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This is an Out of universe article about the quotes Cornelia Funke used in the very beginning of each chapter within the first book of the trilogy. For In-universe notable quotes from the book, see the chapter sections of the book page, or visit the character pages individually to check notable quotes by them.

The list of quotes used in the beginning of every Inkheart chapter.

Chapters 1-5[]

  • Ch. 1: A Stranger in the Night
The moon shone in the rocking horse's eye, and in the mouse's eye, too, when Tolly fetched it out from under his pillow to see. The clock went tick-tock, and in the stillness he thought he heard little bare feet running across the floor, then laughter and whispering, and a sound like the pages of a big book being turned over.
 
— L. M. Boston, The Children of Green Knowe
  • Ch. 2: Secrets
"What do these children do without storybooks?" Naftali asked.
And Reb Zebulun replied: "They have to make do. Storybooks aren't bread. You can live without them."
"I couldn't live without them," Naftali said.
 
— Isaac Bashevis Singer, Naftali the Storyteller and His Horse, Sus
  • Ch. 3: Going South
"Beyond the Wild Wood comes the Wild World," said the Rat. "And that's something that doesn't matter, either to you or to me. I've never been there, and I'm never going, nor you either, if you've got any sense at all."
 
— Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
  • Ch. 4: A House Full of Books

There is a sort of busy worm,
That will the fairest book deform.
Their tasteless tooth will tear and taint
The poet, patriot, sage or saint,
Nor sparing wit nor learning.
Now, if you'd know the reason why,
The best of reasons I'll supply:
'Tis bread to the poor vermin.

 
— J. Doraston, quoted by W. Blades
  • Ch. 5: Only a Picture
For him that stealeth, or borroweth and returneth not, this book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him.
Let him be struck with palsy, and all his members blasted.
Let him languish in pain, crying aloud for mercy, and let there be no surcease to this agony till he sing in dissolution.
Let bookworms gnaw his entrails... and when at last he goeth to his last punishment, let the flames of hell consume him for ever.
 
Curse on book thieves, from the monastery of San Pedro, Barcelona, Spain

Chapters 6-10[]

  • Ch. 6: Fire and Stars
So along they came with dancing bears, dogs and goats, monkeys and marmots, walking the tightrope, turning somersaults both backward and forwards, throwing daggers and knives and suffering no injury when they fell on their points and blades, swallowing fire and chewing stones, doing tricks with magic goblets and chains under cover of cloak and hat, making puppets fence with each other, trilling like nightingales, screaming like peacocks, calling like deer, wrestling and dancing to the sound of the double flute....
 
— Herzt, Book of Minstrelsy
  • Ch. 7: What the Night Hides
A thousand enemies outside the house are better than one within.
 
Arab proverb
  • Ch. 8: Alone
"My darling," she said at last, "are you sure you don't mind being a mouse for the rest of your life?"
"I don't mind at all," I said. "It doesn't matter who you are or what you look like so long as somebody loves you."
 
— Roald Dahl, The Witches
  • Ch. 9: A Poor Exchange
A strong and bitter book-sickness floods one's soul. How ignominious to be strapped to this ponderous mass of paper, print and dead man's sentiment. Would it not be better, finer, braver to leave the rubbish where it lies and walk out into the world a free untrammeled illiterate Superman?
 
— Solomon Eagle
  • Ch. 10: The Lion's Den
Look. (Grown-ups skip this paragraph.) I'm not about to tell you this book has a tragic ending, I already said in the very first line how it was my favorite in all the world. But there's a lot of bad stuff coming.
 
— William Goldman, The Princess Bride

Chapters 11-15[]

  • Ch. 11: A Coward
Home! That was what they meant, those caressing appeals, those soft touches wafted through the air, those invisible little hands pulling and tugging, all one way.
 
— Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
  • Ch. 12: Going Farther South

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

 
— J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
  • Ch. 13: Capricorn's Village
"But to the last question," Zelig replied, "he probably flew to beyond the Dark Regions, where people don't go and cattle don't stray, where the sky is copper, the earth iron, and where the evil forces live under roofs of petrified toadstools and in tunnels abandoned by moles."
 
— Isaac Bashevis Singer, Naftali the Storyteller and His Horse, Sus
  • Ch. 14: A Mission Accomplished
"The reason there's no use looking," said Mr. Beaver, "is that we know already where he's gone!" Everyone stared in amazement.
"Don't you understand?" said Mr. Beaver. "He's gone to her, to the White Witch. He has betrayed us all."
 
— C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
  • Ch. 15: Good Luck and Bad Luck
It was the middle of the night, and Bingo couldn't sleep. The ground was hard, but he was used to that.... His blanket was dirty and smelled disgusting, but he was used to that too. A tune kept going through his head, and he couldn't get it out of his mind. It was the Wendels' victory song.
 
— Michael de Larrabeiti, The Borribles Go for Broke

Chapters 16-20[]

  • Ch. 16: Once Upon a Time
He held up the book then. "I'm reading it to you for relax."
"Has it got any sports in it?"
"Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men.
Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders ... Pain. Death. Brave men. Cowardly men.
Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles."
"Sounds okay," I said, and I kind of closed my eyes.
 
— William Goldman, The Princess Bride
  • Ch. 17: The Betrayer Betrayed
It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.... He wanted... to shove a marshmallow on a stick in the furnace, while the flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch and lawn of the house. While the books went up in sparkling whirls, and blew away on a wind turned dark with burning.
 
— Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
  • Ch. 18: Treasure Island
Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey, and the rest of these gentlemen having asked me to write down the whole particulars about Treasure Island, from the beginning to the end, keeping nothing back but the bearings of the island ... I take up my pen in the year of grace 17__, and go back to the time when my father kept the Admiral Benbow inn, and the brown old seaman, with the sabre cut, first took up his lodging under our roof.
 
— Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
  • Ch. 19: Gloomy Prospects
The python dropped his head lightly for a moment on Mowgli's shoulders. "A brave heart and a courteous tongue," said he. "They shall carry thee far through the jungle, manling. But now go hence quickly with thy friends. Go and sleep, for the moon sets, and what follows it is not well that thou shouldst see."
 
— Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book
  • Ch. 20: Snakes and Thorns
"None of that matters now," said Twilight. "Look behind you."
The Horribles did and there, just a little beyond the rim of the bridge, they saw a halo of harsh whiteness reflected on the underneath of the dark sky. It was the beam of a car's headlights as it got into position on the north side of the bridge, the side the runaways had left only moments before.
 
— Michael de Larrabeiti, The Borribles Go for Broke

Chapters 21-25[]

  • Ch. 21: Basta
This grove, that was now so peaceful, must then have rung with cries, I thought; and even with the thought I could believe I heard it ringing still.
 
— Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
  • Ch. 22: In Safety
The slow days drifted on, and each left behind a slightly lightened weight of apprehension.
 
— Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
  • Ch. 23: A Night Full of Words
What child unable to sleep on a warm summer night hasn't thought he saw Peter Pan's sailing ship in the sky? I will teach you to see that ship.
 
— Roberto Cotroneo, When a Child on a Summer Morning
  • Ch. 24: Fenoglio
You don't know about me, without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth.
 
— Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
  • Ch. 25: The Wrong Ending
Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.
BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR
per
G.G., CHIEF OF ORDNANCE
 
— Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Chapters 26-30[]

  • Ch. 26: Shivers Down the Spine and a Foreboding
And that's when she put her book down. And looked at me. And said it: "Life isn't fair, Bill. We tell our children that it is, but it's a terrible thing to do. It's not only a lie, it's a cruel lie. Life is not fair, and it never has been, and it's never going to be."
 
— William Goldman, The Princess Bride
  • Ch. 27: A Good Place to Stay
I keep six honest serving men (they taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who."
 
— Rudyard Kipling, The Elephant's Child
  • Ch. 28: Going Home
My library was dukedom large enough.
 
— William Shakespeare, The Tempest
  • Ch. 29: Only an Idea
"Don't have a mother," he said. Not only had he no mother, but he had not the slightest desire to have one. He thought them very over-rated persons.
 
— J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan
  • Ch. 30: Talkative Pippo
"We were told there was a village nearby that might enjoy our skills."
"You were misinformed," Buttercup told him. "There is no one, not for many miles."
"Then there will be no one to hear you scream," the Sicilian said, and he jumped with frightening agility toward her face.
 
— William Goldman, The Princess Bride

Chapters 31-35[]

  • Ch. 31: In the Hills
"Let him alone," said Merlin. "Perhaps he does not want to be friends with you until he knows what you are like. With owls, it is never easy-come and easy-go."
 
— T. H. White, The Sword in the Stone
  • Ch. 32: Back Again
She spoke to the King, hoping he would forbid his son to go, but he said: "Well, dear, it's true that adventures are good for people even when they are very young. Adventures can get into a person's blood even if he doesn't remember having them."
 
— Eva Ibbotson, The Secret of Platform 13
  • Ch. 33: Capricorn's Maid
As I never saw my father or my mother ... my first fancies regarding what they were like, were unreasonably derived from their tombstones. The shape of the letters on my father's gave me an odd idea that he was a square, stout, dark man with curly black hair. From the character and turn of the inscription "Also Georgiana Wife of the Above" I drew a childish conclusion that my mother was freckled and sickly.
 
— Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
  • Ch. 34: Capricorn's Secrets
"If I were to be made a knight," said the Wart, staring dreamily into the fire, "I should... pray to God to let me encounter all the evil in the world in my own person, so that if I conquered there would be none left, and, if I were defeated, I would be the one to suffer for it."
"That would be extremely presumptuous of you," said Merlin, "and you would be conquered, and you would suffer for it."
 
— T. H. White, The Sword in the Stone
  • Ch. 35: Different Aims
Faber sniffed the book. "Do you know that books smell like nutmeg or some spice from a foreign land? I loved to smell them when I was a boy."
 
— Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Chapters 36-40[]

  • Ch. 36: In Capricorn's House
"It's the place that worries you," said Hazel. "I don't like it myself, but it won't go on forever."
 
— Richard Adams, Watership Down
  • Ch. 37: Carelessness
"You think this is a trap, then?" the Count asked.
"I always think everything is a trap until proven otherwise," the Prince answered. "Which is why I'm still alive."
 
— William Goldman, The Princess Bride
  • Ch. 38: A Quiet Voice
She liked his tears so much that she put out her beautiful finger and let them run over it. Her voice was so low that at first he could not make out what she said. Then he made it out. She was saying that she thought she could get well again if children believed in fairies.
 
— J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan
  • Ch. 39: The Punishment for Traitors
"What about you?" inquired Lobosch. "You're not afraid, are you, Krabat?"
"More than you guess," said Krabat. "And not for myself alone."
 
— Otfried Preussler, The Satanic Mill
  • Ch. 40: The Black Horse of the Night
He bent down and lifted Sophie from his pocket.... She was still in her nightie and her feet were bare. She shivered and stared around her at the swirling mists and ghostly vapors.
"Where are we?" she asked.
"We is in Dream Country," the BFG said. "This is where all dreams is beginning."
 
— Roald Dahl, The BFG

Chapters 41-45[]

  • Ch. 41: Farid
All Baba ... was surprised to see a well-lighted and spacious chamber ... filled with all sorts of provisions, rich bales of silks, embroideries, and valuable tissues, piled upon one another, gold and silver ingots in great heaps, and money in bags. The sight of all these riches made him suppose that this cave must have been occupied for ages by robbers, who had succeeded one another.
 
— "The Story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" from The Arabian Nights' Entertainments, translated by Edward William Lane

  • Ch. 42: A Furry Face on the Windowsill
"It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards."
 
— Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
  • Ch. 43: A Dark Place
"Jim, old boy," said Lukas ... in a rough voice. "That was a short journey. I'm sorry that you must share my fate now."
Jim swallowed.
"We're friends," he said quietly, biting his lower lip to keep it from trembling so hard. The scribes chuckled again, and the bonzes nodded at each other, grinning.
"Jim Button," said Lukas, "you really are the best little fellow I ever met in all my life."
"Take them to the place of execution!"commanded the Head Bonze, and the soldiers seized Lukas and Jim to drag them away.
 
— Michael Ende, Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver
  • Ch. 44: Farid's Report
"All right," said Spiff. "Now this is what I say, anyone who thinks they've got a better plan can say so afterwards."
 
— Michael de Larrabeiti, The Borribles Go for Broke
  • Ch. 45: Telling Lies to Basta
"If ye see the laird, tell him what ye hear; tell him this makes the twelve hunner and nineteen time that Jennet Clouston has called down the curse on him and his house, byre and stable, man, guest and master, wife, miss, or bairn – black, black be their fall."
 
— Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped

Chapters 46-50[]

  • Ch. 46: Woken in the Dead of Night
"Let us use our magic and enchantments to conjure up a woman out of flowers." ... Math and Gwydyon took the flowers of oak and broom and meadowsweet and from these conjured up the loveliest and most beautiful girl anyone had seen; they baptized her with the form of baptism that was used then, and named her Blodeuedd.
 
— "Math Son of Mathonwy" from The Mabinogion, translated by Jeffrey Gantz
  • Ch. 47: Alone
"Why, O why did I ever leave my hobbit-hole!" said poor Mr. Baggins bumping up and down on Bombur's back.
 
— J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
  • Ch. 48: The Magpie
But they woke him with words, their cruel, bright weapons.
 
— T. H. White, The Book of Merlin
  • Ch. 49: Basta's Pride and Dustfinger's Cunning
"Still, I wonder if we shall ever be put into songs or tales. We're in one, of course; but I mean: put into words, you know, told by the fireside, or read out of a great big book with red and black letters, years and years afterwards. And people will say: 'Let's hear about Frodo and the Ring!' And they'll say: 'Yes, that's one of my favorite stories.'"
 
— J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
  • Ch. 50: No Luck for Elinor
Having described the precise situation of the office, and accompanied it with copious directions how he was to walk straight up the passage, and when he got into the yard take the door up the steps on the right-hand side, and pull off his hat as he went into the room, Charley Bates bade him hurry on alone, and promised to bide his return on the spot of their parting.
 
— Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

Chapters 51-55[]

  • Ch. 51: A Narrow Escape
"I don't know what it is," answered Fiver wretchedly. "There isn't any danger here, at this moment. But it's coming – it's coming."
 
— Richard Adams, Watership Down
  • Ch. 52: A Fragile Little Thing
When she expressed a doubtful hope that Tinker Bell would be glad to see her, he said, "Who is Tinker Bell?"
"O Peter," she said, shocked; but even when she explained he could not remember.
"There are such a lot of them," he said. "I expect she is no more."
I expect he was right, for fairies don't live long, but they are so little that a short time seems a good while to them.
 
— J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan
  • Ch. 53: The Right Words
This was the shocking thing; that the slime of the pit seemed to utter cries and voices; that the amorphous dust gesticulated and sinned; that what was dead, and had no shape, should usurp the offices of life.
 
— Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
  • Ch. 54: Fire
"And then – I have it!" said Bagheera, leaping up. "Go thou down quickly to the men's huts in the valley, and take some of the Red Flower which they grow there, so that when the time comes thou mayest have even a stronger friend than I or Baloo or those of the Pack that love thee. Get the Red Flower."
By Red Flower Bagheera meant fire, only no creature in the jungle will call fire by its proper name. Every beast lives in deadly fear of it .
 
— Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book
  • Ch. 55: Treachery, Loose Talk, and Stupidity
Then he said, "Without a doubt, I must perish; there is no way I can get out of this narrow prison."
 

Chapters 56-59[]

  • Ch. 56: The Shadow
My heavens are brass my earth is iron my moon a clod of clay
My sun a pestilence burning at noon & a vapour of death in the night.
 
— William Blake, Enion's Second Lament from Vala, or the Four Zoos
  • Ch. 57: A Deserted Village

In books I meet the dead as if they were alive,
in books I see what is yet to come . . .
All things decay and pass with time . . .
all fame would fall victim to oblivion
if God had not given mortal men the book to aid them.

 
— Richard de Bury, The Philobiblon
  • Ch. 58: Homesickness
Yet Bastian knew he couldn't leave without the book. It was clear to him that he had only come to the shop because of this book. It had called him in some mysterious way, because it wanted to be his, because it had somehow always belonged to him.
 
— Michael Ende, The Neverending Story
  • Ch. 59: Going Home

And [he] sailed back over a year
and in and out of weeks
and through a day
and into the night of his very own room
where he found his supper waiting for him
and it was still hot.

 
— Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are


Cornelia Funk's Inkworld Trilogy
Inkheart book reference quotes radio play film film soundtrack game
Inkspell book reference quotes radio play - - -
Inkdeath book reference quotes radio play - - -
Other written works (not all by Funke) Other canon
Inkheart Movie: Novelization Cornelia Funke - The Official Website -
Inkheart Movie: Storybook MirrorWorld by Cornelia Funke App
Inkheart Movie: Reader, Farid's Story The Colour of Revenge
Cornelia Funke: Inkheart, Wild Chicks and Ghosthunters: the Fantastical Visual Worlds from the Early Children's Books to Reckless
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