“A moment later I thought, ‘But when alone—really alone—everyone is a child: or no one?’ Youth and age touch only the surface of our lives.” 

The narrator makes the point that everyone is reduced to childlike behavior, especially the want for companionship, when faced with loneliness, regardless of what point of life they’re at.

“‘I often wonder,’ said Mr. Dimble, ‘whether Merlin doesn’t represent the last trace of something the later tradition has quite forgotten about—something that became impossible when the only people in touch with the supernatural were either white or black, either priests or sorcerers.’” 

Dr. Dimble discusses how muddled good and evil were in Merlin’s time. When dealing with the supernatural, there is often overlap between what present-day minds would consider good and evil.

“‘We all have our different languages; but we all really mean the same thing.’” 

Wither states that there are many different methods that ultimately lead to the same outcome.