Mirrors, ' she said, 'are never to be trusted.

Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.

The world seemed to shimmer a little at the edges.

I will be brave, thought Coraline. No, I am brave.

Coraline shivered. She preferred her other mother to have a location: if she were nowhere, then she could be anywhere. And, after all, it is always easier to be afraid of something you cannot see.

I don't want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not really. What kind of fun would it be if I just got everything I ever wanted just like that, and it didn't mean anything? What then?

Now you people have names. That's because you don't know who you are. We know who we are, so we don't need names.

You know I love you, ' said the other mother flatly.'You have a very funny way of showing it, ' said Coraline.

We...we could be friends.'We COULD be rare specimens of an exotic breed of dancing African elephants, but we're not. At least, I'M not.

Be wise. Be brave. Be tricky.

No, " said the cat. "Now, you people have names. That's because you don't know who you are. We know who we are, so we don't need names.

Have a set of core values you must follow while living your life. It should be your Personal Constitution.

What Happens To A Man Is Less Significant Than What Happens Within Him.

The one who loves the least, controls the relationship.

Whenever we cannot love in the old, human way . . . God can give us the perfect way.

I don't write letters anymore.

Writing a book I have found to be like building a house. A man forms a plan, and collects materials.

"Influence" is itself influenced, coming from an Italian word for the outbreak of a disease (influenza, outbreak). Influence is that which flows across - permeates - the boundaries of the self.

If this were a [Hollywood] studio film, I wouldn't have pushed my father into a table, I would have beat him up. My father wouldn't have kissed my girlfriend; he would have raped her.

Joy is the true gift of Christmas.

In Canada, what I find what people are afraid of or worried about is politicians who denigrate the importance of the resource sectors, which are the basis of our trading capacity.