How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph.)
Quote #1
"But I unfortunately was born at the wrong end of time, and I have to live backwards from in front, while surrounded by a lot of people living forwards from behind. Some people call it having second sight." (S.3.69)
White comes up with a rather ingenious way to explain Merlyn's ability to see the future: he lives backwards through time. Pretty smart! This also explains why Merlyn sometimes gets things wrong or forgets to tell Arthur important info. It's just downright confusing living in a timestream like this.
Quote #2
"Have I told you this before?"
"No, we only met about half an hour ago."
"So little time to pass?" said Merlyn, and a big tear ran down to the end of his nose. (S.3.73)
This is one of the early indications that things don't end up well for Arthur. Merlyn's crying for some reason here... and we should probably trust him. After all, he's lived through this before.
Quote #3
"The time is not yet ripe for you to be a hawk." (S.8.25).
Merlyn puts the kibosh on Wart getting to turn into a hawk at this point in the story. He tells him he'll have to "trust to [his] superior backsight." Again, Merlyn has lived through all of this before, so he knows when it's time for Wart to learn certain lessons.