The Golden Key

A line taken out of context, from our dictionary of magic words:

“It’s the magic word all right, the golden key, the open sesame.” —Keri Hulme, The Bone People (1986)

Yesterday

"[The] past is near us, so near that we almost feel its warmth. That word, yesterday, envelops us in nostalgic echoes, as when we awaken with our sense of time and logic still confused, and the memory of a happy hour lived the day before reverberates in our minds."
—Giorgio de Chirico, Hebdomeros (and other writings)

Romantic

"Romantic! A strange word, pregnant with meanings that seem to come to us from afar. A word that gives rise to suspicions and ambiguities."
—Giorgio de Chirico, Hebdomeros (and other writings)

Memories

"Memories! What a deep resonant word, so evocative and full of feeling! It grips you simply to say it, or even read it."
—Giorgio de Chirico, Hebdomeros

Out of Nowhere

"She looked at Victor expectantly, as if he could conjure up Prosper like he'd magicked Bo out of nowhere." -- The Thief Lord, Cornelia Funke

Syos

A line taken out of context, from our dictionary of magic words:

"Magicians living in the 12th and 13th centuries used Syos as a magical invocation to the cardinal directions."

Delphoï

"A magic word shone in the air like the cross of Constantine and multiplied itself in space to the edge of the horizon like the ads for a toothpaste: Delphoï! Delphoï!"
—Giorgio de Chirico, Hebdomeros

Delphoï of course echoes the site of the Delphic oracle in the classical Greek world.