Famous quotes
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“Gods are like that. It isn't enough for them to run everything. They want to be famous, too.”
Orson Scott Card (born 1951) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: America (1987), reprinted in Gardner Dozois (ed.), The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fifth Annual Collection, , p. 581
“What sort of arrogance did she have, even to imagine reaching back into the past and making changes? Who am I, she thought, if I dare to answer prayers intended for the gods?”
Orson Scott Card (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All our scientific and philosophic ideals are altars to unknown gods.”
William James (1842–1910) first seen 1884 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lecture at the Harvard Divinity School (13 March 1884); published in the The Unitarian Review and Religious Magazine as The Dilemma of Determinism (September 1884)
“East of Suez, some hold, the direct control of Providence ceases; Man being there handed over to the power of the Gods and Devils of Asia, and the Church of England Providence only exercising an occasional and modified supervision in the case of Englishmen.”
Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All gods have good points, just as have all priests. Personally, I attach much importance to Hanuman, and am kind to his people—the great gray apes of the hills. One never knows when one may want a friend.”
Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Before the years reborn behold Themselves with stranger eye, And the sport-making Gods of old, Like Samson slaying, die, Many shall hear The all-pregnant sphere, Bow to the birth and sweat, but — speech denied — Sit dumb or — dealt in part — fall weak and wide.”
Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But remember, please, the Law by which we live, We are not built to comprehend a lie, We can neither love nor pity nor forgive, If you make a slip in handling us you die! We are greater than the Peoples or the Kings— Be humble, as you crawl beneath our rods!— Our touch can alter all created things, We are everything on earth—except The Gods!”
Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lo, this great work, a Temple to thy praise, On polisht Pillars of strong Verse I raise! A Temple, where if Thou vouchsafe to dwell, It Solomons, and Herods shall excel. Too long the Muses-Land have Heathen bin; Their Gods too long were Dev'ils, and Vertues Sin; But Thou, Eternal Word, hast call'd forth Me Th' Apostle, to convert that World to Thee;”
Abraham Cowley (1618–1667) said by 1667 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“History is opaque. You see what comes out, not the script that produces events, [...] The generator of historical events is different from the events themselves, much as the minds of the gods cannot be read just by witnessing their deeds.”
Nassim Nicholas Taleb (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Devourers want to brood about their great service to the many universes—it is their claim that servile customers make the most obedient subjects for the gods.”
Fritz Leiber (1910–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was the laughter of the Elder Gods observing their creature man and noting their omissions, miscalculations and mistakes.”
Fritz Leiber (1910–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now it may be that in the world of Newhon there are gods of whom even Death does not know and who from time to time take pleasure in putting obstacles in his path. Or it may be that Chance is quite as great a power as Necessity.”
Fritz Leiber (1910–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Inconsiderate creatures, gods were.”
Fritz Leiber (1910–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Women have power over men almost as great as gods do.”
Fritz Leiber (1910–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The president just seems to be living in some sort of alternative universe populated by the failed gods of his narcissism and vainglory.”
Josh Marshall (born 1969) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Talking Points Memo (2007-09-14)
“The gods had gone away, and the ritual of the religion continued senselessly, uselessly.”
Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) first seen 1950 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: There Will Come Soft Rains (1950)
“I can always say to myself that my atheism, like that of Spinoza, is true piety towards the universe and denies only gods fashioned by men in their own image, to be servants of their human interests; and that even in this denial I am no rude iconoclast, but full of secret sympathy with the impulses of idolaters.”
Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) said by 1677 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: George Santayana, in "On My Friendly Critics", in Soliloquies in England (1922)
“The real objection to the great majority of cats is their insufferable air of superiority. Cats, as a class, have never completely got over the snootiness caused by the fact that in Ancient Egypt they were worshipped as gods. This makes them too prone to set themselves up as critics and censors of the frail and erring human beings whose lot they share.”
P. G. Wodehouse (1881–1975) said by 1975 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If I had to pick a religion, I'd pick Buddhism. Buddhism is a kindly religion. It says you got a chance... it's got humor, it's got wisdom, it says to be nice to each other. All the rest of them have gods that want to beat the crap out of you if you defy the rules.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Historically, as the faith dies, the culture and civilization to which it gave birth die, and then the people die. And a new tribe with its own gods comes to occupy the emptying land. On the old and new continents, it is the native-born of European ancestry who are de-Christianizing, aging and dying.”
Pat Buchanan (born 1938) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: How Christian America Dies" The American Conservative (May 26, 2015).
“Magic consists of, and is acquired by the worship of the gods.”
Plato (429–349 BC) said by 349 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted by H.P. Blavatsky, in The Theosophical Glossary, (1892)
“One hundred years ago, our fathers retired the gods from politics.The Declaration of Independence is the grandest, the bravest, and the profoundest political document that was ever signed by the representatives of a people. It is the embodiment of physical and moral courage and of political wisdom.”
Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) said by 1899 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Can there be such a thing as mercy in eternal punishment? And yet this same Deity says to me, “resist not evil; pray for those that despitefully use you; love your enemies, but I will eternally damn mine.” It seems to me that even gods should practice what they preach.”
Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) said by 1899 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Man is certainly stark mad; he cannot make a worm, and yet he will be making gods by dozens.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Michael De Montaigne
“We aren't pigs as you seem to think, but human beings. We create gods and struggle with them, and they bless us.”
Hermann Hesse (1877–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Blood, though it sleep a time, yet never dies. The gods on murtherers fix revengeful eyes.”
George Chapman (1559–1634) said by 1634 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The blest gods do not love Ungodly actions; but respect the right, And in the works of pious men delight.”
George Chapman (1559–1634) said by 1634 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have rarely read anything which has interested me more, though I have not read as yet more than a quarter of the book proper. From quotations which I had seen, I had a high notion of Aristotle's merits, but I had not the most remote notion what a wonderful man he was. Linnaeus and Cuvier have been my two gods, though in very different ways, but they were mere schoolboys to old Aristotle.”
Charles Darwin (1809–1882) first seen 1882 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: volume III, chapter VI: "Miscellanea", page 252; letter to William Ogle (22 February 1882)
“Immortal gods! how much does one man excel another! What a difference there is between a wise person and a fool!”
Terence (185–159 BC) said by 159 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One maneuvers to the limit, but the golden moment demands action. If you miss it, the gods damn you forever. and vice versa.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The gods' most savage curses come upon us as answers to our own prayers, you know.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He found oddly little regret in his heart for his own lost life. He'd seen more of the world than most men ever did, and he'd had his chances, though the gods knew he'd made little enough of them. Marshaling his thoughts, as he sheltered under his covers, he realized with some wonder that his greatest dismay was for the work he'd be forced to leave undone.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You must go home eventually." "I would throw myself off a precipice first, except that I would land in the arms of the gods, Whom I do not wish to see again.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The gods give no gifts without hooks embedded.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So, you dragged me here, whichever of You harries me. But you cannot force me through that door. Nor can you open it yourselves. You cannot lift so much as a leaf; bending iron or my will is a task equally beyond your capacities. They were at a stand, she and the gods.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The gods would take him and leave me bereft, and I curse them!" "I have cursed them for years," said Ista dryly. "Turnabout being fair.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The gods have no hands in this world but ours. If we fail Them, where then can They turn?”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh, fine new friends you have—until They betray you. If the gods toy with you, cousin, it is for Their ends, not yours.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If there is one thing that I have come to hate more than the gods, it is time.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Talking to the gods had been a much more comfortable proposition when there had seemed no danger of Their talking back.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Taste the betrayal of the gods, then; I have dined on it for ages.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The gods do not act for our ends, but for Theirs.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Everyone talks to the gods, no one expects them to answer.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The princess-archdivine once quipped to me that our friends are what the gods give us to make up for our families.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He wouldn’t say pray, as he’d decided long ago not to bother the gods with questions when he didn’t really want to hear the answers.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This is why medicine can’t be my calling,” said Pen dimly. “The demand is endless, and I’ve learned I am not. Only the gods could deal with all the world’s pain, all at once, all the time. It’s a wonder they’re not driven mad. Unless they have been, which would explain some things. Theologically speaking.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“His further study of humanity had revealed just how much people could convince themselves that their own needs were those of the gods, and not the other way around.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let us ask the Gods not for possessions, but for things to do; happiness is in making things rather than consuming them.”
Will Durant (1885–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To the Gods we ne'er can render Praise for every good they grant; Let us, with devotion tender, Minister to grief and want. Quenched be hate and wrath forever, Pardoned be our mortal foe— May our tears upbraid him never, No repentance bring him low!”
Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) said by 1805 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But in this logging camp in the mountains I came to understand that kings are nothing but men set high. The gods do not anoint them, but rather the will of men, and men can strip them of their lofty rank.”
Robert Silverberg (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source