# Quote — Walter M. Miller Jr., A Canticle for Leibowitz

> It was said that God, in order to test mankind which had become swelled with pride as in the time of Noah, had commanded the wise men of that age, among them the Blessed Leibowitz, to devise great engines of war such as had never before been upon the Earth, weapons of such might that they contained the very fires of Hell, and that God had suffered these magi to place the weapons in the hands of princes, and to say to each prince: "Only because the enemies have such a thing have we devised this for thee, in order that they may know that thou hast it also, and fear to strike. See to it, m'Lord, that thou fearest them as much as they shall now fear thee, that none may unleash this dread thing which we have wrought." But the princes, putting the words of their wise men to naught, thought each to himself: If I but strike quickly enough, and in secret, I shall destroy these others in their sleep, and there will be none to fight back; the earth shall be mine.
>
> Such was the folly of princes, and there followed the Flame Deluge.

- Author: [Walter M. Miller Jr.](https://www.leafyquotes.com/walter-m-miller-jr.md)
- Book: [A Canticle for Leibowitz](https://www.leafyquotes.com/walter-m-miller-jr/a-canticle-for-leibowitz.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walter_M._Miller_Jr.#Fiat_Homo) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/walter-m-miller-jr/a-canticle-for-leibowitz/it-was-said

## More from this book

> From the lightning and the tempest,
>
> O Lord, deliver us.
>
> From the scourge of the earthquake,
>
> O Lord, deliver us.
>
> From plague, famine, and war,
>
> O Lord, deliver us.
>
> From the place of ground zero,
>
> O Lord, deliver us.
>
> From the rain of the cobalt,
>
> O Lord, deliver us.
>
> From the rain of the strontium,
>
> O Lord, deliver us.
>
> From the fall of the cesium,
>
> O Lord, deliver us.
>
> From the curse of the Fallout,
>
> O Lord, deliver us.
>
> From the begetting of monsters,
>
> O Lord, deliver us.
>
> From the curse of the Misborn,
>
> O Lord deliver us.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/walter-m-miller-jr/a-canticle-for-leibowitz/from-the-lightning.md)

> The Poet could not remember ever fearing death, but he had often suspected Providence of plotting the worst for him as to the manner of his dying when the time came to go. He had expected to rot away. Slowly and not very fragrantly. Some poetic insight had warned him that he would surely die a blubbering leprous lump, cravenly penitential but impenitent. Never had he anticipated anything so blunt and final as a bullet in the stomach, and with not even an audience at hand to hear his dying quips. The last thing they had heard him say when they shot him was: "Oof!" — his testament for posterity. Ooof!

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/walter-m-miller-jr/a-canticle-for-leibowitz/the-poet-could.md)

> But neither infinite power nor infinite wisdom could bestow godhood upon men. For that there would have to be infinite love as well.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/walter-m-miller-jr/a-canticle-for-leibowitz/but-neither-infinite.md)