Quote

He found whole figures which represented a written word but he never could manage to represent just the word he wanted - that word was 'eternity', and the Snow Queen had said, If you can discover that figure, you shall be your own master, and I will make you a present of the whole world and a pair of new skates. But he could not find it out.

Hans Christian Andersen

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Hans Christian Andersen
Age: 70 †
Born: 1805
Born: April 2
Died: 1875
Died: August 4
Author
Autobiographer
Journalist
Novelist
Playwright
Poet
Traveler
Writer
H.C. Andersen
Never
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Manage
Skates
World
Written
Discover
Represented
Word
Master
Pair
Found
Eternity
Queen
Find
Figure
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Queens
Whole
Figures
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Make
Present
Snow

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Where words fail, music speaks.
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I covet honour in the same way as a miser covets gold.
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Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale.
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Everything you look at can become a fairy tale and you can get a story from everything you touch.
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Does all the beauty of the world stop when you die? No, said the Old Oak it will last much longer - longer than I can even think of. Well, then, said the little May-fly, we have the same time to live only we reckon differently.
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There was once a merchant who was so rich that he might have paved the whole street, and a little alley besides, with silver money. But he didn't do it--he knew better how to use his money than that.
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Every step you take will feel as if you were treading upon knife blades so sharp that blood must flow. I am willing to help you, but are you willing to suffer all this? Yes, the little mermaid said in a trembling voice, as she thought of the Prince and of gaining a human soul.
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Now, if we only had as many casks of butter as there are people here, then I would eat lots of butter!
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But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers so much more.
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In the days of Moses and the prophets such a man would have been counted among the wise men of the land in the Middle Ages he would have been burned at the stake.
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To be born in a duck's nest, in a farmyard, is of no consequence to a bird, if it is hatched from a swan's egg.
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The naive was only a part of my fairy tales humour was the real salt in them.
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Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.
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Each soldier was the living image of the others, but there was one who was a bit different. He had only one leg, for he was the last to be cast and the tin had run out. Still, there he stood, just as steadfast on his one leg as the others on their two and he is the tin soldier we are going to hear about.
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Eighty percent of our criminals come from unsympathetic homes.
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It is the power of thought that gives man power over nature.
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Farewell, farewell, said the swallow, with a heavy heart, as he left the warm countries, to fly back into Denmark. There he had a nest over the window of a house in which dwelt the writer of fairy tales. The swallow sang Tweet, tweet, and from his song came the whole story.
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No, the light is too intense we do not yet have eyes that can see all the glory God has created. But maybe someday we will have such eyes. That will be the most wonderful fairy tale of all, for we ourselves will be part of it.
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Far out in the ocean, where the water is as blue as the prettiest cornflower, and as clear as crystal, it is very, very deep so deep, indeed, that no cable could fathom it: many church steeples, piled one upon another, would not reach from the ground beneath to the surface of the water above. There dwell the Sea King and his subjects.
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We haven't yet got eyes that can gaze into all the splendour that God has created, but we shall get them one day and that will be the finest fairy tale of all, for we shall be in it ourselves.
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