Emily Rodda Quotes

Fire, water, earth, and air,
All meet in the dragon's lair.
Six brave hearts have failed the test;One continues in the quest.
Remember well the words you know
When on to find your fate you go.

To mix the brew that wakes Death sleep
Fill one spread hand with silver deep.
In hungry pool moons raise their heads:
Pluck one and add the tears it sheds.
Stir slowly with new fighter's quill,
Three times, no more, and let it still.
Add venom from your greatest fear--
One drop--and then the truth is clear.

Five strange fingers from fate's hand,
Each plays its part at fate's command.
The fiery blaze the answer keeps.
And till its time each secret sleeps.
When pain is truth and truth is pain,
The painted shadows live again.
Five leave, but five do not return.
Vain hope and pride in terror burn.

Seven hearts the journey make.
Seven ways the hearts will break.
Bravest heart will carry on
When sleep is death, and hope is gone.
Look in the fiery jaws of fear
And see the answer white and clear,
Then throw away all thoughts of home,
For only then your quest is done.

The smallest and weakest of us proved the strongest and bravest in the end.

In ancient days, Deltora was divided into seven tribes. The tribesfought on their borders but otherwise stayed in their own place. Each had a gem from deep within the Earth, a talisman with special powers.

A book is like a door. You walk through the cover and you don't know what you're going to find.

I just had a word with him. Timmers and I have this little understanding. He behaves himself and he gets to keep his front teeth.

When the time comes,' Lief said, determinedly drowning her out, 'I will follow Adin's example, and marry for love.' He glanced at her. 'if the woman I love will have me, of course.'
'She probably will,'said Jasmine. 'When the time comes.' She slipped her hand into his.

Fate is strange, and our destinies can be shaped by very small decisions.

Left or right, which will you take?
For both of them your heart will break.
One is cruel, one is fair,
One a passage, one a snare.
Choose the one that hides the light,
And you will know your path is right.

You have been menaced by giant spiders, nearly smothered in a swamp, and now half drowned and frozen, and you are embarrassed about taking your clothes off in front of me! Does that not seem ridiculous?

If you would truly rather be dead than go on living the way you do, you have nothing to lose by trying to change things, have you?" Britta said, carefully keeping any trace of pity from her voice. "There is more to life than Illica, you now. The world is wide, and full of wonders.

So, very soon our captives will meet their small countrywoman again. How grateful they must be to have a pleasant ride, with us to guide their way. Perhaps they feel that chains and sorrow are not too high a price to pay. What say you, Zanel?

At dawn the enemy attacks,
As hunger howls, the mirror cracks.
Then, pressed against that shining wall,
Like worms among the bones you'll crawl.
It's useless now to fight or plead--
Squirm softly, while the creatures feed.

Bad child, wicked child, push you in the bin,
Out with the rubbish on your chin, chin, chin,
Up pops and ishkin, then it pulls you in,
Makes you cry and sucks you dry and throws away your skin.

Barbarians!' he roared. 'Filthy barbarians!

What cannot be changed, must be endured," he said grimly. "Our duty now is to the living.

Beneath soft looks evil burns,
And slowly round the old wheel turns.
The same mistakes, the same old pride,
The priceless armour cast aside.
The secret enemy is here.
It hides in darkness, fools beware!
For day by day its power grows,
And when at last its face it shows,
Then past and present tales will meet--
The evil circle is complete...

When evil strikes and fury wakes,
Then love will face the choice it makes.
Death will free the loyal friend.
As it began, so shall it end.
Bound to the beast, you play your part--
The comfort of the aching heart.

Look for the hand that points the way,
And take the path where children play.
Then where the face with breath that sighs
Bends to admire its gleaming eyes,
You way is marked by lines of light
That mean escape from endless night.

All is well that ends well

The flower is not evil because it blooms where it does. It simply exists. As do the fish in this pool, and the bird on the cliff, and you, and I.

Tom Moysten!" Mr. Larson yelled. "You're not paying attention!"
I whipped around in my chair and closed my sketchbook.
"Yes, I am," I said.
(Laughter.)
"Then tell me what I just said."
You know how sometimes you can repeat what someone just said even if you didn't really hear it at the time? Well, I couldn't. Not this time, anyway.
"You said I wasn't paying attention," I said.
(More laughter.)
Mr. Larson wasn't amused.
"Oh, a comedian," he said. "Perhaps you'd like to stand up here and tell a few jokes."
"No, thanks."
"Afraid to make a fool of yourself?" he asked.
"No, that's your job," I said.
(Long, loud laughter.)

Realizing that the dream had been sent to him for a purpose, Adin worked in secert over many months to create a likeness of the belt he had been shown.Then he traveled around the kingdom to persuade each tribe to allow its talisman to be added to it.

I don't want to write things that people don't want to read. I would have no pleasure in producing something that sold 600 copies but that was considered very wonderful. I would prefer to sell 20,000 copies because the readers loved it. When I write books I don't actually think about the market in that way. I just tell myself the story. I don't think I'm talking to a 10-year-old boy or a six-year-old girl. I just write on the level the story seems to call for.

The one who first heard Zebak bells
Must see the truth the mirror tells.
The hand must bleed to reach the end,
One finger stands the others bend.
With chains and sorrow you must pay
For other hands to guide your way.

As fear approaches in the night,
Flee from the field and hide from sight.
The power stirs, the anger wakes,
The rage upon the darkness breaks,
A fearful lesson, learned full well,
A tale that they alone can tell.