Never trust a mirror,' his mother had told him. 'They never tell the truth unless you make them.

— Isobelle Carmody

Oh, yes. It's open all right, but not many people come in here to look at me now so there's no point in selling tickets. No one is interested in a man who professes to be a monster. They'll give me notice very soon. I started out being a great attraction, but people soon understood that what fascinated them about me was no more than the reflection of their own deformities. All I do is how them what is inside themselves,' He added mournfully.

— Isobelle Carmody

Only humans think death is evil. But it is nature. Evil exists only in life. There is much good and evil allotted to each life.

— Isobelle Carmody

Some foolish people must have a tragedy, for they cannot believe in happy endings

— Isobelle Carmody

Sometimes success demands a certain refined insanity.

— Isobelle Carmody

Strength without compassion is soulless and cruel. Weakness, too, has its place, for it brings understanding.

— Isobelle Carmody

That was what happened to laughter when you caged it. It became unbearably sad. It was worse than crying.

— Isobelle Carmody

The deepest wounds aren't the ones we get from other people hurting us. They are the wounds we give ourselves when we hurt other people.

— Isobelle Carmody

True sorrows do not pass like clouds or inclement weather... Sorrows are absorbed over time, and you reshape yourself around them. How you absorb them makes you what you are for good or ill. I think the only true and right way is to take our sorrows into us bravely and wholly, knowing they will hurt, and accepting that sometimes pain is unavoidable. It is when grief is suppressed or hidden that it does harm

— Isobelle Carmody

You must not let me out,' it warned him gently, as it saw his eyes rest on the lock.' If you release me now that I know my nature, I could not help but unmake the enchantment of the mirrors. You see, they are tame now, and they show only what people want and need to see in them. The wildness of them is bound up in my form, though I did not know it for a long time. If I were uncaged, I could not help but tear at the enchantment until I was unnamed. Then I would fly into all the mirrors and windows and into shining footpaths after rain. The mirrors would become wild, and they would be absolutely, utterly truthful. Everything would be seen for what it truly was. My laughter would greet every lie and every pretense. It would rumble like a volcano under the smooth surface of everything. You can imagine the chaos it would cause here, for those who dwell in the grasslands do so because the mirrors are tamed. If I were free, people would come to be afraid of them. They would cease to believe in their reflections, and eventually they would no longer believe in themselves. No, laughter must remain caged here.

— Isobelle Carmody