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"Of course there are big differences in length and character and vocabulary, but each level has its particular pleasures when it comes to the words one can use and the way one uses them."
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"Bear in mind that humility is not timidity."

"When I say "no" to some activities that I believe are ungodly, some people say I am "nobody". Yes, I agree", "no" body; that's who I am. I am a "body" that can say "no" to bad attitudes!"

"Martial arts is not about fighting; it's about building character."

"People respect those who know how to admit their own mistakes and see their own weaknesses. If you heart is as transparent as crystal, people will respect you."

"Soft feathers cannot make a cruel bird kind."

"Lots of people use good character and moral standing as a brand name. They know it's what people like, they want people to like them, so they wear it as one would wear a quality brand shirt. Putting it on in the morning and taking it off at the end of the day. Saying all the things they know people want to hear. If they were the very last person on Earth, there would be no reason for them to be of good character, because nobody would see it."

"One of the characteristics of humility is the ability to take the second place without striving for self-promotion."

"The more success a person has in life, the greater the danger of fornication can become."

"People with self-respect have the courage of their mistakes. They know the price of things."
Explore more quotes by Margaret Mahy

"My theory is that I decided to be a writer when I was about seven, but of course it is not as simple as that. Like most writers, I had to work at other things to earn a living and wrote mainly in the evenings, often very late at night, for many years."

"I hope I am not too repetitive. However, coming to terms with death is part of the general human situation."

"Ellis's understanding of himself and the world around him certainly develops because of his adventures, and part of that development comes through recognizing other people for what they are."

"At this stage I am not involved with young adults as closely as many other writers. My children are grown up and my grandchildren are still quite young."

"I've never actually been a fighter myself - fighting tires me out and I'm not an efficient fighter anyway - but I have certainly seen other people have great complicated goes at one another."

"When you are reading, someone has done a lot of work on your behalf, someone has had ideas and has then written and corrected and improved them so that they can be shared."

"New Zealand is the only country I know well enough to write about. It can sometimes lead to complications."

"By the time ordinary life asserted itself once more, I would feel I had already lived for a while in some other lifetime, that I had even taken over someone else's life."

"I once knew a house rather like The Land of Smiles - an old house occupied by a varied collection of young people, mainly students. However none of these people were true models for the characters in the book, though their way of life may have been."

"It can certainly happen that characters in more sophisticated stories can "take over" as they develop and change the author's original ideas. Well, it certainly happens to me at times."
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