{"author":"Norton Juster","author_id":"Norton+Juster","total_quotes":48,"quotes":[{"text":"You must excuse my gruff conduct,” the watchdog said, after they’d been driving for some time, “but you see it’s traditional for watchdogs to be ferocious.","author":"Norton Juster","tags":["software-engineering","time-management"],"id":6656,"author_id":"Norton+Juster"},{"text":"Is everyone with one face called a Milo?'Oh no,' Milo replied; 'some are called Henry or George or Robert or John or lots of other things.'How terribly confusing,' he cried. 'Everything here is called exactly what it is. The triangles are called triangles, the circles are called circles, and even the same numbers have the same name. Why, can you imagine what would happen if we named all the twos Henry or George or Robert or John or lots of other things? You'd have to say Robert plus John equals four, and if the four's name were Albert, things would be hopeless.'I never thought of it that way,' Milo admitted.'Then I suggest you begin at once,' admonished the Dodecahedron from his admonishing face, 'for here in Digitopolis everything is quite precise.","author":"Norton Juster","tags":["geometry","mathematics","names"],"id":9058,"author_id":"Norton+Juster"},{"text":"Expect everything so that nothing comes unexpected.","author":"Norton Juster","tags":["expectations"],"id":49033,"author_id":"Norton+Juster"},{"text":"And that's why people no longer care which words they use as long as they use lots of them.","author":"Norton Juster","tags":["care","people","phantom","tollbooth","words"],"id":63116,"author_id":"Norton+Juster"},{"text":"And some looked even more like each other than they did like themselves.","author":"Norton Juster","tags":["thought-provoking"],"id":81392,"author_id":"Norton+Juster"},{"text":"But that can never be,' said Milo, jumping to his feet.'Don't be too sure,' said the child patiently, 'for one of the nicest things about mathematics, or anything else you might care to learn, is that many of the things which can never be, often are. You see,' he went on, 'it's very much like your trying to reach Infinity. You know that it's there, but you just don't know where — but just because you can never reach it doesn't mean that it's not worth looking for.","author":"Norton Juster","tags":["infinity","mathematics"],"id":87247,"author_id":"Norton+Juster"},{"text":"I know one thing for certain; it's much harder to tell whether you ARE lost than whether you WERE lost, for, on many occasions where you're going is exactly where you are. On the other hand, you often find that where you've been is not at all where you should have gone, and, since it's much more difficult to find your way back from someplace you've never left, I suggest you go there immediately and then decide.","author":"Norton Juster","tags":["direction","lost"],"id":88732,"author_id":"Norton+Juster"},{"text":"Words and numbers are of equal value, for in the cloak of knowledge one is warp and the other woof.","author":"Norton Juster","tags":["education","knowledge","learning"],"id":89416,"author_id":"Norton+Juster"},{"text":"If something is there, you can only see it with your eyes open, but if it isn't there, you can see it just as well with your eyes closed. That's why imaginary things are often easier to see than real ones.","author":"Norton Juster","tags":["children-s","fantasy","fiction","humor","illusions","imaginary","imagination","on-fiction","reality"],"id":102204,"author_id":"Norton+Juster"},{"text":"Now, remember: they're not for eating, but for listening, because you'll often be hungry for sounds as well as food. Here are street noises at night, train whistles from a long way off, dry leaves burning, busy department stores, crunching toast, creaking bed springs, and of course, all kinds of laughter. There's a little of each, and in far off, lonely places, I think you will be glad to have them.","author":"Norton Juster","tags":["appreciation","joy","sounds"],"id":104722,"author_id":"Norton+Juster"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":48,"pages":5,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}