He let her do it, then looked around for his fingers. There they were, curled like a bloody quotation mark on the lead. He laughed.

— Philip Pullman

He meant the Kingdom was over, the Kingdom of Heaven, it was all finished. We shouldn't live as if it mattered more than this life in this world, because where we are is always the most important place.... We have to be all those difficult things like cheerful and kind and curious and patient, and we've got to study and think and work hard, all of us, in all our different world, and then we'll build... The Republic of Heaven.

— Philip Pullman

Her last conscious thought was disgust at life; her senses had lied to her. The world was not made of energy and delight but of foulness, betrayal, and lassitude. Living was hateful, and death was no better, and from end to end of the universe this was the first and last and only truth.

— Philip Pullman

Her upbringing had given her an independence of mind that made her more like a girl of today than one of her own time - which was why she had walked out, and why she was not daunted by the prospect of being alone.

— Philip Pullman

He sat down and collected his thoughts. They were quite easy to collect, because there weren't very many of them, and they all concerned the same subject--what a burden his life was.

— Philip Pullman

Hope holds you fast like an anchor so you don't give way.

— Philip Pullman

I am a religious person, although I am not a believer.

— Philip Pullman

I am a strong believer in the tyranny, the dictatorship, the absolute authority of the writer.

— Philip Pullman

I can’t bear the thought of oblivion, Ariel,” she continued. “Sooner anything than that. I used to think pain would be worse—to be tortured forever—I thought that must be worse. . . But as long as you were conscious, it would be better, wouldn’t it? Better than feeling nothing, just going into the dark, everything going out forever and ever?

— Philip Pullman

I don't know where I belong, so I'm free. No one's got a hold on me.

— Philip Pullman