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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 1h

"That doesn't seem right," said Milo helplessly, for, with the bird taking everything the wrong way, he hardly knew what he was saying. "Agreed," said the bird, with a sharp click of his beak, "but neither is it left, although if I were you I would have left a long time ago."

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 4h

"We're looking for a place to spend the night." "It's not yours to spend," the bird shrieked again, and followed it with the same horrible laugh. "That doesn't make any sense, you see—" he started to explain. "Dollars or cents, it's still not yours to spend," the bird replied haughtily.

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 7h

"I can hardly see a thing," said Milo as a sticky mist engulfed the moon. "Perhaps we should wait until morning." "They'll be mourning for you soon enough," came a reply from directly above, and this was followed by a hideous cackling laugh very much like someone choking on a fishbone.

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e.c. myers @ecmyers.com · 29/09/2026

I'm so excited to finally be reading The Phantom Tollbooth with my son! He has developed a real affinity for puns over the years for some reason, so I figured he's ready.

Large blue edition of THE ANNOTATED PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH by Norton Juster illustrated by Jules Feiffer

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 22h

The higher they went, the darker it became, though it wasn't the darkness of night, but rather more like a mixture of lurking shadows and evil intentions which oozed from the slimy moss-covered cliffs and blotted out the light. The air was thick and heavy, as if it had been used several times before

The Mathemagician, Milo, Tock, and the Humbug looking at a long path winding into the dark mountains

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

"And, most important of all," added the Mathemagician, "here is your own magic staff. Use it well and there is nothing it cannot do for you." He placed in Milo's breast pocket a small gleaming pencil.

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

"True enough," replied the Mathemagician, "but you can be in Ignorance quick enough without riding all the way; and if you're to be successful, it will have to be step by step."

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

“I'll show you the way." And, simply by carrying the three, he transported them all to the very edge of Digitopolis. Behind them lay all the kingdoms of Wisdom, and up ahead a narrow rutted path led toward the mountains and darkness. "We'll never get the car up that," said Milo unhappily.

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DynamiteMan.EXE @dynamitemanexe.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

What i like about this moment is that the narration says Milo's stewed on this ever since Dictionopolis, implying that while he can stumble and get confused by the logic of the Lands Beyond, hes always had the capability to thinkstorm like this and just needed the impetus the journey provides

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

"But there is one problem even more serious than that," he whispered ominously. "What is it?" gasped Milo, who was not sure he really wanted to know. "I'm afraid I can tell you only when you return. Come along," said the Mathemagician

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

"Then each of you agrees that he will disagree with whatever each of you agrees with," said Milo triumphantly; "and if you both disagree with the same thing, then aren't you really in agreement?" "I'VE BEEN TRICKED!" cried the Mathemagician, for no matter how he figured, it came out just that way.

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

"My goodness," thought Milo, "everybody is so terribly sensitive about the things they know best."

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

"But maybe he doesn't understand numbers," said Milo, who found it a little difficult to read himself. "NONSENSE!" bellowed the Mathemagician. "Everyone understands numbers. No matter what language you speak, they always mean the same thing. A seven is a seven anywhere in the world."

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

"He's much too unreasonable," interrupted the Mathemagician again. "Why, just last month I sent him a very friendly letter, which he never had the courtesy to answer. See for yourself." He handed Milo a copy of the letter, which read:

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Milo tried very hard to understand all the things he'd been told, and all the things he'd seen, and, as he spoke, one curious thing still bothered him. "Why is it," he said quietly, "that quite often even the things which are correct just don't seem to be right?"

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The Mathemagician nodded knowingly and stroked his chin several times. "You'll find," he remarked gently, "that the only thing you can do easily is be wrong, and that's hardly worth the effort."

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

"Everyone here knows so much more than I do," thought Milo as he leaped from step to step. "I'll have to do a lot better if I'm going to rescue the princesses."

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

"It's very much like you’re trying to reach Infinity. You know that it's there, but you just don't know where—but just because you can never reach it doesn't mean that it's not worth looking for." "I hadn't thought of it that way," said Milo, starting down the stairs. "I think I'll go back now."

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

"But that can never be," said Milo, jumping to his feet. "Don't be too sure," said the child patiently, "for one of the nicest things about mathematics, or anything else you might care to learn, is that many of the things which can never be, often are.”

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Lyra Autumn 🍂 @catspyjamas7.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

i have to give The Phantom Tollbooth 10 stars only for the magnitude of puns it gets to make.

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Dan Lew @danlew42.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

My wife is pulling out books we each saved to pass down to our kid. In the process, we discovered that we had identical childhoods.

Duplicate copies of five books: "The Phantom Tollbooth", "Wayside School is Falling Down", "Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger", "Sideways Arithmetic from Wayside School", and "Aliens Ate My Homework."

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JuniperTheory @bimbo.city · 25/09/2026

i've already made too many games that changed me lists. today we're doing "pictures from childrens books i that fundamentally altered me"

rhyme and reason from the phantom tollbooth

the piper at the gates of dawn art, from the wind in the willows. i don't know if this is the one i had but i remember art like this very well

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Khayyaam #LIUKANGGANG @khayyaamb.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Just remembered this book. Reading this as a kid completely rewired my brain. I started mining pedantry for comedy as soon as I knew how to read and it was all because this kid got arrested, asked for a short sentence, got "I am." (which is a short sentence) then got locked up for a billionish years

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

"But averages aren't real," objected Milo. "That may be so," he agreed, "but they're also very useful at times. For instance, if you didn't have any money at all, but you happened to be with four other people who had ten dollars apiece, then you'd each have an average of eight dollars.“

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

"Oh, we're just the average family," he said thoughtfully; "mother, father, and 2.58 children—and, as I explained, I'm the .58." "It must be rather odd being only part of a person," Milo remarked. "Not at all. Every average family has 2.58 children, so I always have someone to play with.”

Milo sitting on a step, looking at and talking to .58 of a boy, split vertically down the (almost) center

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

"You wouldn't like it much anyway," someone replied gently. "Infinity is a dreadfully poor place. They can never manage to make ends meet." Milo looked up. Standing next to him on the step was exactly one half of a small child who had been divided neatly from top to bottom.

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Milo struggled on for a while longer, until at last, completely exhausted, he collapsed onto one of the steps. "I should have known it," he mumbled, resting his tired legs and filling his lungs with air. "This is just like the line that goes on forever, and I'll never get there."

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

"Well, you might try this flight of stairs," he suggested, opening another door and pointing up. "It goes there, too." Milo bounded across the room and started up the stairs two at a time. "Wait for me, please," he shouted to Tock and the Humbug. "I'll be gone just a few minutes."

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

"Just follow that line forever," said the Mathemagician, "and when you reach the end, turn left. There you'll find the land of Infinity, where the tallest, the shortest, the biggest, the smallest, and the most and the least of everything are kept." "I really don't have that much time," said Milo

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Lavender🪻 @lavender77x.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

starting a thread for the rest of the books i read this year! Starting at #14, a childhood fav

paperback copy of The Phantom Tollbooth
illustrated is a young boy (Milo) face to face with a watchdog (Tock)

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

“Now add one again. Now add one again. Now add—" "But when can I stop?" pleaded Milo. "Never," said the Mathemagician with a smile, "for the number you want is always at least one more than the number you've got, and it's so large that if you started saying it yesterday you wouldn't finish tomorrow"

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

"What's the greatest number you can think of?" "Nine trillion, nine hundred ninety-nine billion, nine hundred ninety-nine million, nine hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred ninety-nine," recited Milo breathlessly. "Very good," said the Mathemagician. "Now add one to it.”

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

"No, that's not what I mean," objected Milo. "Can you show me the longest number there is?" "Surely," said the Mathemagician, opening another door. "Here it is. It took three carts to carry it here." Inside this closet was the longest 8 imaginable. It was just about as wide as the three was high.

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

"Can you show me the biggest number there is?" "I'd be delighted," he replied, opening one of the closet doors. "We keep it right here. It took four miners just to dig it out." Inside was the biggest 3 Milo had ever seen. It was fully twice as high as the Mathemagician.

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

"There's nothing to it," he said, "if you have a magic staff." "But it's only a big pencil," the Humbug objected, tapping at it with his cane. "True enough," agreed the Mathemagician; "but once you learn to use it, there's no end to what you can do."

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

"I take the shortest distance between any two points. And, of course, when I should be in several places at once," he remarked, writing 7×1 = 7 carefully on the note pad, "I simply multiply." Suddenly there were seven Mathemagicians standing side by side, and each one looked exactly like the other.

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

"Most of the time I take the shortest distance between any two points. And, of course, when I should be in several places at once," he remarked, writing 7 x 1 = 7 carefully on the note pad, "I simply multiply." Suddenly there were seven Mathemagicians standing side by side.

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

"I often find," the Mathemagician casually explained to his dazed visitors, "that the best way to get from one place to another is to erase everything and begin again. Please make yourself at home."

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

"It's completely logical," explained the Dodecahedron. "The more you want, the less you get, and the less you get, the more you have. Simple arithmetic, that's all. Suppose you had something and added something to it. What would that make?" "More," said Milo quickly.

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

"Here in Digitopolis we have our meals when we're full and eat until we're hungry. That way, when you don't have anything at all, you have more than enough. It's a very economical system. You must have been quite stuffed to have eaten so much."

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

"I think I'm starving." "Me, too," complained Milo, whose stomach felt as empty as he could ever remember; "and I ate so much." "Yes, it was delicious, wasn't it?" agreed the pleased Dodecahedron, wiping the gravy from several of his mouths. "It's the specialty of the kingdom-subtraction stew."

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

"Don't stop now," he insisted, serving them again, and again, and again, and again, and again, "How very strange," thought Milo as he finished his seventh helping. "Each one I eat makes me a little hungrier than the one before."

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

He returned them as carefully as possible but, as he did, one dropped to the floor with a smash and broke in two. The Humbug winced and Milo looked terribly concerned. "Oh, don't worry about that," said the Mathemagician as he scooped up the pieces. "We use the broken ones for fractions."

The Mathemagician. He’s wearing a robe and tall pointed hat, both completely covered in mathematical formulas and expressions. He’s holding a long, thin staff shaped like a pencil, with a pointy end and an eraser end

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

He pulled out a small object, which he polished vigorously on his robe. When he held it up to the light, it sparkled brightly. "But that's a five," objected Milo, for that was certainly what it was. "Exactly," agreed the Mathemagician; "as valuable a jewel as you'll find anywhere.“

The mathematician—a bearded man in a robe and pointy had, both all covered in mathematical expressions, holding a long staff shaped like a pencil—speaks excitedly to Milo and Tock. They’re all standing inside a mine.

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The Mathemagician was dressed in a long flowing robe covered entirely with complex mathematical equations and a tall pointed cap that made him look very wise. In his left hand he carried a long staff with a pencil point at one end and a large rubber eraser at the other.

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

“And how could you do anything at long last," he concluded, waving his arms over his head, "without knowing how long the last was? Why, numbers are the most beautiful and valuable things in the world. Just follow me and I'll show you."

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

"If you had high hopes, how would you know how high they were? And did you know that narrow escapes come in all different widths? Would you travel the whole wide world without ever knowing how wide it was?”

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

"NOT IMPORTANT!" roared the Dodecahedron, turning red with fury. "Could you have tea for two without the two—or three blind mice without the three? Would there be four corners of the earth if there weren't a four? And how would you sail the seven seas without a seven?"

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

"Is this the place where numbers are made?" asked Milo. "They're not made," the Dodecahedron replied, as if nothing had happened. "You have to dig for them. Don't you know anything at all about numbers?" "Well, I don't think they're very important," snapped Milo, too embarrassed to admit the truth

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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

"But if all the roads arrive at the same place at the same time, then aren't they all the right way?" asked Milo. "Certainly not!" he shouted, glaring from his most upset face. "They're all the wrong way. Just because you have a choice, it doesn't mean that any of them has to be right."

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