Howl’s Moving Castle Quotes
"In the land of Ingary, where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist, it is quite a misfortune to be born the eldest of three."
"It’s not fair! Why should Martha have the best of it just because she was born the youngest? I shall marry a prince, so there!"
"You have mysterious allure," she told one that was all veiling with hidden twinkles.
"You have a heart of gold and someone in a high position will see it and fall in love with you."
"I’m afraid only the Wizard can possibly help me."
"Don’t you get anything out of this contract at all?"
"I’ll break your spell the very instant you break my contract!"
"Part of the contract is that neither the Wizard nor I can say what the main clause is."
"Don't be hasty! You can find out what it is if you watch and listen carefully."
"I can cook," said Sophie. "Unhook that frying pan and I'll show you."
"I'm old," she began. But it was just as the Witch had said and the fire demon had guessed.
"Wherever am I?" Sophie asked the skull standing on the bench.
"You can't make me!" crackled the fire demon. "Oh, yes I can!" Sophie crackled back.
"I hope your bacon burns," Calcifer said, muffled under the pan.
"Yes I am," Howl contradicted him. "You forget just how wicked I'm being at the moment, Michael."
"I came because I'm your new cleaning lady, of course."
"You'd think he'd have the sense to give them a false name," Sophie said scornfully.
"Yes, you are nosy," said Howl. "You're a dreadfully nosy, horribly bossy, appallingly clean old woman."
"I think of her all the time," he said. "Lovely, lovely Lettie Hatter."
"Curse the Witch of the Waste!" she muttered to her stick as she got it out, ready to leave.
"I think my hair looks rather good this color," he said.
"And you think that makes it all right!" Sophie growled as the door shut.
"I need another log before you go," Calcifer reminded her.
"At least your eyes don’t water, my friend," she told the skull. "Count your blessings."
"Lettie loves me!" Michael shouted, dancing her almost into the bathroom and then almost into the hearth. "She’s never even seen Howl! It was all a mistake!"
"I shall probably be kicking my heels in the Palace until evening, but I can do something for your rheumatism when I get back."
"I was aiming to circle the hills and get back to where Michael left us in time to pick him up this evening."
"You can do it by yourself, if you sit on everything I have to say!" Sophie said.
"I can also make you a pair of seven-league boots of your own if you give me your size."
"It’s amazing the way one can take a step ten and a half miles long and still always land in a cowpat."
"You have an instinct, Sophie, that’s how. Nothing is safe from you. If I were to court a girl who lived on an iceberg in the middle of an ocean, sooner or later—probably sooner—I’d look up to see you swooping overhead on a broomstick. In fact, by now I’d be disappointed in you if I didn’t see you."
"Long years will pass before I leave Lettie. And in fact, I’m off to see the King again today. Satisfied, Mrs. Nose?"
"He’s made some sort of contract with his fire demon."
"That fool Howl told her too much about himself."
"He lied about that. He didn’t want to annoy you. He’s a slitherer-outer, if you know what I mean, Your Majesty."
"Oh, he doesn’t care about money. But he’s scared stiff of the Witch of the Waste, you see. She put a curse on him and it’s just caught up with him."
"Well, he’s fickle, careless, selfish, and hysterical. Half the time I think he doesn’t care what happens to anyone as long as he’s all right— but then I find out how awfully kind he’s been to someone. Then I think he’s kind just when it suits him—only then I find out he undercharges poor people. I don’t know, Your Majesty. He’s a mess."
"I think not. The fact that he sent you tells me that. He did it to show me he was too much of a coward to care what I thought of him, isn’t that right, Mrs. Pendragon?"
"It was probably lucky she had even found the way out."
"Death is like that: people are alive until they die."
"I must be just one of hundreds of people she's enchanted."
"I'm going to petition him for better conditions for hatters. I keep going, you see, even after what you did to me."
"Make me young again and I'll run up them, even in this heat."
"I don’t know who this person is that you’ve killed, but that makes you a wicked murderess."
"I’ve been a little vague about directions ever since you made me like this."
"I think the King got sick of me turning up and blackening your name."
"Respect to Mrs. Pentstemmon, she liked one to think of all the details."
"Sometimes, I understand how Megan got the way she is."
"I did, you old fraud! You know everything I know."
"I refuse to believe that I was the one that got caught with it!"
"I think the least Howl could do is to make the place look a bit more lived in."
"I was born to strange sights," said Howl, "things invisible to see, and I was just on my way to bed when you interrupted me. I know where all past years are, and who cleft the Devil’s foot."
"My shining dishonesty will be the salvation of me."
"I think we ought to live happily ever after," and she thought he meant it. Sophie knew that living happily ever after with Howl would be a good deal more eventful than any story made it sound, though she was determined to try.
"Don't bother me now," said Howl. "I only did it for the money."