Michael Ende, The Neverending Story

"The Glory was entrusted to you, you weren't given permission to pass it on as you see fit."

"With them the individual counted for nothing. No one was irreplaceable, because they drew no distinction between one man and another... In this community there was harmony, but no love."

"Maybe all the people who say ghosts don't exist are just afraid to admit that they do."

"Atreyu was fighting not for himself, but for his friend, whom he was trying to save by defeating him."

"You must live your story."

"Even when I was caught in the web, I didn't give up hope. And as you see, I was right."

"... Without memory how will you ever find your way back to where you came from?"

"When it comes to controlling human beings there is no better instrument than lies. Because, you see, humans live by beliefs. And beliefs can be manipulated."

"He was handsome and strong, but somehow that wasn't enough for him. He also felt the need to be tough and inured to hardship... But how was he to come by that quality in this luminous garden, where all manner of fruit was to be had for the picking?"

"When you know as much as we do, nothing matters. Things just repeat. Day and night, summer and winter. The world is empty and aimless. Everything circles around. Whatever starts up must pass away,whatever is born must die. It all cancels out, good or bad, beautiful or ugly."

"When it comes to controlling human beings there is no better instrument than lies. Because, you see, humans live by beliefs. And beliefs can be manipulated. The power to manipulate beliefs is the only thing that counts."

"The human world is full of weak-minded people, who think they're as clever as can be and are convinced that it's terribly important to persuade even the children that Fanstastica doesn't exist."

"What do you suppose it means'[Bastian] asked. "DO WHAT YOU WISH.'" That must mean I can do anything I feel like. Don't you think so? All at once Grograman's face looked alarmingly grave, and his eyes glowed. 'No,' he said in his deep, rumbling voice. 'It means that you must do what you really and truly want. And nothing is more difficult.' 'What I really and truly want? What do you mean by that' 'It's your own deepest secret and you yourself don't know it.' 'How can I find out' 'By going the way of your wishes, from one to another, from first to last. It will take you to what you really and truly want.' 'That doesn't sound so hard,' said Bastian. 'It's the most dangerous of all journeys.' 'Why' Bastian asked. 'I'm not afraid.' 'That isn't it,' Grograman rumbled. 'It requires the greatest honesty and vigilance, because there's no other journey on which it's so easy to lose yourself forever."

"There are people who can never go to Fantastica," said Mr. Coreander, "and others who can, but who stay there forever. And there are just a few who fo to fantastica and come back. Like you. And they make both world well again."

"He had never been willing to believe that life had to be as gray and dull as people claimed. He heard them saying: “Life is like that,” but he couldn’t agree. He never stopped believing in mysteries and miracles."

"You must let what happens happen. Everything must be equal in your eyes, good and evil, beautiful and ugly, foolish and wise."

"There are many kinds of joy, but they all lead to one: the joy to be loved."

"... Up until then he had always wanted to be someone other than he was, but he didn't want to change."

"Nothing is lost. . . Everything is transformed."

"It was a wonderful feeling, a sense of release and boundless freedom that he had never known before. He was beyond the reach of all the things that had weighed him down and hemmed him in."