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To minimize suffering and to maximize security were natural and proper ends of society and Caesar. But then they became the only ends, somehow, and the only basis of law — a perversion. Inevitably, then, in seeking only them, we found only their opposites: maximum suffering and minimum security.

— Walter M. Miller Jr. A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959)

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More quotes by Walter M. Miller Jr.

If you try to save wisdom until the world is wise, Father, the world will never have it.

A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959)

When Holy Church occasionally hinted that she still considered her authority to be supreme over all nations and superior to the authority of states, men in these times tended to snicker.

A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959)

Encounters between strangers in the desert, while rare, were occasions of mutual suspicion, and masked by initial preparations on both sides for an incident that might prove either cordial or warlike.

A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959)

The image of those cool green eyes lingered with him as long as life.

A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959)

He had never seen a "Fallout," and he hoped he'd never see one. A consistent description of the monster had not survived, but Francis had heard the legends.

A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Walter M. Miller Jr. (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.