02 May, 2014

Quotable Friday (31)

And so we come to the top three in my quotation countdown of the BBC Big Read. I finished reading this list of 100 books - voted for by the British public - last year. The book that came third in this 2003 poll was actually three books in one - His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. This trilogy is usually categorised as children's fiction, but I read them all as an adult and gave them 10/10 for enjoyment. Pullman is a brilliant writer.

This quotation is from the first of the three books - Northern Lights (known in the USA, the cinema, and perhaps elsewhere as The Golden Compass). Short and simple.

"You cannot change what you are, only what you do."

5 comments:

  1. I like this quote - it reminds me of another from the harry potter books as well, something like "it is our choices that make us who we truely are, far more than our abilities".

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  2. I just allowed my 11 year old to start reading this. My husband loved the series.

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  3. Maybe changing what we do changes who we are (or at least how we're seen)?

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    1. I think that's true. If you want to be a more patient person, for example, first you've got to start acting more patiently and then the feeling will come later!

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