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The Dodecahedron
Milo meets the child on the staircase leading to infinity. The child isn’t a whole child; rather, he’s .58 of a child and so is just over half of a child’s left side. He loves averages—this is why he’s only .58 of a child, as average families have 2.58 children.
The Child Quotes in The Phantom Tollbooth
The The Phantom Tollbooth quotes below are all either spoken by The Child or refer to The Child. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 16. A Very Dirty Bird
Quotes
“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. You see,” he went on, “it’s very much like your 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.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Phantom Tollbooth LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Child Quotes in The Phantom Tollbooth
The The Phantom Tollbooth quotes below are all either spoken by The Child or refer to The Child. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 16. A Very Dirty Bird
Quotes
“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. You see,” he went on, “it’s very much like your 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.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
