20 quotes
Blind faith in somebody stepping in to fix things eliminates a lot of emotional stress, so blind faith is what most people have!
Shadow's End (1994)
Does the worm on the hook expect to be rescued simply because the fish have eaten all the other worms?
Shadow's End (1994)
“Even pain,” said the king, with no intention of being prophetic, “even pain is preferable to dying of unrelieved ennui.”
Shadow's End (1994)
Also, the god often resembles his followers in behavior and feelings. Angry people have angry gods and vindictive people have vindictive gods, and so forth.
Shadow's End (1994)
Do not wish to live forever. Do not believe that every man-shaped thing is holier than something else. Do not look into the mirror to see the face of God.
Shadow's End (1994)
Godmongers have always found it easy to pay for their beliefs with women’s lives.…
Shadow's End (1994)
Some can see no farther than their mirrors. What wears another face must go unseen.
Shadow's End (1994)
As the Gauphin taught, people are ridiculous! We have language and history, we have technology and philosophy, and we still have not achieved good sense and self-control!
Shadow's End (1994)
What he’d said wasn’t inaccurate; it was simply a ridiculous understatement.
Shadow's End (1994)
Sex was pleasurable, sure, but survival was sweeter still.
Shadow's End (1994)
Pain and loss. Hope dimmed. Ambition quenched. Love becoming an unfunny joke on the lovers! Body saying aye; mind saying nay; now saying can; future saying can’t.
Shadow's End (1994)
Those who encounter chains of events at two disparate points, without observing the connections, think they have observed coincidence when they have, in fact, seen only consequence.
Shadow's End (1994)
Don’t take me for a fool, lovely girl. We fat old things have not laid aside our brains with our silhouettes.
Shadow's End (1994)
“The first rule of governance is never to choose who to sacrifice,” snarled the Procurator. “Or, at least, never to be seen to choose. Death and dismemberment must always be…inadvertent. Everybody’s fault or nobody’s fault!”
Shadow's End (1994)
Despite Lutha’s undoubted intelligence, she was constantly exploding like fireworks, laughing or crying, passionate about every trifle. On Dinadh, we think of such behavior as typical of children, not serious adults.
Shadow's End (1994)
“An itchy man is prey to discontent; he’ll suage his flea bites with the blood of kings.”
Surely the common man wouldn’t want that!”
“What common men want most is beer and sex, without disturbances.”
Shadow's End (1994)
“That’s different. That’s paradise. Like it was on Breadh.”
“Were there many people on Breadh?”
Snark laughed, abruptly joyous. “Hardly any! That’s what made it paradise!”
Shadow's End (1994)
The stories of Old-earth are shared among the people of Old-earth. Even I, Saluez, can identify elephant and whale, ostrich and eagle, serpent and wolf, though they exist no longer. I know that they were and now are not, because of mankind.
Shadow's End (1994)
Fearful people develop their religions as protective devices, ways to manipulate hostile environments, formulas for identifying and defeating their enemies. The more fearful people are, the more enemies they have, the more adversarial language they use.
Shadow's End (1994)
“Go to the simul and slap people around, kill people, that’s what you want. Do it! But you can’t do it out here!”
It sounded great, but nobody stayed dead in a simul! How could you get any satisfaction killing somebody who didn’t stay dead?
Shadow's End (1994)