead
I feel a whole country growing inside me, thousands of years, millions of people, stupid, crazy, shrewd people, and all of them me. I never felt like that before, I never felt that there was anything inside me, even myself.
Peter S. BeagleRead
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