- This is an Out of universe article about the quotes Cornelia Funke used in the very beginning of each chapter within the second book of the trilogy. For In-universe notable quotes from the book, see the chapter sections of the book page, or visit the character pages individually to check notable quotes by them.
The list of quotes used in the beginning of every Inkspell chapter.
Chapters 1-5[]
- Ch. 1: Words made to Measure
“ | He has been trying to sing Love into existence again And he has failed. | ” |
— Margaret Atwood, "Orpheus 2", Eating Fire
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- Ch. 2: Fool's Gold
“ | For plainly this miscreant had sold himself to Satan, and it would be fatal to meddle with the property of such a power as that. | ” |
— Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer
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- Ch. 3: Dustfinger Comes Home
“ | "What is this?" said the Leopard, "that is so 'sclusively dark, and yet so full of little pieces of light?" | ” |
— Rudyard Kipling, Just So Stories
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- Ch. 4: Silvertongue's Daughter
“ | Was there only one world after all, which spent its time dreaming of others? | ” |
— Philip Pullman, The Subtle Knife
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- Ch. 5: Farid
“ | He was stubborn as a mule, clever as a monkey, and nimble as a hare. | ” |
— Louis Pergaud, The War of the Buttons
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Chapters 6-10[]
- Ch. 6: The Inn of the Strolling Players
“ | "Thank you," said Lucy, opening the box and taking out a match. "WATCH, EVERYONE!" she cried, her voice echoing round the White Flats. "WATCH! THIS IS GOODBYE TO BAD MEMORIES!" | ” |
— Philip Ridley, Dakota of the White Flats
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- Ch. 7: Meggie's Decision
“ | The idea hovered and shivered delicately, like a soap bubble, and she dared not even look at it directly in case it burst. But she was familiar with the way of ideas, and she let it shimmer, looking away, thinking about something else. | ” |
— Philip Pullman, Northern Lights
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- Ch. 8: The Minstrel Woman
“ | The minstrel must go on his way, |
” |
— E. von Monsterberg, quoted from Musikanten, Gaukler und Vaganten
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- Ch. 9: Meggie's Reads
“ | "Don't ask where the rest of this book is!" It is a shrill cry that comes from an undefined spot among the shelves. "All books continue in the beyond ..." | ” |
— Italo Calvino, If On A Winter's Night A Traveller
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- Ch. 10: The Inkworld
“ | Thus sharply did the terrified three learn the difference between an island of make-believe and the same island come true. | ” |
— J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan
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Chapters 11-15[]
- Ch. 11: Gone
“ | I woke up and knew he was gone. Straightaway I knew he was gone. When you love somebody you know these things. | ” |
— David Almond, Skellig
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- Ch. 12: Uninvited Guests
“ | "You people with hearts," he said once, "have something to guide you, and need never do wrong; but I have no heart, and so I must be very careful." | ” |
— L. Frank Baum, The Wizard of Oz
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- Ch. 13: Fenoglio
“ | "I do practice remembering, Nain," I said. "Writing and reading and remembering." "That you should!" said Nain sharply. "Do you know what happens each time you write a thing down? Each time you name it? You sap its strength." |
” |
— Kevin Crossley-Holland, The Seeing Stone
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- Ch. 14: The Black Prince
“ | "So bears can make their own souls .. ," she said. There was a great deal in the world to know. | ” |
— Philip Pullman, Northern Lights
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- Ch. 15: Strange Sounds on a Strange Night
“ | How silent lies the world |
” |
— Matthias Claudius, Evening Song
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Chapters 16-20[]
- Ch. 16: Only a Lie
“ | The blanket was there, but it was the boy's embrace that covered and warmed him. | ” |
— Jerry Spinelli, Maniac Magee
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- Ch. 17: A Present for Capricorn
“ | "If he has been my father's enemy, I like him still less!" exclaimed the now really anxious girl. "Will you not speak to him, Major Heyward, that I may hear his tones? Foolish though it may be, you have often heard me avow my faith in the tones of the human voice!" |
” |
— J. Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans
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- Ch. 18: Mortola's Revenge
“ | I do not dare, |
” |
— Pablo Neruda, "The Dead Woman", The Captain's Verses
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- Ch. 19: Birthday Morning
“ | "Nay, not without a wound in the spirit shall I leave this city ... Too many fragments of the spirit have I scattered in these streets, and too many are the children of my longing that walk naked among these hills ..." | ” |
— Khalil Gibran, The Prophet
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- Ch. 20: Visitors from the Wrong Side of the Forest
“ | Darkness always had its part to play. Without it, how would we know when we walked in the light? It's only when its ambitions become too grandiose that it must be opposed, disciplined, sometimes – if necessary – brought down for a time. Then it will rise again, as it must. | ” |
— Clive Barker, Abarat
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Chapters 21-25[]
- Ch. 21: The Prince of Sighs
“ | The man couldn't very well tell the king, "No, I won't go," for he had to earn his bread. | ” |
— Italo Calvino, "The King in the Basket", Italian Folk Tales
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- Ch. 22: Ten Years
“ | Time is a horse that runs in the heart, a horse Without a rider on a road at night. The mind sits listening and hears it pass. |
” |
— Wallace Stevens, "The Pure Good of Theory", Collected Poems
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- Ch. 23: Cold and White
“ | I am like a goldsmith hammering day and night |
” |
— Xi Murong, "Poetry's Value", Anthology of Modern Chinese Poetry
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“ | 我如金匠 日夜捶擊敲打 |
” |
— 席慕蓉, "詩的價值", 無怨的青春
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- Ch. 24: In Elinor's Cellar
“ | The lofty bookshelves sag |
” |
— Xi Chuan, "Books", New Generation
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- Ch. 25: The Camp in the Forest
“ | I thought it said in every tick: I am so sick, so sick, so sick; O death, come quick, come quick, come quick. |
” |
— Frances Cornford, "The Watch", Collected Poems
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Chapters 26-30[]
- Ch. 26: Fenoglio's Plan
“ | All I need is a sheet of paper |
” |
— Friedrich Nietzsche, Die Weisse und die Schwarze Kunst
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- Ch. 27: Violante
“ | There is no frigate like a book |
” |
— Emily Dickinson, The Poems of Emily Dickinson
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- Ch. 28: The Wrong Words
“ | If all you have of me is your red hair |
” |
— Paul Zech, after Francois Villon, "The Ballade of Little Florestan"
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- Ch. 29: New Masters
“ | Tyrants smile with their last breath |
” |
— Heinrich Heine, "King David"
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- Ch. 30: Cosimo
“ | "Yes," said Abhorsen. "I am a necromancer, but not of the common kind. Where others of the art raise the dead, I lay them back to rest ..." | ” |
— Garth Nix, Sabriel
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Chapters 31-35[]
- Ch. 31: Elinor
“ | Out in the world not much happened. But here in the special night, a land bricked with paper and leather, anything might happen, always did. | ” |
— Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes
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- Ch. 32: The Wrong Man
“ | So she placed the healing herb In his mouth – he slept straightaway. She covered him most carefully. He still slept on the livelong day. |
” |
— Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parsifal
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- Ch. 33: Fairydeath
“ | The wind this evening, so eagerly playing Sounds like blades that someone is swinging On the instrument of the trees densely growing ... |
” |
— Montale, Poems
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- Ch. 34: Cloud-Dancer's Message
“ | Yes, my love, This world of ours bleeds With more pain than just the pain of love. |
” |
— Faiz Ahmed Faiz, "The Love I Gave You Once", An Elusive Dawn
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- Ch. 35: Ink-Medicine
“ | The memory of my father is wrapped up in White paper, like sandwiches taken for a day of work. Just as a magician takes towers and rabbits Out of his hat, he drew love from his small body. |
” |
— Yehuda Amichai, "My Father", Isibongo
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Chapters 36-40[]
- Ch. 36: Screams
“ | I want to see thirst In the syllables, |
” |
— Pablo Neruda, "Word", Five Decades
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- Ch. 37: Bloodstained Straw
“ | Goblins burrowed in the earth, elves sang songs in the trees: Those were the obvious wonders of reading, but behind them lay the fundamental marvel that, in stories, words could command things to be. | ” |
— Francis Spufford, The Child That Books Built
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- Ch. 38: An Audience for Fenoglio
“ | "Lady Cora," he said, "sometimes one has to do things which are unpalatable. When great issues are involved one can't toy with the situation in silk gloves. No. We are making history." | ” |
— Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan
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- Ch. 39: Another Messenger
“ | The strongest memory is weaker than the palest ink. | ” |
— Chinese proverb
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“ | 好記性不如爛筆頭 | ” |
— 中文俗語
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- Ch. 40: No Hope
“ | The mustard-pot got up and walked over to his plate on thin silver legs that waddled like the owl's. ... "Oh, I love the mustard-pot!" cried the Wart. "Wherever did you get it?" | ” |
— T. H. White, The Sword in the Stone
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Chapters 41-45[]
- Ch. 41: The Captives
“ | "Then you don't think he's dead, then?" He put on his hat. "Now I may be wrong, of course, but I think he's very alive. Shows all the symptoms of it. Go have a look at him, and when I come back we'll get together and decide." |
” |
— Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
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- Ch. 42: A Familiar Face
“ | Believe me. Sometimes when life looks to be at its grimmest, there's a light hidden at the heart of things. | ” |
— Clive Barker, Abarat
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- Ch. 43: Paper and Fire
“ | "Good, well, if that's decided," came a weary voice from the opposite end of the dank hold. It was the gnokgoblin, still manacled and quite forgotten. "Then will someone please release me." | ” |
— Paul Stewart, Midnight Over Sanctaphrax
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- Ch. 44: The Burning Tree
“ | Do you see the tongues of fire Darting, flickering higher and higher? Do you see the flames all dancing, Flaring, off the dry wood glancing? | ” |
— James Kriiss, "Fire"
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- Ch. 45: Poor Meggie
“ | "Hello," said a soft, musical voice, and Leonardo looked up. In front of him stood the most beautiful young girl he had ever seen, a girl who might have frightened him but for the sad expression in her blue eyes. He knew about sadness. | ” |
— Eva Ibbotson, The Mystery of the Seventh Witch
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Chapters 46-50[]
- Ch. 46: A Knock on the Door
“ | Lancelot considered his cup.
'He is inhuman,' he said at last. 'But why should he be human? Are angels supposed to be human?' |
” |
— T.H. White, The Ill-Made Knight
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- Ch. 47: Roxane
“ | My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; |
” |
— William Shakespeare, Sonnets, No. 130
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- Ch. 48: The Castle by the Sea
“ | It was a page he had |
” |
— Wallace Stephens, "Madame la Fleurie", Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens
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- Ch. 49: The Mill
“ | We rode and rode and nothing happened. Wherever we went, it was calm, peaceful and beautiful. You could call it a quiet evening in the mountains, I thought, if that hadn’t been so wrong. | ” |
— Astrid Lindgren, The Brothers Lionheart
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- Ch. 50: The Best of All Nights
“ | 'Eat,' said Merlot. 'I couldn’t possibly,' said Despereaux, backing away from the book. 'Why?' 'Um,' said Despereaux, 'it would ruin the story.' |
” |
— Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux
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Chapters 51-55[]
- Ch. 51: The Right Words
- Ch. 52: Angry Orpheus
- Ch. 53: The Barn Owl
- Ch. 54: In the Dungeon of The Castle of Night
- Ch. 55: A Letter from Fenoglio
Chapters 56-60[]
- Ch. 56: The Wrong Ears
- Ch. 57: Fire and Water
- Ch. 58: Invisible as the Wind
- Ch. 59: The Adderhead
- Ch. 60: Fire on the Wall
Chapters 61-65[]
- Ch. 61: In the Tower of The Castle of Night
- Ch. 62: Where To?
- Ch. 63: The Badger's Earth
- Ch. 64: All Is Lost
- Ch. 65: Lord of the Story
Chapters 66-70[]
- Ch. 66: Blank Paper
“ | We make for your sake such things as stand fast, |
” |
— Michael Kongehl, "On the White Art", Die Weisse und die Schwarze Kunst
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- Ch. 67: Kindness and Mercy
“ | Here are we five or six strung up, you see, |
” |
— François Villon, tr. A.C. Swinburne, Ballade of the Hanged Men
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- Ch. 68: A Visit
“ | "If I cannot get me forth out of this house," he thought, "I am a dead man!" | ” |
— Robert Louis Stevenson, The Black Arrow
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- Ch. 69: The Night Before
“ | True, I talk of dreams, |
” |
— William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
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- Ch. 70: The Pen and the Sword
“ | "Of course not," said Hermione. "Everything we need is here on this paper." | ” |
Chapters 71-77[]
- Ch. 71: Only a Dream
“ | One day a young man said, "This tale about everybody having to die doesn't sit too well with me. I will go in search of the land where one never dies." | ” |
— Italo Calvino, "The Land Where One Never Dies", Italian Folk Tales
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- Ch. 72: An Exchange
“ | The blue of my eyes was extinguished tonight |
” |
— Georg Trakl, "By Night", Poems
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- Ch. 73: The Bluejay
“ | The world existed to be read. And I read it. | ” |
— L. S. Schwartz, Ruined by Reading
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- Ch. 74: Farid's Hope
“ | And now he was dead, his soul fled down to the Sunless Country and his body lying cold in the cold mud, somewhere in the city's wake. | ” |
— Philip Reeve, Mortal Engines
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- Ch. 75: Alone Again
“ | Hope is the thing with feathers. | ” |
— Emily Dickinson, "Hope", The Poems of Emily Dickinson
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- Ch. 76: A New Poet
“ | The joy of writing The power of preserving, Revenge of a mortal hand. |
” |
— Wislawa Szymborska, "The Joy of Writing", View with a Grain of Sand
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- Ch. 77: Where Now?
“ | The Giant rested back in his chair. "You've some stories left," he said. "I can smell them on your skin." | ” |
— Brian Patten, The Story Giant
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Cornelia Funk's Inkworld Trilogy | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Inkheart | book | reference quotes | radio play | film | film soundtrack | game |
Inkspell | book | reference quotes | radio play | - | - | - |
Inkdeath | book | reference quotes | radio play | - | - | - |
Other written works (not all by Funke) | Other canon | |||||
Inkheart Movie: Novelization | Cornelia Funke - The Official Website - | |||||
Inkheart Movie: Storybook | MirrorWorld by Cornelia Funke App | |||||
Inkheart Movie: Reader, Farid's Story | The Colour of Revenge | |||||
Cornelia Funke: Inkheart, Wild Chicks and Ghosthunters: the Fantastical Visual Worlds from the Early Children's Books to Reckless |