“Expect everything, I always say, and the unexpected never happens.”
Work
The Phantom Tollbooth is a children's fantasy adventure novel written by Norton Juster with illustrations by Jules Feiffer. It was published in 1961 by Random House (USA). It tells the story of a bored young boy named Milo who unexpectedly receives a magic tollbooth one afternoon and, having nothing better to do, drives through it in his toy car, transporting him to the Kingdom of Wisdom, once prosperous but now troubled. There, he acquires two faithful companions, a dog named Tock and the Humbug, and goes on a quest to restore to the kingdom its exiled princesses—named Rhyme and Reason—from the Castle in the Air. In the process, he learns valuable lessons, finding a love of learning. The text is full of puns and wordplay, such as when Milo unintentionally jumps to Conclusions, an island in Wisdom, thus exploring the literal meanings of idioms.
Quotes
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Norton Juster
Canonical work source
“Expect everything, I always say, and the unexpected never happens.”
“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...”
“... what you learn today, for no reason at all, will help you discover all the wonderful secrets of tomorrow.”
“The most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what's in between, and they took great pleasure in doing just that.”
“Time is a gift, given to you, given to give you the time you need, the time you need to have the time of your life.”
“So many things are possible just as long as you don't know they're impossible.”