Top 247 Quotes & Sayings by Christopher Paolini

I built two forges when I was in my teens. I was just really, really into metalworking and making stuff.

I had friends growing up; there were other home-schoolers we were in touch with so we weren't isolated, and I've always been happy engaged in my own projects and pursuing my own goals.

I don't discuss my own beliefs in public, but I will say the beliefs I've given my characters do not necessarily represent what I myself believe.

I have 20 or 30 books completely plotted out in my mind - mysteries, thrillers, horror, romance, science fiction. You name it.

I've stood outside my house in Montana looking at the northern lights... crackling against the night sky. To me, that's magic.

Personally, I had a great education. My mum was a trained teacher, a Montessori teacher, and I know that I could not have written 'Eragon' if I had gone into a public school system because I would have just been too busy attending classes and doing homework - I wouldn't have had the time to write.

I love telling stories and I love writing so the fact that I can do it professionally is something that I've always been very grateful for.

Just writing a lot doesn't necessarily make you a better writer. You have to hear yourself as a writer, and the best way to do that is to read your writing out loud.

I find inspiration in many places. Sometimes music gives me the kernel of a story. Sometimes it's dissatisfaction with the plot of a movie or a book that gets me thinking. Sometimes it's love of a movie or book.

The advantage of writing from experience is that it often provides you with details that you would never think of yourself, no matter how rich your imagination. And specificity in description is something every writer should strive for.

I think I learned most from editing, both editing myself and having someone else edit me. It's not always easy to have someone criticize your work, your baby. But if you can swallow your ego, you can really learn from the editing.

Basically, I would be happy with any profession where I got to be creative and make things.

I'm the sort of person that starts digging a hole and doesn't stop until it's finished.

If I spent my time worrying about what other people would think of my work, I would be too self-conscious to write.

I've always been very grateful that enough people have enjoyed reading what I've written that I've been able to pursue writing professionally.

If you want to be a professional writer then you need to write consistently. Inspiration strikes about once every blue moon which, for me, is once every two and a half to three months, which is when I'll get really and truly inspired about something.

I'm healthy as an ox. And you?" "To compare myself with a bovine would be both ridiculous and insulting, but I'm fit as ever, if that is what you are asking.

The whole of the world could be deduced from the smallest grain of sand, if one studied it closely enough.

Magic is the art of thinking, not strength or language.

What a sweet and succulent morsel: so soft, so salty, so deliciously delectable, it makes me want to wiggle with delight. You should cook for me more often, Roran Stronghammer. Only next time, I think you should prepare several deer at once. Otherwise, I won't get a proper meal.' Roran hesitated, as if unable to decide whether her request was serious and, if so, how he could politely extricate himself froim such an unlooked -for and rather onerous obligation.

Whatever you make, base it upon that which is most important to you. Only then will it have depth and meaning, and only then will it resonate with others.

Without fear there cannot be courage.

In El-harím, there lived a man, a man with yellow eyes. To me, he said, "Beware the whispers, for they whisper lies. Do not wrestle with the demons of the dark, Else upon your mind they'll place a mark; Do not listen to the shadows of the deep, Else they haunt you even when you sleep.

The greatest enemy is one that has nothing to lose.

The deeds of the children are a testament to the upbringing they received from their parents.

The debate raged on for so long, at last Saphira had interrupted with a roar that shook the walls of the command tent. Then she said, I am sore and tired, and Eragon is doing a poor job of explaining himself. We have better things to do than stand around yammering like jackdaws, no? ... Good now listen to me. It was reflected Eragon, hard to argue with a dragon.

Books are my friends, my companions. They make me laugh and cry and find meaning in life.

The trick is to find happiness in the brief gaps between disasters.

Atra esterni' ono thelduin Mor' rana li'fa unin hjarta onr Un du evari'nya ono varda (May good fortune rule over you peace live in your heart may the stars watch over you)

I always say, better ask forgiveness than permission.

On the beach, Roran stood alone, watching them go. Then he threw back his head and uttered a long, aching cry, and the night echoed with the sound of his loss.

Do not dwell on what once was, but rather look forward and ponder how you can make the future brighter

The sands of time cannot be stopped. Years pass whether we will them or not... but we can remember. What has been lost may yet live in memories.

I know what we do is right but right doesn't always mean easy.

Until we invent telepathy, books are our best choice for understanding the rest of humanity.

A negative outlook is more of a handicap than any physical injury.

The monsters of the mind are far worse than those that actually exist.

In my writing, I strive for a lyrical beauty somewhere between Tolkien at his best and Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf.

Let no one rule your mind or body. Take special care that your thoughts remain unfettered... Give men your ear, but not your heart. Show respect for those in power, but don't follow them blindly. Judge with logic and reason, but comment not. Consider none your superior in life. Treat all fairly or they will seek revenge. Be careful with your money. Hold fast to your beliefs and others will listen.

Keep in mind, Eragon, that no one thinks himself a villain, and few make decisions they think are wrong. A person may dislike his choice, but he will stand by it because, even in the worst circumstances, he believes that it was the best option available to him at the time.

Find peace in where and what you are.

No hunter of the sky should end his days as prey. Better to die on the wing than pinned to the ground. [Saphira]

What is the worth of anything we do? The worth is in the act. Your worth halts when you surrender the will to change and experience life

Books should go where they will be most appreciated, and not sit unread, gathering dust on a forgotten shelf, don't you agree?

It is a better world. A place where we ate responsible for our actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and becauseit is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment.

The purpose of life is not to do what we want but what needs to be done.

Anger has its place, but it will not serve you here, the way of the warrior is the way of knowing. Of that knowledge requires you to use anger, then you use anger, but you cannot wrest forth knowledge by losing your temper.

Because you can't argue with all the fools in the world. It's easier to let them have their way, then trick them when they're not paying attention.

It's impossible to go through life unscathed. Nor should you want to. By the hurts we accumulate, we measure both our follies and our accomplishments.

A true warrior does not fight because he wishes to but because he has to. A man who yearns for war, a man who enjoys his killing, he is a brute and a monster. No matter how much glory he wins on the battlefield, that cannot erase the fact that he is no better than a rabid wolf who will turn on his friends and family as soon as his foes.

The sea is emotion incarnate. It loves, hates, and weeps. It defies all attempts to capture it with words and rejects all shackles. No matter what you say about it, there is always that which you can't.

Do not become so attached to any one belief than you cannot see past it to another possibility. Brom to Eragon

He closed his eyes and sank into the warm dusk that separates consciosness and sleep, where reality bends and sways to the wind of thought, and where creativity blossoms in its freedom from boundaries and all things are possible.

I am not who I was, but I know who I am.

You cannot learn what you are made of if you rely on anyone or anything else to help you.

The future will be what it will, and fretting about it will only make your fears more likely to come true.

Let no man, in whatever rank or superiority, control your mind and tell you what to do

Live in the present, remember the past, and fear not the future, for it doesn't exist and never shall. There is only now.

Wise? No, I simply learned to think.

Perhaps not one religion contains all of the truth of the world. Perhaps every religion contains fragments of the truth, and it is our responsibility to identify those fragments and piece them together.