18 quotes
Retribution—ah, my friend, retribution is the sweetest of all sweet dark dreams.
The Power that Preserves (1977)
Verily, wisdom is like hunger. Perhaps it is a very fine thing—but who would willingly partake of it?
The Power that Preserves (1977)
The task was impossible, and mortal human beings accomplished nothing but their own destruction when they attempted the impossible.
The Power that Preserves (1977)
Yet this withholding of knowledge ran against every grain of his character. He believed intensely that the refusal to share knowledge demeaned both the denier and the denied.
The Power that Preserves (1977)
“Are you wise, Unbeliever?”
“Who knows? If I am—wisdom is overrated.”
The Power that Preserves (1977)
I rest and rest, but I do not become young.
The Power that Preserves (1977)
She said that it is the responsibility of the living to justify the sacrifices of the dead. Otherwise their deaths have no meaning.
The Power that Preserves (1977)
Do not be too quick to judge the makers of worlds. Will you ever write a story for which no character will have caused to reproach you?
The Power that Preserves (1977)
Then he grinned. “But it is said that hunger teaches many things. My friend, a wealth of wisdom awaits us on this journey.”
The Power that Preserves (1977)
The answer to death was to make use of it rather than fall victim to it—master it by making it serve his goals, beliefs. This was not a good answer. But it was the only answer he had.
The Power that Preserves (1977)
Power was dreadful and treacherous. When it was not great enough to accomplish its wielder’s desires, it turned against the hands which held it.
The Power that Preserves (1977)
You did not cause his despair. Had you treated him with distrust, you would have achieved nothing but the confirmation of his distress. Distrust—vindicates itself.
The Power that Preserves (1977)
He smiled because he was alive.
The Power that Preserves (1977)
“Then why do you delay? Why do you fear?”
Because I am mortal, weak. The way is only clear—not sure. In my time, I have been a seer and oracle. Now I—I desire a sign. I require to see.”
The Power that Preserves (1977)
He no longer accused himself; he knew then that no one could be blamed for being inadequate in the face of such unanswerable malevolence. Destruction was easier than preservation, and when destruction had risen high enough, mere men and women could not be condemned if they failed to throw back the tide.
The Power that Preserves (1977)
“I’ll tell you what it is. It’s a goddam miracle, that’s what it is.”
“Come, now,” the older man murmured. “I don’t believe in miracles—neither do you.”
The Power that Preserves (1977)
Abruptly Loerya joined the probing. “And if there is no Creator? Or if the creation is untended?”
“Then who is there to reproach us? We provide the meaning of our own lives. If we serve the Land purely to the furthest limit of our abilities, what more can we ask of ourselves?”
The Power that Preserves (1977)
The bluff stone of the tower, with Revelstone rising behind it like the prow of a great ship, answered his gaze in granite permanence as if it were a prophecy by the old Giants—a cryptic perception that victory and defeat were human terms which had no meaning in the language of mountains.
The Power that Preserves (1977)