80s and 90s babies all had one VHS tape they watched until the VCR ate it, a type of pain today’s kids are blissfully unaware of. If your VHS tape was The Last Unicorn, enjoy this list of The Last Unicorn quotes and products for mega fans, but beware — this childhood favorite packed an emotional punch your adult emotions may be unprepared for.
The Last Unicorn Book Quotes
According to GoodReads, first published in 1968, Peter S. Beagle’s fantasy novel The Last Unicorn follows the quest of Last Unicorn to discover what happened to the other unicorns. Instead of grabbing your well-worn copy off the shelf and snuggling up with a floor pillow, check out our list of the best quotes from The Last Unicorn book.
- “Great heroes need great sorrows and burdens, or half their greatness goes unnoticed. It is all part of the fairy tale.”
- “It is a rare man who is taken for what he truly is. There is much misjudgement in the world. We are not always what we seem, and ever what we dream.”
- “A rhinoceros is as ugly as a human being, and it too is going to die, but at least it never thinks it is beautiful.”
- “Men have to have heroes, but no man can ever be as big as the need, and so a legend grows around a grain of truth, like a pearl.”
- “But she was a unicorn still, with a unicorn’s way of growing more beautiful in evil times and places.”
- “Whatever can die is beautiful — more beautiful than a unicorn, who lives forever, and who is the most beautiful creature in the world.”
- “Death takes what man would keep and leaves what man would love. Blow, wind, and crack your cheeks. I warm my hands before the fire of life and get four-way relief.”
- “The clock will never strike the right time… You can strike your own time, and start the count anywhere. When you understand that — then any time at all will be the right time for you.” -Skull
The Last Unicorn (Sea Green) A-Line Dress designed and sold by RiamiLoray
The Last Unicorn Movie Quotes
The 1982 animated fave was a who’s who of casts that we probably didn’t appreciate at the time as we fought over the remote with our siblings. But seriously, this cast was rad: Mia Farrow as Last Unicorn, Angela Landsbury as Mommy Fortuna, Christopher Lee as King Haggard, Jeff Bridges as Prince Lir, and Alan Arkin as Schmendrick. Throw on a The Last Unicorn sweatshirt, wrap yourself in a throw blanket, and let these movie quotes take you back to your childhood.
- “Oh, she’ll kill me one day or another. But she will remember forever that I caught her and I held her prisoner. So there’s my immortality, eh?” – Mommy Fortuna
- “Who are you for then? Do you think those folks knew you, without any help from me? Ha ha ha! No! I had to give you a horn they could see! Ha ha! These days it takes a cheap carnival trick to make folk recognize a real unicorn. But the Red Bull will know you when he sees you, so you are safer here! You should thank me for protecting you!” – Mommy Fortuna
- “Things must happen when it is time for them to happen. Quests may not simply be abandoned; prophecies may not be left to rot like unpicked fruit; unicorns may go unrescued for a long time, but not forever. The happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story.” – Prince Lir
- “Here is there, and high is low; all may be undone. What is true, no two men know — what is gone is gone.” -Mommy Fortuna
- “You made it laugh, anyway. Maybe that’s all it needs to make it speak.” – Molly Grue
- “I have been mortal, and some part of me is mortal yet. I am full of tears and hunger and the fear of death, though I cannot weep, and I want nothing, and I cannot die. I am not like the others now, for no unicorn was ever born who could regret it, but I do. I regret.” – Last Unicorn
One of a Kind Creature Classic T-shirt designed and sold by koolaid-girl
Quotes About Love from The Last Unicorn
What’s an epic fantasy without an epic love story? While she’s in human form as Lady Amalthea, Last Unicorn falls in love with Prince Lir, but alas, not everyone can have a happy ending. (You may want to grab the tissues for this part, folks.)
- “I love whom I love. You have no power over anything that matters.” – Prince Lir
- “I wish I could see her once more, to tell her all my heart. She will never know what I really meant to say. You did promise that I would see her.” – Prince Lir
- “Ah… love may be strong, but a habit is stronger, / And I knew when I loved by the way I behaved.” – Prince Lir
- “It is a good thing that everything dies. I want to die when you die. Do not let him enchant me, do not let him make me immortal. I am no unicorn, no magical creature. I am human, and I love you.” -Last Unicorn
- “Your name is a golden bell hung in my heart. I would break my body to pieces to call you once by your name.” – Butterfly
Full Moon Unicorn Throw Pillow designed and sold by LizabelaArt
The Last Unicorn Lady Amalthea Quotes
When Schmendrick turns Unicorn into a human to protect her from the Red Bull, he calls her Lady Amalthea. Faced with mortality for the first time, Lady Amalthea struggled to come to terms with her human form.
- “I am always dreaming, even when I am awake; it is never finished.”
- “I can feel this body dying all around me!”
- “Who am I? Why am I here? What is it that I’m searching for in this strange place, day after day?”
- “Drown out my dreams! Keep me from remembering whatever wants me to remember it!”
- “Once, I can’t remember, I was long ago, someone strange. I was innocent and wise, and full of pain. Now that I’m a woman, everything has changed. Once, when I was searching, somewhere out of reach, far away, in a place I could not find, or heart obey. Now that I’m a woman, everything is strange.”
Am I Truly the Last Poster designed and sold by MeganLara
The Last Unicorn Quotes King Haggard
Voiced by Christopher Lee in the film, King Haggard’s unhappiness was alleviated only when he looked upon the unicorns. While we don’t condone him capturing all the magical creatures for himself, we can relate to the sense of awe he felt for them if our Lisa Frank unicorn school supplies were any indication.
- “All things die when I pick them up. I do not know why they die, but it always have been so, save for the one dear possession that has not turned cold and dull as I guarded it — the only thing that has ever belonged to me.”
- “I always knew that nothing was worth the investment of my heart, because nothing lasts, and I was right… Yet each time I see my unicorns, it is like that morning in the woods, and I am truly young in spite of myself, and anything can happen in a world that holds such beauty.”
- “You are losing my interest, and that is very dangerous.”
- “What is the matter with your eyes? Why can I not see myself in your eyes?”
- “Love is slowing you down, my lady. I will catch you at last, if you love much more.”
- “You may come and go as you please. My secrets guard themselves. Will yours do the same?”
I’m Alive – Blue Tote Bag designed and sold by Clarice82
The Last Unicorn Schmendrick the Magician Quotes
The bumbling magician Schmendrick helped Last Unicorn escape the clutches of Mommy Fortuna before joining her quest to find the missing unicorns. Along the way, he kept us laughing when he wasn’t ripping out our hearts by keeping Amalthea from her happily ever after with Prince Lir.
- “Your realm is blessed beyond any land’s deserving because they have passed across it in freedom. As for you and your heart and the things you said and didn’t say, she will remember them all when men are fairy tales in books written by rabbits.”
- “Take me with you, for luck, for laughs, for the unknown.”
- “Shut up, you pretentious kneecap! How’d you like a punch in the eye?”
- “There are no happy endings because nothing ends.”
- “Don’t cry. If you have become human enough to cry, then all the magic in the world cannot change you back.”
The Last Unicorn Sticker designed and sold by missrumple
Relive your childhood with our The Last Unicorn collection and share your love of this fantasy classic with a new generation. If you’re more into decidedly less mythical equines, check out our hay-larious horse puns. Looking for more nostalgia? Our list of Star Trek quotes can take you back to the original 1966 show.
Header Image: The Last Unicorn designed and sold by missrumple