American writer (1856-1919)
I never deal in transformations, for they are not honest, and no respectable sorceress likes to make things appear to be what they are not.
L. FRANK BAUM
The Marvelous Land of Oz
People lose a lot of time in hating others, and there's no fun in it at all.
L. FRANK BAUM
The Adventures of Trot & Cap'n Bill Before They Went to Oz
One might think you knew all about witches, to hear you chatter. But your words prove you to be very ignorant of the subject. You may find good people and bad people in the world; and so, I suppose, you may find good witches and bad witches.
L. FRANK BAUM
"The Witchcraft of Mary-Marie", Baum's American Fairy Tales
I shall really be very unhappy unless you give me the sort of courage that makes one forget he is afraid.
L. FRANK BAUM
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
No thief, however skillful, can rob one of knowledge, and that is why knowledge is the best and safest treasure to acquire.
L. FRANK BAUM
The Lost Princess of Oz
No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home.
L. FRANK BAUM
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Beautiful things may be admired, if not loved.
L. FRANK BAUM
The Tin Woodman of Oz
There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid.
L. FRANK BAUM
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
A baby has brains, but it doesn't know much. Experience is the only thing that brings knowledge, and the longer you are on earth the more experience you are sure to get.
L. FRANK BAUM
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Oh, if Shakespeare says it, that's all right.
L. FRANK BAUM
The Master Key
The road to the City of Emeralds is paved with yellow brick.
L. FRANK BAUM
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
It was Toto that made Dorothy laugh, and saved her from growing as gray as her other surroundings.
L. FRANK BAUM
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
If I'm going to starve, I'll do it all at once--not by degrees.
L. FRANK BAUM
The Scarecrow of Oz
I am convinced that the only people worthy of consideration in this world are the unusual ones. For the common folks are like the leaves of a tree, and live and die unnoticed.
L. FRANK BAUM
The Land of Oz
When I was young I longed to write a great novel that should win me fame. Now that I am getting old my first book is written to amuse children. For aside from my evident inability to do anything "great," I have learned to regard fame as a will-o-the-wisp which, when caught, is not worth the possession; but to please a child is a sweet and lovely thing that warms one's heart and brings its own reward.
L. FRANK BAUM
inscription on a copy of Mother Goose in Prose which he gave to his sister
Imagination has given us the steam engine, the telephone, the talking-machine, and the automobile, for these things had to be dreamed of before they became realities.
L. FRANK BAUM
intro, The Lost Princess of Oz
Familiarity with any great thing removes our awe of it. The great general is only terrible to the enemy; the great poet is frequently scolded by his wife; the children of the great statesman clamber about his knees with perfect trust and impunity; the great actor who is called before the curtain by admiring audiences is often waylaid at the stage door by his creditors.
L. FRANK BAUM
The Master Key
The imaginative child will become the imaginative man or woman most apt to create, to invent, and therefore to foster civilization.
L. FRANK BAUM
The Lost Princess of Oz
"It's a mystery," replied the Lion. "I suppose I was born that way. All the other animals in the forest naturally expect me to be brave, for the Lion is everywhere thought to be the King of Beasts. I learned that if I roared very loudly every living thing was frightened and got out of my way."
L. FRANK BAUM
The Wizard of Oz
It is a callous age; we have seen so many marvels that we are ashamed to marvel more; the seven wonders of the world have become seven thousand wonders.
L. FRANK BAUM
The Mercury, June 15, 1916