Alan Moore Quotes

In the mid 1980's I was asked by an american legal institution known as the Christic Legal Institute to compile a comic book that would detail the murky history of the C.I.A., from the end of the second world war, to the present day. Covering such things as the heroin smuggling during the Vietnam war, the cocaine smuggling during the war in Central America, the Kennedy assasination and other highlights.

What I learned during the frankly horrifying research that I had to slog through in order to accomplish this, was that yes, there is a conspiracy, in fact there are a great number of conspiracies that are all tripping each other up. And all of those conspiracies are run by paranoid fantasists, and ham fisted clowns. If you are on a list targeted by the C.I.A., you really have nothing to worry about. If however you have a name similar to someone on a list targeted by the C.I.A., then you are dead?

The main thing that I learned about conspiracy theory, is that conspiracy theorists believe in a conspiracy because that is more comforting. The truth of the world is that it is actually chaotic. The truth is that it is not The Iluminati, or The Jewish Banking Conspiracy, or the Gray Alien Theory. The truth is far more frightening.

Nobody is in control.

The world is rudderless...

The disciplines of physical exercise, meditation and study aren't terribly esoteric. The means to attain a capability far beyond that of the so-called ordinary person are within the reach of everyone, if their desire and their will are strong enough. I have studied science, art, religion and a hundred different philosophies. Anyone could do as much. By applying what you learn and ordering your thoughts in an intelligent manner it is possible to accomplish almost anything. Possible for an 'ordinary person.' There's a notion I'd like to see buried: the ordinary person. Ridiculous. There is no ordinary person.

A world grows up around me. Am I shaping it, or do its predetermined contours guide my hand?

Also, please don’t think I’ve forgotten about your outstanding service record, or about all the invaluable contributions that you’ve made to the company. Fire, the wheel, agriculture..It’s an impressive list, old timer. A jolly impressive list. Don’t get me wrong.

But well...to be frank, we’ve had our problems , too. There’s no getting away from it. Do you know what I think? A lot of it stems from? I’ll tell you…

It’s your basic unwillingness to get on with the company. You don’t seem to want to face up to any real responsibility, or to be your own boss. Lord knows you’ve been given plenty of opportunities. We’ve offered you promotion time and time again, and each time you’ve turned us down…

To be frank, you’re not really trying are you?

Her name is Anarchy. And she has taught me more as a mistress than you [Justice] ever did! She has taught me that justice is meaningless without freedom. She is honest. She makes no promises and breaks none. Unlike you, Jezebel.

The dusk reeks of fornication and bad consciences.

Now, as I understand it, the bards were feared. They were respected, but more than that they were feared. If you were just some magician, if you'd pissed off some witch, then what's she gonna do, she's gonna put a curse on you, and what's gonna happen? Your hens are gonna lay funny, your milk's gonna go sour, maybe one of your kids is gonna get a hare-lip or something like that — no big deal.

You piss off a bard, and forget about putting a curse on you, he might put a satire on you. And if he was a skilful bard, he puts a satire on you, it destroys you in the eyes of your community, it shows you up as ridiculous, lame, pathetic, worthless, in the eyes of your community, in the eyes of your family, in the eyes of your children, in the eyes of yourself, and if it's a particularly good bard, and he's written a particularly good satire, then three hundred years after you're dead, people are still gonna be laughing, at what a twat you were.

The multiplying villainies of nature do swarm upon him... [from Macbeth]

Blake understood. Treated it like a joke, but he understood. He saw the cracks in society, saw the little men in masks trying to hold it together...he saw the true face of the twentieth century and chose to become a reflection of it, a parody of it. No one else saw the joke. That's why he was lonely.

Truly, whoever we are, wherever we reside, we exist upon the whim of murderers.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! YOU'VE READ ABOUT IT IN THE NEWSPAPERS! NOW, SHUDDER AS YOU OBSERVE, BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES, THAT MOST RAREAND RAGIC OF NATURE'S MISTAKES!

I GIVE YOU...
THE AVERAGE MAN!


PHYSICALLY
UNREMARKABLE
, IT HAS
INSTEAD
A DEFORMED SET OF
VALUES.


NOTICE THE
HIDEOUSLY BLOATED
SENSE OF
HUMANITY'S IMPORTANCE.
THE CLUB-FOOTED
SOCIAL CONSCIENCE
AND THE
WITHERED OPTIMISM.


IT'S CERTAINLY NOT FOR THE
SQUEAMISH
IS IT?

MOST
REPULSIVE
OF
ALL
, ARE ITS
FRAIL
AND
USELESS
NOTIONS OF
ORDER
AND
SANITY.
IF TOO MUCH
WEIGHT
IS PLACED UPON THEM...

... THEY
SNAP.


HOW DOES IT
LIVE
, I HEAR YOU ASK?

HOW DOES THIS POOR, PATHETIC SPECIMEN
SURVIVE
IN TODAY'S
HARSH
AND
IRRATIONAL
WORLD?

THE SAD ANSWER
IS
'NOT VERY
WELL.

Things are tough all over, cupcake, an' it rains on the just an' the unjust alike...except in California.

"I heard joke once: Man goes to doctor. Says he's depressed. Life seems harsh, and cruel. Says he feels all alone in threatening world. Doctor says: "Treatment is simple. The great clown - Pagliacci - is in town. Go see him. That should pick you up." Man bursts into tears. "But doctor..." he says "I am Pagliacci." Good joke. Everybody laugh. Roll on snare drum. Curtains."

Please! Don't all leave. Somebody has to do it, don't you see? Somebody has to save the world...

"I thought, "Well if I'm gonna react might as well overreact!