The Golden Compass Quotes
In a parallel universe, young Lyra Belacqua journeys to the far North to save her best friend and other kidnapped children from terrible experiments by a mysterious organization.
[first lines]
Serafina Pekkala: There are many universes and many Earths parallel to each other. Worlds like yours, where people's souls live inside their bodies, and worlds like mine, where they walk beside us, as animal spirits we call daemons.
Stelmaria: Are we going to see the child?
Lord Asriel: I should think so.
Serafina Pekkala: So many worlds. But connecting them all is Dust. Dust was here before the witches of the air, the Gyptians of the water, and the bears of the ice. In my world, scholars invented an alethiometer - a golden compass - and it showed them all that was hidden. But the ruling power, fearing any truth but their own, destroyed these devices and forbade the very mention of Dust. One compass remains, however, and only one who can read it.
Serafina Pekkala: There are many universes and many Earths parallel to each other. Worlds like yours, where people's souls live inside their bodies, and worlds like mine, where they walk beside us, as animal spirits we call daemons.
Stelmaria: Are we going to see the child?
Lord Asriel: I should think so.
Serafina Pekkala: So many worlds. But connecting them all is Dust. Dust was here before the witches of the air, the Gyptians of the water, and the bears of the ice. In my world, scholars invented an alethiometer - a golden compass - and it showed them all that was hidden. But the ruling power, fearing any truth but their own, destroyed these devices and forbade the very mention of Dust. One compass remains, however, and only one who can read it.
Ragnar Sturlusson: What is this little thing?
Lyra Belacqua: Our greetings to you, Great King, or rather my greetings and not his.
Ragnar Sturlusson: Not whose?
Lyra Belacqua: Iorek Byrnison's, your majesty.
Ragnar Sturlusson: What have you to do with lorek Byrnison?
Lyra Belacqua: I'm Iorek Byrnison's daemon.
Ragnar Sturlusson: How has the exiled, the unworthy Iorek Byrnison obtained a daemon?
Lyra Belacqua: Iorek Byrnison was the first bear to receive a daemon, but it should have been you. They gave me to him at Bolvangar. Mrs. Coulter did.
Ragnar Sturlusson: How can you be so far from him?
Lyra Belacqua: I'm like a witch's daemon, Great King. I can go as far from him as I please.
Ragnar Sturlusson: Well, if you are his daemon, then I will kill you right now and be free of an enemy!
Lyra Belacqua: If you do that, I can never be your daemon.
Ragnar Sturlusson: My demon?
Lyra Belacqua: That's why I come here, see. Cause' I want to be your daemon, not his. He's just an exile, nothing. But you? You're powerful, and clever,and rich, and better in every way. He's on his way here now to fight you.
Ragnar Sturlusson: What? He's mad. We shall destroy him!
Lyra Belacqua: No. If you defeat him, I will become your daemon. But you must defeat him in single combat. And all his strength will flow into yours. And my mind will flow into your mind. You and me together. Have him killed any other way, I'll just go out like a light and you'll never have a demon.
Ragnar Sturlusson: Prove it. Prove to me that you are a demon.
Lyra Belacqua: Ask me something only you know.
Ragnar Sturlusson: How did I become king?
Lyra Belacqua: Our greetings to you, Great King, or rather my greetings and not his.
Ragnar Sturlusson: Not whose?
Lyra Belacqua: Iorek Byrnison's, your majesty.
Ragnar Sturlusson: What have you to do with lorek Byrnison?
Lyra Belacqua: I'm Iorek Byrnison's daemon.
Ragnar Sturlusson: How has the exiled, the unworthy Iorek Byrnison obtained a daemon?
Lyra Belacqua: Iorek Byrnison was the first bear to receive a daemon, but it should have been you. They gave me to him at Bolvangar. Mrs. Coulter did.
Ragnar Sturlusson: How can you be so far from him?
Lyra Belacqua: I'm like a witch's daemon, Great King. I can go as far from him as I please.
Ragnar Sturlusson: Well, if you are his daemon, then I will kill you right now and be free of an enemy!
Lyra Belacqua: If you do that, I can never be your daemon.
Ragnar Sturlusson: My demon?
Lyra Belacqua: That's why I come here, see. Cause' I want to be your daemon, not his. He's just an exile, nothing. But you? You're powerful, and clever,and rich, and better in every way. He's on his way here now to fight you.
Ragnar Sturlusson: What? He's mad. We shall destroy him!
Lyra Belacqua: No. If you defeat him, I will become your daemon. But you must defeat him in single combat. And all his strength will flow into yours. And my mind will flow into your mind. You and me together. Have him killed any other way, I'll just go out like a light and you'll never have a demon.
Ragnar Sturlusson: Prove it. Prove to me that you are a demon.
Lyra Belacqua: Ask me something only you know.
Ragnar Sturlusson: How did I become king?
Lyra Belacqua: [as Mrs. Coulter tries to comfort her] No! Don't you touch!
Marisa Coulter: No one is going to hurt you. No one is ever, ever going to hurt you.
Lyra Belacqua: They did it to Billy and those other kids. They cut their demons away. Why? Why are they doing that?
Marisa Coulter: I know it's difficult to understand, but it's for their own good. It's just a little cut. Now, you listen. A long long time ago,some of our ancestors made a terrible mistake. They disobeyed the authority and that is what made dust came into the world. And ever since then, we've been sick with it. Been sick with dust. But there is a way out. You see, Dust doesn't settle on little children. It's later when your demon begins to settle. The Dust begins to swarm all around us,working its mixture and that is how children begin to have all sorts of nasty thoughts and unhappy feelings, but there is a way to stop it.
Lyra Belacqua: Well, if it's so good, then why didn't you do it yourself? Why didn't you let them do it to me?
Marisa Coulter: I'm going to tell you something. Something very important, something you don't know. Intercision isn't perfect yet, and you're not just anyone, Lyra. Your mother didn't die in an airship accident as you were told. She wasn't married to your father and even though and even though she loved you very much and she wanted to keep you. It wasn't allowed. So you were taken from her, and it wasn't until things changed... and she was free to do as she wanted... That she went to Jordan College and spoke to the Master.
Lyra Belacqua: No! You can't be!
[gets out of the bed and walks a few meters away from Mrs. Coulter]
Marisa Coulter: Yes, Lyra. You're mine. And you're safe with me. You'll always be safe with me.
Lyra Belacqua: Who's my father?
[She took a minute to figure out, then she finally guesses who her father is]
Lyra Belacqua: Lord Asriel? He's my father, isn't he?
Marisa Coulter: Yes. Yes.
Marisa Coulter: No one is going to hurt you. No one is ever, ever going to hurt you.
Lyra Belacqua: They did it to Billy and those other kids. They cut their demons away. Why? Why are they doing that?
Marisa Coulter: I know it's difficult to understand, but it's for their own good. It's just a little cut. Now, you listen. A long long time ago,some of our ancestors made a terrible mistake. They disobeyed the authority and that is what made dust came into the world. And ever since then, we've been sick with it. Been sick with dust. But there is a way out. You see, Dust doesn't settle on little children. It's later when your demon begins to settle. The Dust begins to swarm all around us,working its mixture and that is how children begin to have all sorts of nasty thoughts and unhappy feelings, but there is a way to stop it.
Lyra Belacqua: Well, if it's so good, then why didn't you do it yourself? Why didn't you let them do it to me?
Marisa Coulter: I'm going to tell you something. Something very important, something you don't know. Intercision isn't perfect yet, and you're not just anyone, Lyra. Your mother didn't die in an airship accident as you were told. She wasn't married to your father and even though and even though she loved you very much and she wanted to keep you. It wasn't allowed. So you were taken from her, and it wasn't until things changed... and she was free to do as she wanted... That she went to Jordan College and spoke to the Master.
Lyra Belacqua: No! You can't be!
[gets out of the bed and walks a few meters away from Mrs. Coulter]
Marisa Coulter: Yes, Lyra. You're mine. And you're safe with me. You'll always be safe with me.
Lyra Belacqua: Who's my father?
[She took a minute to figure out, then she finally guesses who her father is]
Lyra Belacqua: Lord Asriel? He's my father, isn't he?
Marisa Coulter: Yes. Yes.
Lyra Belacqua: Our greetings to you, Great King, or rather my greetings and not his.
Ragnar Sturlusson: Not whose?
Lyra Belacqua: Iorek Byrnison's, your majesty.
Ragnar Sturlusson: [growls] What have you to do with Iorek Byrnison?
Lyra Belacqua: I'm Iorek Byrnison's daemon.
Ragnar Sturlusson: How has the exiled, the unworthy Iorek Byrnison obtained a daemon?
Lyra Belacqua: Iorek Byrnison was the first bear to receive a daemon, but it should have been you. They gave me to him at Bolvangar. Mrs. Coulter did.
Ragnar Sturlusson: How can you be so far from him?
Lyra Belacqua: I'm like a witch's daemon, Great King. I can go as far from him as I please.
Ragnar Sturlusson: [growls] Well, if you are his daemon, then I will kill you right now and be free of an enemy!
Lyra Belacqua: If you do that, I can never be your demon.
Ragnar Sturlusson: My demon?
Lyra Belacqua: That's why I come here, see. Cause' I want to be your daemon, not his. He's just an exile, nothing. But you? You're powerful, and clever, and rich, and better in every way. He's on his way here now to fight you.
Ragnar Sturlusson: What? He's mad. We shall destroy him!
Lyra Belacqua: No. If you defeat him, I will become your daemon. But you must defeat him in single combat. And all his strength will flow into yours. And my mind will flow into your mind. You and me together. Have him killed any other way, I'll just go out like a light and you'll never have a daemon.
Ragnar Sturlusson: Prove it. Prove to me that you are a daemon.
Lyra Belacqua: Ask me something only you know.
Ragnar Sturlusson: How did I become king?
[Then, Lyra takes out the golden compass after she sits down]
Ragnar Sturlusson: What is that?
Lyra Belacqua: It's a daemon mirror, Great King. We daemons use it to see the truth in our own eyes.
Ragnar Sturlusson: Not whose?
Lyra Belacqua: Iorek Byrnison's, your majesty.
Ragnar Sturlusson: [growls] What have you to do with Iorek Byrnison?
Lyra Belacqua: I'm Iorek Byrnison's daemon.
Ragnar Sturlusson: How has the exiled, the unworthy Iorek Byrnison obtained a daemon?
Lyra Belacqua: Iorek Byrnison was the first bear to receive a daemon, but it should have been you. They gave me to him at Bolvangar. Mrs. Coulter did.
Ragnar Sturlusson: How can you be so far from him?
Lyra Belacqua: I'm like a witch's daemon, Great King. I can go as far from him as I please.
Ragnar Sturlusson: [growls] Well, if you are his daemon, then I will kill you right now and be free of an enemy!
Lyra Belacqua: If you do that, I can never be your demon.
Ragnar Sturlusson: My demon?
Lyra Belacqua: That's why I come here, see. Cause' I want to be your daemon, not his. He's just an exile, nothing. But you? You're powerful, and clever, and rich, and better in every way. He's on his way here now to fight you.
Ragnar Sturlusson: What? He's mad. We shall destroy him!
Lyra Belacqua: No. If you defeat him, I will become your daemon. But you must defeat him in single combat. And all his strength will flow into yours. And my mind will flow into your mind. You and me together. Have him killed any other way, I'll just go out like a light and you'll never have a daemon.
Ragnar Sturlusson: Prove it. Prove to me that you are a daemon.
Lyra Belacqua: Ask me something only you know.
Ragnar Sturlusson: How did I become king?
[Then, Lyra takes out the golden compass after she sits down]
Ragnar Sturlusson: What is that?
Lyra Belacqua: It's a daemon mirror, Great King. We daemons use it to see the truth in our own eyes.
Lyra Belacqua: If you value your lives, come no further.
Billy Costa: Why? We gobbled him fair and square.
Lyra Belacqua: This ain't no game, Billy Costa. Don't you know what this gate is?
Billy Costa: It's just the back door to your stupid college. So?
Lyra Belacqua: There's a curse on this gate. You gyptians ought to know that. Crossing this gate is worse than touching someone's demon with your bare hands.
Billy Costa: Why ain't nothing happen to you, then?
Lyra Belacqua: Because we live here. We got safe passage, see? And anyway, my mother's the one who put the curse on this gate in the first place.
Billy Costa: What mother? I heard you was an orphink and your uncle only left you here cause' nobody wanted you.
Lyra Belacqua: Come here and say that.
Billy Costa: Why? We gobbled him fair and square.
Lyra Belacqua: This ain't no game, Billy Costa. Don't you know what this gate is?
Billy Costa: It's just the back door to your stupid college. So?
Lyra Belacqua: There's a curse on this gate. You gyptians ought to know that. Crossing this gate is worse than touching someone's demon with your bare hands.
Billy Costa: Why ain't nothing happen to you, then?
Lyra Belacqua: Because we live here. We got safe passage, see? And anyway, my mother's the one who put the curse on this gate in the first place.
Billy Costa: What mother? I heard you was an orphink and your uncle only left you here cause' nobody wanted you.
Lyra Belacqua: Come here and say that.
Serafina Pekkala: There are many universes and many earths, parallel to each other. World's like yours were people's souls live inside their bodies and world's like mine where they walk beside us as animal spirits, we call daemons. So many world's but connecting them all is dust, dust was here before the witches of the air, the gyptians of the water, and the bears of the ice. In my world scholars invented an elithiometer, a golden compass and it showed them all that was hidden. But the ruling power fearing any truth but their own decided to destroy these devises and forbade the very mention of dust. One compass remains however and only one who can read it.
Marisa Coulter: going to tell you something. Something very important, something you don't know. Intercision isn't perfect yet, and you're not just anyone, Lyra. Your mother didn't die in an airship accident as you were told. She wasn't married to your father and even though she loved you very much and she wanted to keep you. It wasn't allowed. So you were taken from her, and it wasn't until things changed... and she was free to do as she wanted... That she went to Jordan College and spoke to the Master.
Lyra Belacqua: [as Mrs. Coulter tries to comfort her] No! Don't you touch!
Marisa Coulter: No one is going to hurt you. No one is ever, ever going to hurt you.
Lyra Belacqua: They did it to Billy and those other kids. They cut their daemons away. Why? Why are they doing that?
Marisa Coulter: I know it's difficult to understand, but it's for their own good. It's just a little cut. Now, you listen. A long long time ago, some of our ancestors made a terrible mistake. They disobeyed the authority and that is what made dust came into the world. And ever since then, we've been sick with it. Been sick with dust. But there is a way out. You see, Dust doesn't settle on little children. It's later when your daemon begins to settle. The Dust begins to swarm all around us, working its mixture and that is how children begin to have all sorts of nasty thoughts and unhappy feelings, but there is a way to stop it. A little cut and gone forever.
Lyra Belacqua: Well, if it's so good, then why didn't you do it yourself? Why didn't you let them do it to me?
Marisa Coulter: I'm going to tell you something, Lyra. Something very important, something you don't know. Intercision isn't perfect yet, and you're not just anyone, Lyra. Your mother didn't die in an airship accident as you were told. She wasn't married to your father and even though and even though she loved you very much and she wanted to keep you. It wasn't allowed. So you were taken from her, and it wasn't until things changed... and she was free to do as she wanted... That she went to Jordan College and spoke to the Master.
Lyra Belacqua: No! You can't be!
[gets out of the bed and walks a few meters away from Mrs. Coulter]
Marisa Coulter: Yes, Lyra. You're mine. And you're safe with me. You'll always be safe with me.
Lyra Belacqua: Who's my father?
[She took a minute to figure out, then she finally guesses who her father is]
Lyra Belacqua: Lord Asriel? He's my father, isn't he?
Marisa Coulter: Yes. Yes.
Marisa Coulter: No one is going to hurt you. No one is ever, ever going to hurt you.
Lyra Belacqua: They did it to Billy and those other kids. They cut their daemons away. Why? Why are they doing that?
Marisa Coulter: I know it's difficult to understand, but it's for their own good. It's just a little cut. Now, you listen. A long long time ago, some of our ancestors made a terrible mistake. They disobeyed the authority and that is what made dust came into the world. And ever since then, we've been sick with it. Been sick with dust. But there is a way out. You see, Dust doesn't settle on little children. It's later when your daemon begins to settle. The Dust begins to swarm all around us, working its mixture and that is how children begin to have all sorts of nasty thoughts and unhappy feelings, but there is a way to stop it. A little cut and gone forever.
Lyra Belacqua: Well, if it's so good, then why didn't you do it yourself? Why didn't you let them do it to me?
Marisa Coulter: I'm going to tell you something, Lyra. Something very important, something you don't know. Intercision isn't perfect yet, and you're not just anyone, Lyra. Your mother didn't die in an airship accident as you were told. She wasn't married to your father and even though and even though she loved you very much and she wanted to keep you. It wasn't allowed. So you were taken from her, and it wasn't until things changed... and she was free to do as she wanted... That she went to Jordan College and spoke to the Master.
Lyra Belacqua: No! You can't be!
[gets out of the bed and walks a few meters away from Mrs. Coulter]
Marisa Coulter: Yes, Lyra. You're mine. And you're safe with me. You'll always be safe with me.
Lyra Belacqua: Who's my father?
[She took a minute to figure out, then she finally guesses who her father is]
Lyra Belacqua: Lord Asriel? He's my father, isn't he?
Marisa Coulter: Yes. Yes.
Lyra Belacqua: If you value your lives, come no further.
Billy Costa: Why? We gobbled him fair and square.
Lyra Belacqua: This ain't no game, Billy Costa. Don't you know what this gate is?
Billy Costa: It's just the back door to your stupid college. So?
Lyra Belacqua: There's a curse on this gate. You gyptains ought to know that. Crossing this gate is worse than touching someone's daemon with your bare hands.
Billy Costa: Why ain't nothing happen to you, then?
Lyra Belacqua: Because we live here. We got safe passage, see? And anyway, my mother's the one who put the curse on this gate in the first place.
Billy Costa: What mother? I heard you was an orphink and your uncle only left you here cause' nobody wanted you.
Lyra Belacqua: Come here and say that.
Billy Costa: Why? We gobbled him fair and square.
Lyra Belacqua: This ain't no game, Billy Costa. Don't you know what this gate is?
Billy Costa: It's just the back door to your stupid college. So?
Lyra Belacqua: There's a curse on this gate. You gyptains ought to know that. Crossing this gate is worse than touching someone's daemon with your bare hands.
Billy Costa: Why ain't nothing happen to you, then?
Lyra Belacqua: Because we live here. We got safe passage, see? And anyway, my mother's the one who put the curse on this gate in the first place.
Billy Costa: What mother? I heard you was an orphink and your uncle only left you here cause' nobody wanted you.
Lyra Belacqua: Come here and say that.
Magisterial Emissary: Scholars still refuse to hand over the last alethiometer and now they've given Asriel all the funds he needs. If he succeeds in proving the existence of these other worlds, it will contradict centuries of teaching. There will always be free thinkers and heretics, unless we deal with the root of the problem. That is why Mrs. Coulter's work is so important.
[to The First High Councilor]
Magisterial Emissary: What progress has she made?
First High Councilor: The doctors at Bolvanger are close to perfecting the inoculation against the effects of Dust.
Magisterial Emissary: I am relieved to hear that. If we can protect our children from the corrupting influence of Dust before their Daemons settle, then we will nurture a generation at peace with itself; one that will never question our authority again. We owe it to the young, do we not?
[to The First High Councilor]
Magisterial Emissary: What progress has she made?
First High Councilor: The doctors at Bolvanger are close to perfecting the inoculation against the effects of Dust.
Magisterial Emissary: I am relieved to hear that. If we can protect our children from the corrupting influence of Dust before their Daemons settle, then we will nurture a generation at peace with itself; one that will never question our authority again. We owe it to the young, do we not?
Farder Coram: It's an alethiometer. It's a truth measure - a golden compass. It enables you to see what others wish to hide... You can ask any sort of question you can imagine. Once you've got your question framed...
Lyra Belacqua: Can I try?
John Faa: [chuckles]
Farder Coram: One thing I do know, Lyra, you mustn't grasp at the answer. Hold the question in your mind, but lightly, like it was something alive.
Lyra Belacqua: Can I try?
John Faa: [chuckles]
Farder Coram: One thing I do know, Lyra, you mustn't grasp at the answer. Hold the question in your mind, but lightly, like it was something alive.
