James Morrow

Quotes

1. Curse God, and die. To George it seemed like remarkably sage and relevant advice.

   p. 61

2. 

   Forgive me if I’m confusing you with logic.

   p. 157

3. 

   “I’ve always regretted not having a brother. Maybe I shouldn’t.”

   “For me it’s always been like having pubic hair. You have it, but what the hell is it for?”

   p. 110

4. 

   My own preliminary diagnosis is that I am out of my skull and getting farther from its vicinity every day.

   p. 191

5. 

   “In fact, there’s probably only one thing worse than not being able to understand a person.”

   “What’s that?” asked Nimrod.

   “Being able to understand him completely.”

   p. 76

6. 

   When I destroyed my unwanted children, it was murder. When Yahweh did the same, it was eugenics. Do you approve of the universe, Ham?

   p. 11

7. 

   Being God, I must choose My words carefully. People, I’ve noticed, tend to hang on to My every remark. It gets annoying, this servile and sycophantic streak in Homo sapiens sapiens. There’s a difference, after all, between tasteful adulation and arrant toadyism, but they just don’t get it.

   p. 61

8. 

   Monotheism is just one of the myths by which we live, and Yahweh is just one of the deities who populate these stories.

9. 

   Let us examine the language here. Evidently God is addressing this code to a patriarchy that will in turn disseminate it among the less powerful, namely wives and servants. And how long before these servants are downgraded further still...into slaves, even? Ten whole commandments, and not one word against slavery, not to mention bigotry, misogyny, or war.

   p. 130

10. 

    I’ve gone insane, Michael decided, retrieving a cowhide-bound appointments book from his valise. Only certifiable schizophrenics showed meetings with God on their calendars.

    p. 68

11. 

    “You see, Ebenezer, charity begs a crucial question. How did the bestower attain the position from which he now exercises his largesse?” My dead colleague cleaned his teeth with one of his many appended keys. “Through imagination and merit? Or through inherited privilege and ruthless exploitation?”

    p. 158

12. 

    JOB. And now it’s time...

    FRANNY. To curse God...

    JOB. And live.

    p. 184