Top 114 Quotes & Sayings by L. Frank Baum

The road to the City of Emeralds is paved with yellow brick.

Imagination has brought mankind through the dark ages to its present state of civilization. Imagination led Columbus to discover America. Imagination led Franklin to discover electricity.

Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable.

Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

I can't give you a brain, but I can give you a diploma.

I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.

To 'know Thyself' is considered quite an accomplishment.

I think the world is like a great mirror, and reflects our lives just as we ourselves look upon it.

Time is given us to be happy and for no other reason [...] When we waste time, we waste happiness.

But you will admit that it's a good thing to be alive.

A curious thing about Ugu the Shoemaker was that he didn't suspect in the least that he was wicked. He wanted to be powerful and great, and he hoped to make himself master of all the Land of Oz that he might compel everyone in that fairy country to obey him, His ambition blinded him to the rights of others, and he imagined anyone else would act just as he did if anyone else happened to be as clever as himself.

Never give up. No one knows what's going to happen next.

To destroy an offender cannot benefit society so much as to redeem him.

I think the world is like a great mirror, and reflects our lives just as we ourselves look upon it. Those who turn sad faces toward the world find only sadness reflected. But a smile is reflected in the same way, and cheers and brightens our hearts. You think there is no pleasure to be had in life. That is because you are heartsick and-and tired, as you say. With one sad story ended you are afraid to begin another-a sequel-feeling it would be equally sad. But why should it be? Isn't the joy or sorrow equally divided in life?

. . .It is the Law that while Evil, unopposed, may accomplish terrible deeds, the power of Good can never be overthrown when opposed to Evil. . .

I never deal in transformations, for they are not honest, and no respectable sorceress likes to make things appear to be what they are not.

An eastern contemporary, with a grain of wisdom in its wit, says that "when the whites win a fight, it is a victory, and when the Indians win it, it is a massacre."

That proves you are unusual,' returned the Scarecrow; 'and I am convinced that the only people worthy of consideration in this world are the unusual ones. For the common folks are like the leaves of a tree, and live and die unnoticed.

Familiarity with any great thing removes our awe of it. The great general is only terrible to the enemy; the great poet is frequently scolded by his wife; the children of the great statesman clamber about his knees with perfect trust and impunity; the great actor who is called before the curtain by admiring audiences is often waylaid at the stage door by his creditors.

It seems unfortunate that strong people are usually so disagreeable and overbearing that no one cares for them. In fact, to be different from your fellow creatures is always a misfortune.

I shall take the heart. For brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world.

As a matter of fact, we are none of us above criticism; so let us bear with each other's faults.

You see, in this country are a number of youths who do not like to work, and the college is an excellent place for them.

When I was young I longed to write a great novel that should win me fame. Now that I am getting old my first book is written to amuse children.

Imagination has given us the steam engine, the telephone, the talking-machine, and the automobile, for these things had to be dreamed of before they became realities. So I believe that dreams - day dreams, you know, with your eyes wide open and your brain machinery whizzing - are likely to lead to the betterment of the world. The imaginative child will become the imaginative man or woman most apt to create, to invent, and therefore to foster civilization. A prominent educator tells me that fairy tales are of untold value in developing imagination in the young. I believe it.

The Imaginative Child will become the imaginative man or woman most apt to create, to invent, and therefore to foster civilization

Never question the truth of what you fail to understand, for the world is filled with wonders.

A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

You have plenty of courage, I am sure," answered Oz. "All you need is confidence in yourself. There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty.

Everything in life is unusual until you become accustomed to it.

To be individual, my friends, to be different from others, is the only way to become distinguished from the common herd. Let us be glad, therefore, that we differ from one another in form and in disposition. Variety is the spice of life, and we are various enough to enjoy one another's society; so let us be content.

True courage is in facing danger when you are afraid.

We consider a prisoner unfortunate. He is unfortunate in two ways-because he has done something wrong and because he is deprived of his liberty. Therefore we should treat him kindly, because of his misfortune, for otherwise he would become hard and bitter and would not be sorry he had done wrong.

If we walk far enough," says Dorothy, "we shall sometime come to someplace.

Everything in life is unusual until you get accustomed to it -The Scarecrow - The Marvellous Land Of Oz by L. Frank Baum pg 103 chapter 13

If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with!

Folklore, legends, myths and fairy tales have followed childhood through the ages, for every healthy youngster has a wholesome and instinctive love for stories fantastic, marvelous and manifestly unreal. The winged fairies of Grimm and Andersen have brought more happiness to childish hearts than all other human creations.

It isn't what we are, but what folks think we are, that counts in this world.

Familiarity with any great thing removes our awe of it.

It is worth a lot of bother to be able to think properly.

A little misery, at times, makes one appreciate happiness more.

Flowers are beautiful, for instance, but we are not inclined to marry them. Duty, on the contrary, is a bugle call to action, whether you are inclined to act, or not. In this case, I obey the bugle call of duty.

I believe that dreams - day dreams, you know, with your eyes wide open and your brain machinery whizzing - are likely to lead to the betterment of the world.

In all this world there is nothing so beautiful as a happy child.

Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't you think?

As the years pass, and we look back on something which, at the time, seemed unbelievably discouraging and unfair, we come to realize that, after all, God was at all times on our side. The eventual outcome was, we discover, by far the best solution for us, and what we thought should have been to our best advantage, would in reality have been quite detrimental.

Demons may be either good or bad, like any other class of beings.

There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home.

In other words, the more stupid one is, the more he thinks he knows.

But that isn't right. The King of Beasts shouldn't be a coward,'" said the Scarecrow. 'I know it,' returned the Lion, wiping a tear from his eye with the tip of his tail. 'It is my great sorrow, and makes my life very unhappy. But whenever there is danger, my heart begins to beat fast.' 'Perhaps you have heart disease,' said the Tin Woodman. 'It may be,' said the Lion.

Everything has to come to an end, sometime.

My people have been wearing green glasses on their eyes for so long that most of them think this really is an Emerald City.

To please a child is a sweet and lovely thing that warms one's heart and brings its own reward.

For I consider brains far superior to money in every way. You may have noticed that if one has money without brains, he cannot use it to his advantage; but if one has brains without money, they will enable him to live comfortably to the end of his days.

No thief, however skillful, can rob one of knowledge, and that is why knowledge is the best and safest treasure to acquire.

The more one knows, the luckier he is, for knowledge is the greatest gift in life.

How very wet this water is.

Now I know I've got a heart because it is breaking. - Tin Man

Mortals seldom know how greatly they are influenced by fairies, knooks and ryls, who often put thoughts into their heads that only the wise little immortals could have conceived.