15 quotes
One can act too much in the cause of self-preservation and experience nothing fresh as a result.
The War Hound and the World's Pain (1981)
Man is a rationalizing beast, if not a rational one.
The War Hound and the World's Pain (1981)
Again that smile of exquisite and self-congratulatory piety.
The War Hound and the World's Pain (1981)
“In Hell you become what you fear yourself to be. In Heaven you may become what you hope yourself to be,” said Lucifer.
The War Hound and the World's Pain (1981)
Can Hell and Heaven be merely the difference between ignorance and knowledge?
The War Hound and the World's Pain (1981)
Do not speculate, Sedenko, on things for which no evidence exists. You will waste your time.
The War Hound and the World's Pain (1981)
I said: “Then in reality I had little choice.”
“Let us say that your character has already determined your choice.”
The War Hound and the World's Pain (1981)
I had always claimed to welcome the truth; yet now, in common with most of us, I was resentful of the truth because it called upon me to take an unwelcome course of action.
The War Hound and the World's Pain (1981)
Scholarly men were suspect in my town. Women could not admit to scholarship at all. Men are afraid of two things in this world, it seems—women and knowledge. Both threaten their power, eh?
The War Hound and the World's Pain (1981)
“Could you punish a heretic?”
“Madam, I do not know what a heretic really is. The word is made much of, these days. It seems to describe anyone you wish dead.”
The War Hound and the World's Pain (1981)
I pray, in short, that God exists, that Lucifer brings about His own Redemption and that mankind therefore shall in time be free of them both forever: for until Man makes his own justice according to his own experience, he will never know what true peace can be.
The War Hound and the World's Pain (1981)
“I understand you now. But surely, if Lucifer is successful, we shall all be saved.”
The Wildgrave’s smile was bitter. “What logic provides you with that hope, von Bek? If God is merciful, He provides us with little evidence.”
The War Hound and the World's Pain (1981)
“I shall know soon.” I hesitated. “I shall know if all these adventurings, all these ordeals, have been meaningless or not. Man struggles in the belief that he can, by dint of perseverance, affect his own destiny. And all those efforts, I think, lead to nothing but ruin.
The War Hound and the World's Pain (1981)
I watched him while he moved about in the nearby spinney below, bending and straightening, shaking snow from the sticks he found, and for some reason was reminded of the parable of Abraham and his son. Why should one serve a God who demanded such insane loyalty, who demanded that one deny the very humanity He was said to have created?
The War Hound and the World's Pain (1981)
“What more could you need?”
I smiled in self-mockery. “Reassurance, I suppose.”
“That must come from your own judgment, from your own testing of your conscience. It is the only kind of reassurance worth having, as I’m sure you would agree.”
The War Hound and the World's Pain (1981)