Tonight it was to be a play for aristocrats to watch, concerning gods and shepherds; it was the humble villages that clamored for princesses and empe… - Tanith Lee

Azhrarn said: “The earth is dying. Man, your creation, is dying. Did you not hear of this?”
But the gods did not answer, or look at him, or seem to see him.
Then Azhrarn told them how the earth split and burned, and men slew each other under the goad of a sorcerous enduring hatred that fed and grew more vital on destruction. He told them everything and spared no word.
But the gods did not answer, or look at him, or seem to see him.
Then Azhrarn went to a single god...
“Men you made,” Azhrarn said, “but me you did not make, and I will have an answer.”
So the god spoke to Azhrarn at last... “Mankind is nothing to us, and the earth is nothing to us. Man is a mistake we made. Even gods are entitled to one mistake. But we will not perpetrate another by saving him. Let him vanish from the earth, and the earth vanish from the state of Being. You are the Demon, and humanity is your beloved toy, but we have graduated from such trivia. If you wish man to be saved, then you must save him, for we shall not.”

I know the old ways. There’s nothing evil there, only strange, and not even strange when you know it.

For you are mad, my dear, in following this vocation. Even your goodness is a craziness. But then, all the very good are mad, just as the very wicked are mad. In fact, there is hardly any difference between the holy and the profane, save in their ideals and their deeds. Both are fanatics. Both are ruthless.