The Road Through the Forest
There is no place like home.
Why it was chosen
Home matters most after wonder has shown its limits. Marvels can dazzle the eye and still leave the heart naming one familiar place.
Selected Passages
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz selected passages.
These sentences were chosen for Today's Passage: lines worth reading slowly, returning to, and turning into copywork.
From Today's Passage
Sentences selected with care.
The Discovery of Oz, the Terrible
The True courage is in facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty.
Why it was chosen
Courage is not the absence of fear, but the act that fear does not prevent. The bravest hearts often tremble and continue.
The Discovery of Oz, the Terrible
“You have plenty of courage, I am sure,” answered Oz.
Why it was chosen
Courage sometimes needs a sign before it can believe in itself. The gift may be real long before the ceremony confirms it.
The Road Through the Forest
The Scarecrow listened carefully, and said, “I cannot understand why you should wish to leave this beautiful country and go back to the dry, gray place you call Kansas.
Why it was chosen
Home cannot be judged by scenery alone. Its value belongs to the heart that has made a place familiar through love.
The Magic Art of the Great Humbug
You know, of course, that courage is always inside one; so that this really cannot be called courage until you have swallowed it.
Why it was chosen
We often need signs and tokens before trusting what is already true. The heart asks for ceremony to believe its own courage.
The Guardian of the Gate
Toto only wagged his tail; for, strange to say, he could not speak.
Why it was chosen
Not every beloved creature needs to become marvelous. Sometimes the truest comfort is the one ordinary thing that remains unchanged.
The Deadly Poppy Field
I hope you will find the Emerald City and that Oz will help you.
Why it was chosen
Hope can move a journey forward before the helper has been tested. Faith often begins with a need larger than the evidence.
The Search for the Wicked Witch
You shall have nothing to eat until you do as I wish.
Why it was chosen
Wonder turns cruel when power begins with hunger. Even a magical country becomes frightening when obedience is demanded through need.
The Deadly Poppy Field
We must leave him here to sleep on forever, and perhaps he will dream that he has found courage at last.
Why it was chosen
Sleep can turn courage into an unfinished wish. Even the bravest longing must wait when the body cannot rise.
The Wonderful City of Oz
Therefore I have no heart, and cannot love.
Why it was chosen
A heart may be present long before someone believes they have one. Compassion often reveals what self-doubt cannot see.
The Wonderful City of Oz
I pray you to give me a heart that I may be as other men are.
Why it was chosen
Wanting a heart is itself a sign of one. The ache to feel rightly may be tenderness already at work.
The Council with the Munchkins
Now they are all set free, and are grateful to you for the favor.
Why it was chosen
Freedom feels brightest after a land has been organized by fear. Gratitude rises naturally where captivity has lost its hold.
The Discovery of Oz, the Terrible
If you only knew it, you are in luck not to have a heart.
Why it was chosen
A heart brings tenderness, but also vulnerability. To feel deeply is to accept the possibility of being hurt.
The Lion Becomes the King of Beasts
Surely no wild beast could wish a pleasanter home.
Why it was chosen
Strange places can become shelters when fear loosens. Wonder is kinder when it makes room for rest.
The Deadly Poppy Field
I am afraid I shall never have any brains, after all!
Why it was chosen
Self-doubt can persist even while life keeps proving it wrong. Sometimes we are the last to recognize our own gifts.
The Dainty China Country
There are worse things in the world than being a Scarecrow.
Why it was chosen
Lack can become less painful when love has built a life around it. Companionship teaches that being incomplete is not the same as being alone.
The Road Through the Forest
What happened in the world before that time is all unknown to me.
Why it was chosen
Power is thinner when it has no memory behind it. Even a wizard is limited by the past he cannot reach.
The Cowardly Lion
When Oz gives me a heart of course I needn’t mind so much.
Why it was chosen
The wish for feeling is already a form of feeling. A heart may reveal itself most clearly by longing to be real.
The Winged Monkeys
You will remember there was no road—not even a pathway—between the castle of the Wicked Witch and the Emerald City.
Why it was chosen
When there is no road, courage must move without visible guidance. The path sometimes appears only after the first step is taken.
The Search for the Wicked Witch
The child did not know this, and was full of fear for herself and Toto.
Why it was chosen
Fear keeps wonder human. A magical world matters more when a child inside it can still feel small and afraid.