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Whenever a child says "I don't believe in fairies" there's a little fairy somewhere that falls right down dead.

— J. M. Barrie Peter Pan (1904)

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Notes from Wikiquote

J. M. Barrie, Peter & Wendy (1911), Ch. 3.

Variants

"There ought to be one fairy for every boy and girl." "Ought to be? Isn't there?" "No. You see children know such a lot now, they soon don't believe in fairies, and every time a child says, 'I don't believe in fairies,' there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead."

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Faith

More quotes by J. M. Barrie

To look upon you was to rejoice that so fair a thing could be; to think of you is still to be young.

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Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight: always to try to be a little kinder than is necessary?

The Little White Bird (1902)

We never understand how little we need in this world until we know the loss of it.

Margaret Ogilvy (1897)

Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.

Christ's Second Coming Fulfilled (1917)

Never ascribe to an opponent motives meaner than your own.

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Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.

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Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.

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I had never doubted my own abilities, but I was quite prepared to believe that "the world" would decline to recognize them.

Colin Wilson Postscript to the Outsider (1967)

Love is the active, working principle in all true faith. It is its very soul, without which it is dead. "Faith works by love."

Jonathan Edwards Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: J. M. Barrie (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.