Philip Pullman Quotes

If you pay attention to the world, it's an amazing place. If you don't, it's whatever you think it is.

Adventures come to the adventurous, and mysterious things fall in the way of those who, with wonder and imagination, are on the watch for them; but the majority of people go past the doors that are half ajar, thinking them closed, and fail to notice the faint stirrings of the great curtain that hangs ever in the form of appearances between them and the world of causes behind.

I tell my writing students that everything is material; just pay attention.

When you pay attention to boredom it gets unbelievably interesting.

It is the gift of seeing the life around them clearly and vividly, as something that is exciting in its own right. It is an innate gift, varying in intensity with the individual's temperament and environment.

When one of my characters becomes aware of a magical element, it might be because the world is wider than we assume it to be, but it might also be a reminder to pay attention to what is here already, hidden only because it's been forgotten.

I guess I'm a very keen observer, and I'd like to think I have a good imagination.

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.

I'm not such a fan of imagination. If you're alive to details, they oftentimes suggest a richer or deeper imaginative line than you would have imagined.

[To become a poet] The most important thing is to pay attention. The next would probably be to read; it's so important to pay attention. It keeps you from being bored, and I might add it keeps you from being boorish.

Mystery is the number one conjurer of ideas.

I did go there later, but I hadn't been there before I wrote the book. Sometimes I feel like the imagined can feel more real than the real?

I love the line of Flaubert about observing things very intensely. I think our duty as writers begins not with our own feelings, but with the powers of observing.

When I think of art I think of beauty. Beauty is the mystery of life. It is not in the eye it is in the mind. In our minds there is awareness of perfection.

If you don't pay attention and if your imagination isn't pretty much engaged, you're going to miss things and you're going to miss opportunities for it to be as compelling and as creepy as it can be.

I enjoy looking beyond the obvious and look at the stories happening all around me - you kind of formulate things in your mind and get excited about them.

Well, you know, writers just suck up new experiences - we're just like the vacuum cleaners of newness.

I guess I'm just quite observant and I pay attention to a lot of things. Human behavior really fascinates me.

The writer should never be ashamed of staring. There is nothing that does not require his attention.

I always feel the desire to look for the extraordinary in ordinary things; to suggest, not to impose, to leave always a slight touch of mystery in my paintings.

You can find pictures anywhere. It's simply a matter of noticing things and organizing them. You just have to care about what's around you and have a concern with humanity and the human comedy.

Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist.

The poet doesn't invent. He listens.

I think mystery... allows us time to dream.

The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.