I never knew words could be so confusing," Milo said to Took as he bent down to scratch the dog's ear." Only when you use a lot to say a little," answered Took. Milo thought this was quite the wisest thing he'd heard all day.

— Norton Juster

Is everyone who lives in Ignorance like you?" asked Milo." Much worse," he said longingly. "But I don't live here. I'm from a place very far away called Context.

— Norton Juster

Is everyone with one face called a Milo?"" Oh no," Milo replied; "some are called Henry or George or Robert or John or lots of other things."" How terribly confusing," he cried. "Everything here is called exactly what it is. The triangles are called triangles, the circles are called circles, and even the same numbers have the same name. Why, can you imagine what would happen if we named all the twos Henry or George or Robert or John or lots of other things? You'd have to say Robert plus John equals four, and if the four's name were Albert, things would be hopeless."" I never thought of it that way," Milo admitted." Then I suggest you begin at once," admonished the Dodecahedron from his admonishing face, "for here in Digitalis everything is quite precise.

— Norton Juster

It has been a long trip," said Milo, climbing onto the couch where the princesses sat; "but we would have been here much sooner if I hadn't made so many mistakes. I'm afraid it's all my fault."" You must never feel badly about making mistakes," explained Reason quietly, "as long as you take the trouble to learn from them. For you often learn more by being wrong for the right reasons than you do by being right for the wrong reasons.

— Norton Juster

It's completely logical," explained the Dodecahedron. "The more you want, the less you get, and the less you get, the more you have. Simple arithmetic, that's all. Suppose you had something and added something to it. What would that make?"" More," said Milo quickly." Quite correct," he nodded. "Now suppose you had something and added nothing to it. What would you have?"" The same," he answered again, without much conviction. "Splendid," cried the Dodecahedron. "And suppose you had something and added less than nothing to it. What would you have then?""FAMINE!" roared the anguished Humbug, who suddenly realized that that was exactly what he'd eaten twenty-three bowls of.

— Norton Juster

...it's just as bad to live in a place where what you do see isn't there as it is to live in one where what you don't see is.

— Norton Juster

…it’s not just learning that’s important. It’s learning what to do with what you learn and learning why you learn things that matter.

— Norton Juster

...it's very much like your trying to reach infinity. You know that it's there, you just don't know where-but just because you can never reach it doesn't mean that it's not worth looking for.

— Norton Juster

I wouldn't eat too many of those [half-baked ideas] if I were you. They may look good, but you can get terribly sick of them."-Took

— Norton Juster

I write best in the morning, and I can only write for about half a day, that's about it.

— Norton Juster