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Quotes from The Book of the Long Sun — Gene Wolfe

1931–2019 United States

← All quotes by Gene Wolfe

16 quotes

As you intend to live hereafter, it is in your power to live here.

The Book of the Long Sun (1993)

There are people who love birds so much they free them. There are others who love them so much they cage them.

The Book of the Long Sun (1993)

There is more to be learned from any good teacher than the subject taught.

The Book of the Long Sun (1993)

Men build scales, but the gods blow upon the lighter pan.

The Book of the Long Sun (1993)

You have need of learning, children, in order that the whorl will someday have need of you.

The Book of the Long Sun (1993)

The best way to be thought honest is to be honest.

The Book of the Long Sun (1993)

The jokes of the gods are long in the telling.

The Book of the Long Sun (1993)

What little I have learned in the course of a long life, regarding the gods, I have tried to forget.

The Book of the Long Sun (1993)

When neither our fellows nor our gods spoil our plans, we spoil them ourselves.

The Book of the Long Sun (1993)

He is not mad. He is only more clever than you. It is not the same.

The Book of the Long Sun (1993)

Action, you see, is the end that thought achieves. Action is its only purpose. What else is it good for? If we don't act, it's worthless.

The Book of the Long Sun (1993)

The gods smile on us, my son, or so it is written. It's a wonder they don't laugh aloud.

The Book of the Long Sun (1993)

When we're young, we notice things that are young, like ourselves. New grass on old graves. New leaves on old trees

The Book of the Long Sun (1993)

Everyone who is grieved at anything, or discontented, is like a pig for sacrifice, kicking and squealing. Like a dove for sacrifice is he who laments in silence. Our one distinction is that it is given to us to consent, if we will, to the necessity imposed upon us.

The Book of the Long Sun (1993)

Any representation of a god is ultimately a lie, Silk explained. It may be a convenient lie, and it may even be a reverent one; but it's ultimately false. ... Neither image would be more nearly true than the other, or more true than any other—merely more appropriate.

The Book of the Long Sun (1993)

A trooper fights for honor ... or from loyalty. Or for loot sometimes. But he waits for pay. He will not wait without it, because when there is no fighting there is no honor to win, no flag to die for, no loot to gain.

The Book of the Long Sun (1993)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Gene Wolfe (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.