Incest

"God tells us men fucking men is a terrible thing, but a father offering his two daughters, vestal virgins no less, to a horde of horny buggers is heroic. Now that's straight. … God destroys the faggots with fire and brimstone. He turns a disobedient wife into salt. But he asks us to idolize drunks who sleep with their daughters or offer them to a horny, unruly mob."

"Þe þryddë synnë ys þe werst, Þe clerk[es] calleþ hyt ‘yncest,’ Whan men take kyn yn felawrede, And wyþ hem doþ flesshëly dede; Þe ner[ë] syb she ys hys kynde, Þe morë plyȝt shal he þere fynde. Or ȝyf he with a woman synne, Þat sum of hys kyn haþ endyd ynne, Þat ys to sey, haþ ley here by, Þe more plyȝt ys þat lecchery; Þus hyt seyþ yn þe decre, He calleþ hyt an ‘affynyte’; Affynyte hyt makeþ alle an ende, Hys blode þarto no more may wende."

"Incest, rape and abuse is rampant everywhere, even in our churches, but society is silent. It is a silent epidemic. One in three women will experience a sexual assault in her lifetime and one in six males, yet we don't speak of it, even in our churches"

"Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother."

"Nationalism is our form of incest, is our idolatry, is our insanity. "Patriotism” is its cult. It should hardly be necessary to say, that by "patriotism” I mean that attitude which puts the own nation above humanity, above the principles of truth and justice; not the loving interest in one’s own nation, which is the concern with the nation’s spiritual as much as with its material welfare — never with its power over other nations. Just as love for one individual which excludes the love for others is not love, love for one’s country which is not part of one’s love for humanity is not love, but idolatrous worship."

"And yet indeed, she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife."

"Property like incest holds the family together."

"They can't censor a gleam in the eye."

"None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the LORD. The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness."

"The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover."

"Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's sister."

"And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister's nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity."

"And thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister, nor of thy father's sister: for he uncovereth his near kin: they shall bear their iniquity."

"Siguió examinándola, descubriendo palmo a palmo el milagro de su intimidad, y sintió que su piel se erizaba en la contemplación, como se erizaba la piel de ella al contacto del agua. Desde muy niño tenía la costumbre de abandonar la hamaca para amanecer en la cama de Amaranta, cuyo contacto tenía la virtud de disipar el miedo a la oscuridad. Pero desde el día en que tuvo conciencia de su desnudez, no era el miedo a la oscuridad lo que lo impulsaba a meterse en su mosquitero, sino el anhelo de sentir la respiración tibia de Amaranta al amanecer. Una madrugada, por la época en que ella rechazó al coronel Gerineldo Márquez, Aureliano José despertó con la sensación de que le faltaba el aire. Sintió los dedos de Amaranta como unos gusanitos calientes y ansiosos que buscaban su vientre. Fingiendo dormir cambió de posición para eliminar toda dificultad, y entonces sintió la mano sin la venda negra buceando como un molusco ciego entre las algas de su ansiedad. Aunque aparentaron ignorar lo que ambos sabían, y lo que cada uno sabía que el otro sabía, desde aquella noche quedaron mancornados por una complicidad inviolable. … Entonces no sólo durmieron juntos, desnudos, intercambiando caricias agotadoras, sino que se perseguían por los rincones de la casa y se encerraban en los dormitorios a cualquier hora, en un permanente estado de exaltación sin alivio. Estuvieron a punto de ser sorprendidos por Úrsula, una tarde en que entró al granero cuando ellos empezaban a besarse. «¿Quieres mucho a tu tía?», le preguntó ella de un modo inocente a Aureliano José. Él contestó que sí. «Haces bien», concluyó Úrsula, y acabó de medir la harina para el pan y regresó a la cocina. Aquel episodio sacó a Amaranta del delirio. Se dio cuenta de que había llegado demasiado lejos, de que ya no estaba jugando a los besitos con un niño, sino chapaleando en una pasión otoñal, peligrosa y sin porvenir, y la cortó de un tajo."

"If only we could all escape from this house of incest, where we only love ourselves in the other, if only I could save you all from yourselves."

"Suppose atomic bombs had reduced the population of the world to one brother and one sister, should they let the human race die out?"

"I felt like an animal, and animals don’t know sin, do they?"

"Each night I am nailed into place and forget who I am. Daddy? That's another kind of prison. It's not the prince at all, but my father drunkeningly bends over my bed, circling the abyss like a shark, my father thick upon me like some sleeping jellyfish. What voyage is this, little girl? This coming out of prison? God help — this life after death?"

"THEODOTUS: Caesar: you are a stranger here, and not conversant with our laws. The kings and queens of Egypt may not marry except with their own royal blood. Ptolemy and Cleopatra are born king and consort just as they are born brother and sister. BRITANNUS (shocked): Caesar: this is not proper. THEODOTUS (outraged): How! CAESAR (recovering his self-possession): Pardon him, Theodotus: he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature."

"If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister?"