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Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Book by Gregory Maguire · 16 quotes · Wicked, Gregory Maguire, Citation

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Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West Quotes

“Galinda didn't see the verdant world through the glass of the carriage; she saw her own reflection instead. She had the nearsightedness of youth. She reasoned that because she was beautiful she was significant, though what she signified, and to whom, was not clear yet...She was, after all, on her way to Shiz because she was smart. But there was more than one way to be smart.”

“Surtout Fieyero voulait marcher dans les rues de la Cité d'Emeraude avec Elphaba - il n'existait aucun endroit plus beau pour être amoureux, en particulier au crépuscule quand les boutiques allumaient leurs lumières dorées sur le ciel vespéral mauve bleuté. Fieyro n'avait jamais été amoureux avant, il s'en rendait compte à présent. Il se sentait plein de crainte et d'humilité. Quand leur séparation forcée durait quatre ou cinq jours, il ne le supportait pas.”

“Les femmes sont plus faibles, mais leur faiblesse est pleine de ruses et de certitudes morales tout aussi rigides. Comme leur arène est plus réduite, leur capacité destructrice réelle est moins inquiétante, mais comme elle sont plus intimes, elles sont plus fourbes.”

“Elphie se dit : qu'elles sottes créatures que ces enfants - d'une sottise gênante - qui n'arrêtent pas de changer, par honte, par besoin d'être aimé, ou que sais-je encore. Les animaux, eux, sont nés comme ils sont, l'acceptent, et c'est tout. Ils vivent plus sereinement que les gens.”

“Why should I keep myself so safe?” he asked her, but he was almost asking himself. What is there in my life worth preserving? With a good wife back there in the mountains, serviceable as an old spoon, dry in the heart from having been scared of marriage since she was six? With three children so shy of their father, the Prince of the Arjikis, that they will hardly come near him? With a careworn clan moving here, moving there, going through th same disputes, herding the same herds, as thy have done for five hundred years? And me, with a shallow and undirected mind, no artfulness in word or habit, no especial kindness toward the world? What is there that makes my life worth preserving? “I love you,” said Elphaba. “So that’s that then, and that’s it,” he answered her and himself. “And I love you. So I promise to be careful.”

“Surely there is the handful of nursery marchen that start, ‘Once in the middle of a forest lived an old witch’ or ‘The devil was out walking one day and met a child,’ " Said Oatsie, who was showing that she had some education as well as grit. "To the grim poor there need be no pour quoi tale about where evil arises; it always is. One never learns how the witch became wicked, or whether that was the right choice for her - is it ever the right choice? Does the devil ever struggle to be good again, or if so is he not the devil? It is at the very least a question of definitions.”