James Morrow

Quotes

1. “As a race of scientists and thinkers,” she concluded, “we cannot claim with absolute certainty that Teot Yon’s personality is now beyond Heaven’s gates or inside Satan’s stewpot or about to enter the embryo of a bull. Some of us subscribe to the Afterworld Hypothesis, some to less cheerful views. We all know that as an empirical event Teot Yon’s existence is over, and it is time for his molecules to become air and ash and after that—where will his drifting pieces go and what new things will they help to form? Let the transformation begin!”

   p. 234

2. 

   “In the end Humankind destroyed the heaven and the earth,” Soapstone began...

   “And Humankind said, ‘Let there be security,’ and there was security. And Humankind tested the security, that it would detonate. And Humankind divided the U-235 from the U-238. And the evening and the morning were the first strike.” Soapstone looked up from the book. “Some commentators feel that the author should have inserted, ‘And Humankind saw the security, that it was evil.’ Others point out that such a view was not universally shared.”...

   Casting his eyes heavenward, Soapstone continued. “And Humankind said, ‘Let there be a holocaust in the midst of the dry land.’ And Humankind poisoned the aquifers that were below the dry land and scorched the ozone that was above the dry land. And the evening and the morning were the second strike.”...

   “And Humankind said, ‘Let the ultraviolet light destroy the food chains that bring forth the moving creature!’ And the evening and the morning—”...

   “And Humankind said, ‘Let there be rays in the firmament to fall upon the survivors!’ And Humankind made two great rays, the greater gamma radiation to give penetrating whole-body doses, and the lesser beta radiation to burn the plants and the bowels of animals! And Humankind sterilized each living creature, saying, ‘Be fruitless, and barren, and cease to—’”

   p. 115

3. 

   A second slash ended the monster’s misery. So, he thought, this is how my Earthling ancestors ran their affairs. This is how lands were won, empires expanded, insurrections resisted, prisoners taken, slaves kept, heretics converted, captives made loquacious. For the first time in his life, Minnix felt himself a part of history.

   History, he decided, was a terrible idea.

   p. 223

4. 

   Gravestones, he knew, were educational media, teaching that life has limits: don’t set your sights too high.

   p. 14

5. 

   It is far more arrogant to profess intuitive knowledge of the sacred than scientific knowledge of the tangible.

   p. 44

6. 

   “What do you want out of life, Francis Lostwax?”

   Francis smiled. “To never hurt anybody again.” His lack of hesitation surprised him. “To feel clean.”

   p. 314

7. 

   Tez always had warm feelings about paradoxes. It was the scientist in her.

   p. 132

8. 

   Like most visionaries, The Teller saw the distant future with optical-glass clarity, the intermediate future with beeswax clarity, and the immediate future with the clarity of dark glasses dipped in tar.

   p. 153

9. 

   In physical pursuits Luli was considerably less passionate. Her idea of a good time in bed was breakfast.

   p. 21

10. 

    To George, Overwhite still seemed like a windbag, but he was obviously a resourceful and intelligent one, a windbag woven of the finest material.

    p. 183

11. 

    Father says don’t kill your principles just because the government is paying for the funeral.

    p. 257

12. 

    “On your planet, how do you tell somebody that you love her?”

    “It’s very complicated. You say, ‘I love you,’ and then you stand back and see what happens.”

    p. 112