Sheri S. Tepper Quotes

I’ve met the prophet Awateh, and he’s very religious, but he’s also completely off his head. It seems to me religious toleration stops when they intend to kill you or hurt you with it. Africa, that’s my aunt, she always said noninterference was a two-way street.

Men almost always make gods in their own image.

Talk about burning the flag and he gets all choked up. Funny, so many of these guys think the country stands for the flag instead of the other way around.

Even when people are well-meaning, do not let them fool with your heads.

Grass! Millions of square miles of it. . . . a hundred rippling oceans, each ripple a gleam of scarlet or amber, emerald or turquoise. . . . the colors shivering over the prairies. . . . Sapphire seas of grass with dark islands of grass bearing great plumy trees which are grass again.

He calls it the university of the Real One, and it teaches only things that are known to be true, which means it is largely devoted to mathematics and sciences.

“Though many mortals speak with authority concerning what their Members want—“Our Father wants us to sacrifice a bullock,” “Kali demands we garrote a passerby”—the desires and demands of the gods are always determined by the desires and demands of the people. Whatever the prophet or priesthood comes up with, the gods parrot.

What you've just said is totally unorthodox, Colonel Doctor. If I didn't know better, I'd think you'd been touched by Scientism!"
"Ah. Scientism. One of the heresies. How would you define Scientism, Captain?"
"A heretical belief that men once did the things you've mentioned through their own efforts, without angelic assistance. The Dicta teaches us that our ancestors depended upon angels for their power, just as we will when we rediscover The Art.

I will never love anyone who is not first my friend. I wonder if you could be my friend.

One of the difficulties of being the good guys is that even open societies have to have secret police, and secret police turn toward repression as a compass points north.

the child’s life had allowed few if any illusions, and she already had an adult awareness that planning and happening were quite different things.

I think I mentioned to you that there've been some rumors about where certain soft contributions to senatorial campaigns come from. Dink works for Morse. Morse gets lots of soft money. This has got to be where it's coming from."
"What does Morse do in return?"
"He votes for the war on drugs. Votes more money for the DEA. Makes sure there's no drug policy reform. The War on Drugs keeps the market up, keeps the dealers working, keeps the money flowing. They don't want drugs legalized. It'd be like what happened when we stopped Prohibition. The gangsters didn't want it stopped. They made millions.

Words? Not really. Mankind is a good word. She set down her glass with a thump. Or humankind. I'm afraid we've spent a lot of feminist energy on meaningless symbols rather than essential functions.

Like, on Thyker, those High Baidee make a law that says no killing, ignoring the times when killing is the only merciful thing to do, but then they make exceptions for war, because they like war. I know all about it. We women know all about it.

We live in a time like dreaming.... The edges of our lives flutter and change as we watch them. Listen to the dream.