#fairies

It must be understood that in some cases the process by which a god or goddess degenerates into a fairy may occupy centuries, and that in the passage of generations such an alteration may be brought about in appearance and traits as to make it seem impossible that any relationship actually exists between the old form and the new. This may be accounted for by the circumstance that in gradually assuming the traits of fairyhood the god or goddess may also have taken on the characteristics of fairies which Already existed in the minds of the folk, the elves of a past age, who were already elves at a period when he or she still flourished in the full vigour of godhead. For in one sense Faerie represents a species of limbo, a great abyss of traditional material, into which every kind of ancient belief came to be cast as the acceptance of one new faith after another dictated the abandonment of forms and ideas unacceptable to its doctrines. The difference between god and fairy is indeed the difference between religion and folk-lore. ↗

— Lewis Spence

#fairy #folklore #gods #mythology #age

It is pardonable for children to yell that they believe in fairies, but it is somehow sinister when the piping note shifts from the puerile to the senile. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#fairies #hero-worship #john-f-kennedy #kennedy-family #politics

A genius. A criminal mastermind. A millionaire. And he is only twelve years old. ↗

— Eoin Colfer

#genius #humor #humor

Could we wear spandex and blow things up? ↗

— Lisa Mantchev

#humor #spandex #humor

Like legend and myth, magic fades when it is unused -- hence all the old tales of elfin kingdoms moving further and further away from our world, or that magical beings require our faith, our belief in their existence, to survive. That is a lie. All they require is our recognition. ↗

— Charles de Lint

#fairies #fantasy #folklore #faith

There may be fairies at the bottom of the garden. There is no evidence for it, but you can't prove that there aren't any, so shouldn't we be agnostic with respect to fairies? ↗

— Richard Dawkins

#any #bottom #evidence #fairies #garden

I suppose if you look back to your early childhood you accept everything people tell you, and that includes a heavy dose of irrationality - you're told about tooth fairies and Father Christmas and things. ↗

— Richard Dawkins

#accept #back #childhood #christmas #dose

Every time a child says I don't believe in fairies there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead. ↗

— J. M. Barrie

#child #dead #down #every #every time

Everytime a child says 'I don't believe in fairies' there is a a little fairy somewhere that falls down dead. ↗

— James M. Barrie

#child #dead #down #everytime #fairies

Robert Kirk believed the fairies to be the doubles or, as he called them, the 'co-walkers' of men, which accompanied them through life, and thought that this co-walker returned to Faerie when the person died. ↗

— Lewis Spence

#fairy #life