Quote

The Mathemagician nodded knowingly and stroked his chin several times. “You’ll find,” he remarked gently, “that the only thing you can do easily is be wrong, and that’s hardly worth the effort.

Norton Juster

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Norton Juster
Age: 91 †
Born: 1929
Born: June 2
Died: 2021
Died: March 8
Architect
Author
Novelist
Writer
Brooklyn
New York
Easily
Knowingly
Worth
Remarked
Effort
Nodded
Wrong
Chin
Times
Chins
Find
Gently
Thing
Hardly
Several
Stroked

More quotes by Norton Juster

Image
Since you got here by not thinking, it seems reasonable to expect that, in order to get out, you must start thinking.
Norton Juster
Image
I think kids slowly begin to realize that what they're learning relates to other things they know. Then learning starts to get more and more exciting
Norton Juster
Image
I think really good books can be read by anybody.
Norton Juster
Image
Infinity is a dreadfully poor place. They can never manage to make ends meet.
Norton Juster
Image
The most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what's in between, and they took great pleasure in doing just that.
Norton Juster
Image
There is much worth noticing that often escapes the eye.
Norton Juster
Image
A slavish concern for the composition of words is the sign of a bankrupt intellect. Be gone, odious wasp! You smell of decayed syllables.
Norton Juster
Image
The only other thing which I think is important is: Don't write a book or start a book with the expectation of communicating a message in a very important way.
Norton Juster
Image
And remember, also, added the Princess of Sweet Rhyme, that many places you would like to see are just off the map and many things you want to know are just out of sight or a little beyond your reach. But someday you'll reach them all, for what you learn today, for no reason at all, will help you discover all the wonderful secrets of tomorrow.
Norton Juster
Image
You can swim all day in the Sea of Knowledge and not get wet.
Norton Juster
Image
The only thing you can do easily is be wrong, and that's hardly worth the effort.
Norton Juster
Image
But I suppose there's a lot to see everywhere, if only you keep your eyes open.
Norton Juster
Image
I received a grant from The Ford Foundation to write a book for kids about urban perception, or how people experience cities, but I kept putting off writing it. Instead I started to write what became The Phantom Tollbooth
Norton Juster
Image
You can't improve sound by having only silence. The problem is to use each at the proper time.
Norton Juster
Image
Why not? That's a good reason for almost anything - a bit used perhaps, but still quite serviceable.
Norton Juster
Image
Oh dear, all those words again, thought Milo as he climbed into the wagon with Tock and the cabinet members. How are you going to make it move? It doesn't have a-- Be very quiet, advised the duke, for it goes without saying.
Norton Juster
Image
You see, to tall men I'm a midget, and to short men I'm a giant to the skinny ones I'm a fat man, and to the fat ones I'm a thin man.
Norton Juster
Image
Many of the things which can never be, often are.
Norton Juster
Image
You see. . . it's really quite strenuous doing nothing all day, so once a week we take a holiday and go nowhere, which was just where we were going when you came along. Would you care to join us?
Norton Juster
Image
Whether or not you find your own way, you're bound to find some way. If you happen to find my way, please return it, as it was lost years ago. I imagine by now it's quite rusty.
Norton Juster