You must know nothing before you can learn something, and be empty before you can be filled. Is not the emptiness of the bowl what makes it useful? As for laws, a parrot can repeat them word for word. Their spirit is something else again. As for governing, one must first be lowest before being highest.

That was "the story of a young person going out into the world for the first time and finding the world a very difficult place indeed. He once described it as being educational for him and as "rather like being a visiting uncle who has a marvelous time with his nephews and nieces then goes off leaving the parents to cope with attacks of whooping cough mending socks and blackmailing the kids to straighten up the mess in their rooms. I loved all the world's mythologies; King Arthur was one of my heroes;.

His most famous work is The Chronicles of Prydain a series of five high fantasy novels whose conclusion The High King was awarded the 1969 Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature. National Book Awards in 1971 and 1982.