James Morrow Quotes

Oh, Robespierre, Robespierre, was the triumph of inadvertence over intention ever so total?

People found ever more ingenious ways to hate each other.

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

I shall never cease to marvel at the clarity of stars when viewed from midocean, each as sharp and bright as the laser pointer God uses when lecturing the angels on evolution.

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—'

What most people don’t realize is that something unprecedented has entered the world. Bang—science—and suddenly a proposition is true because it’s true, Julie, not because its adherents have the biggest churches or the grandest inquisitors or the most weeks on The New York Times bestseller list.

As usual, He underestimated the human potential for self-deception.

Her libido blazed to life. She smiled, impressed by the party-crashing shamelessness of sex, its willingness to show up anywhere—a funeral, a sermon, a final farewell. This was the way to go out, all right, thumbing your labia at the cosmos.

I think you’re so full of shit you’ve got roses growing out of your ass.

Everyone here does think as I do," replied Nefertiti Jones's double, "and consequently I have no enemies.

The world’s odd tolerance of fighting cropped up again and again in Francis’s study of history, particularly ancient history. On Earth, where his remotest forebears lived, a person could be indisputably responsible for the deaths of thousands and still go down in the history books as some sort of great hero. This was before Francis understood the biological inevitability of violence, so he was bewildered. Why, he wanted to know, were the names of Samson, Napoleon, Joan of Arc, Ulysses S. Grant, and Julius Caesar not obscenities, spoken after dark in whispers of revulsion and shame? The same teachers who couldn’t bring themselves to say shitbrain or ortwaddle openly discussed Alexander the Great.
He never found anyone who had the answer. Until he got to Planet Carlotta, he never even found anyone who had the question.

God was guilty. The best defense is the Manichaean heresy, which isn't a defense at all, it's—"
"Never mind about that."
"—an indictment.

Origen cut off his own balls," Martin informed Randall.
"Prostate cancer?"
"Faith.

If Western Europe and the United States committed seven billion dollars annually to the cause of clean drinking water worldwide, that investment would save four thousand lives a day"...
"Seven billion dollars. That's less than what Europeans spend each year for perfume and Americans for cosmetic surgery. Before he went to the gallows, Enoch Anthem spoke often about Christ turning water into wine, but he never once implored Christendom to turn perfume into water.

How're you feeling?"
"I highly recommend cancer. It's worth it just for the drugs.