Nation (novel)

"Some people would tell you anything if they thought you’d be scared."

"Mau had been shocked at this. Every boy wanted to be a warrior, didn’t he? “You didn’t want to be a warrior?” “Never. It takes a woman nine months to make a new human. Why waste her effort?”"

"“It’s a trick!” he said, without thinking. “Not so loud,” snapped Nawi, glancing back at the shore. “Of course it’s a trick. Building a canoe is a trick. Throwing a spear is a trick. Life is a trick, and you get one chance to learn it.”"

"Her father had said that if you knew where to look, you could find Mrs. Ethel J. Bundy’s Birthday Island, and loaned her a large magnifying glass. She spent long Sunday afternoons lying on her stomach, minutely examining every necklace of dots, and concluded that Mrs. Ethel J. Bundy’s Birthday Island was a Father Joke, i.e., not very funny but sort of lovable in its silliness."

"He believed in rational thinking and scientific inquiry, which was why he never won an argument with his mother, who believed in people doing what she told them, and believed it with a rock-hard certainty that dismissed all opposition."

"Another thing about grandmother was her believe that a conversation consisted of someone else listening to her talking, so even mild interruptions seem to her to be some strange, puzzling inversion of the natural order of things, like pigs flying. It baffled her."

"And perhaps at the other end of the world there is a place where the screaming can’t be heard, and I may find it in my heart to grant God absolution!"

"They didn’t know why these things were funny. Sometimes you laugh because you’ve got no more room for crying. Sometimes you laugh because table manners on a beach are funny. And sometimes you laugh because you’re alive, when you really shouldn’t be."

"There had been a great wave before, everyone said. It turned up in the stories of the Time When Things Were Otherwise and the Moon Was Different. Old men said it was because people had been bad, but old men always said that kind of thing. Waves happened, people died, and the gods did not care."

"“And I hope you gave thanks to the gods for your salvation?” “Gave…thanks?” said Mau. “They may have plans for you,” said the priest cheerfully. “Plans,” said Mau, his voice as cold as the dark current. “Plans? Yes, I see. Someone must be alive to bury the rest, was that it?” He took a step forward, his fists clenched. “We cannot know the reasons for all that happ–” Ataba began, backing away. “I saw their faces!” I sent them into the dark water! I tied small stones to little bodies. The wave took everyone I love, and everything I am wants to know why!” “Why did the waves spare you? Why did it spare me? Why did it spare that baby which will die soon enough? Why does it rain? How many stars are in the sky? We cannot know these things! Just be thankful that the gods spared your life!” shouted the old man. “I will not! To thank them for my life means I thank them for the deaths. I want to find reasons. I want to understand the reasons! But I can’t because there are no reasons. Things happen or do not happen, and that is all there is!”"

"“Are you trying to be smart, boy?” “Trying not to be dumb, sir.”"

"She felt better for all that. A good shouting at somebody always makes you feel better and in control, especially if you aren’t."

"The most important thing was that time had passed, pouring thousands of soothing seconds across the island. People need time to deal with the now before it runs away and becomes the then. And what they need most of all is nothing much happening."

"She was always superstitious about remembering useful things she had been told, at least outside lessons. You would be bound to need it one day. It was a test the world did to make sure you were paying attention."

"Daphne thought: I’m learning things. I hope I find out soon what they are."

"“Why do you ask so many questions, Mau?” “Because I want so many answers!”"

"“Look, I know you think there are no gods—” “Perhaps they do exist. I want to know why they act as if they don’t—I want them to explain!"

"Either the gods are powerful but didn’t save my people, or they don’t exist and all we’re believing in is lights in the sky and pictures in our heads. Isn’t that the truth? Isn’t that important?"

"I want to know why. Why everything. I don’t know the answers, but a few days ago I didn’t know there were questions."

"He is frightened of me, Mau thought. I haven’t hit him or even raised my hand. I’ve just tried to make him think differently, and now he’s scared. Of thinking. It’s magic."

"It can’t be magic, Daphne thought. Magic is just a way of saying “I don’t know.”"

"The gods let you down. When you needed them they weren’t there. That is it, and all of it. To worship them now would be to kneel before bullies and murderers."

"And then his mind caught alight. That’s what the gods are! An answer that will do! Because there’s food to be caught and babies to be born and life to be lived and so there is no time for big, complicated, and worrying answers! Please give us a simple answer, so that we don’t have to think, because if we think, we might find answers that don’t fit the way we want the world to be."

"“All right!” he snapped. “What do you want, demon boy?” “The truth,” said Mau. The priest pointed a finger at him. “No you don’t! You want a special truth. You want the truth to be a truth that you like. You want it to be a pretty little truth that fits what you already believe! But I will tell you a truth you will not like. People want their gods, demon boy. They want to make holy places, whatever you say.”"

"Normally people tended to be very quiet in the parish church. Perhaps they were afraid of waking God up in case He asked pointed questions or gave them a test."

"Perhaps she never stopped after all those days in the church after her mother died, saying every prayer she knew, waiting for even a whisper in reply. She hadn’t been looking for an apology. She wasn’t asking for time to run backward. She just wanted an explanation that was better than “It’s the will of God,” which was grown-up speak for “because.”"

"It was just some kind of a knack, Cahle had said, or at least had partly said and partly gestured, and that being able to make beer so well meant she would be able to get a very fine husband. Her getting married still seem to be the big topic of discussion in the Place. It was like being in a Jane Austen novel, but one with far less clothing."

"“Why are you so much smarter than us?” “I don’t think we are, really. I think it’s just that you have to learn to make things when it’s cold for half the year. I think we got our empire because of the weather. Anything was better than staying at home in the rain. I am pretty certain people looked out of the window and rushed off to discover India and Africa.”"

"And to save time, shall we pretend we’ve had the argument and I won?"

"But he felt pleased. The Grandfathers didn’t wake up. The noise he had heard as a boy was just papervine getting hotter or colder. That was true, and he could prove it. It wasn’t hard to work out, so why is it all I can do not to wet myself? Because papervine moving doesn’t sound interesting and walking skeletons does, that’s why. Somehow they make us feel more important. Even our fears make us feel important, because we fear that we might not be."

"They obeyed, as wise men do when a woman puts her foot down."

"Reality so often fails when it comes to small, satisfying details, she thought."

"“What about the hangman? Doesn’t he do murder, then?” [No, because enough people say it isn’t. That’s what a courtroom is for. It’s where the law happens.] “And that makes it right? Didn’t God say, ‘Thou shalt not kill’?” [Yes. But after that it got complicated.]"

"No one stuck up their hands and there was no voting, but she thought, I wonder if it was like this in ancient Athens? This is pure democracy. People don’t just get a vote; they have a say."

"“Who would want to eat a madman?” Daphne shuddered. “Just so long as they don’t eat me!” “No, they would never eat a woman,” said Mau. “That’s very gentlemanly of them!” “They would feed you to their wives, so that they become beautiful.” There was one of those pauses that are icy-cold and red-hot at the same time. It was stuffed with soundless words, words that should not be said, or said another time, or in a different way, or could be said or needed to be said but couldn’t be said, and they would go on tumbling through the pause forever, or until one of them fell out— “Ahem,” said Daphne, and all the other words escaped forever."

"And when your learned men come here, we will say to them: The world is a globe—the farther you sail, the closer to home you are."

"That was their law. The strongest man led. That made sense. At least, it made sense to strong men."

"“You should call me Your Majesty, eh?” “And how did you become a king, Mr. Cox?” said Daphne. “I’m sure it involved killing people.”"

"They had the well-fed, important, careful look of people who took care not to be at the top. A lot of government people like them had dined at the Hall. They had learned over the years that the top was not a happy or safe place to be. One rung down, that was the place for a sensible man. You advised the king, you had a lot of power, in a quiet kind of way, and you didn’t get murdered anything like as often. And, if the ruler started to get funny ideas and it became a bit of an embarrassment, you just…took care of things."

"“That’s unfair!” said Daphne. “No, it’s science,” said her father. “‘Could have’ isn’t good enough. Nor is ‘might have’! ‘Did’ is the trick.”"

"For the sake of the game she was banned from bowling after Daphne’s father explained that women should not really be allowed to play cricket because they fundamentally didn’t understand it. But it seemed to Daphne that Cahle understood it very well, and therefore tried to get it over with as quickly as possible so that they could get on with something more interesting, since in her opinion the world was overwhelmingly full of things that were more interesting than cricket."

"“But wasn’t it Oliver Cromwell who had him executed?” she managed, trying to sound regal. “Certainly, ma’am. But Oliver Cromwell wasn’t the problem. Charles the First was the problem. Oliver Cromwell was the solution. I’ll grant you he was a bit of a nuisance for a while afterward, but at least his unpleasant rule made people happy to see a king again.”"

"“I notice you didn’t laugh, Mr. Black!” “No, Your Majesty. We are forbidden to laugh at the things kings say, sire, because otherwise we would be at it all day.”"

"This might look like a book set in the Pacific ocean. Nothing could be further from the truth!!!!! It is in fact set in a parallel universe, a phenomenon known only to advanced physicists and anyone who has ever watched any episode of any SF series, anywhere."