People From New Mexico

"“I can’t believe he’s an evil man.” “Well, if you won’t believe him evil, then think of a reason why he’s not.”"

"I often have these good ideas which are as often ignored."

"He told us that nations of men fell into disorder, so nations of law were set up instead. He told us that nations of law then forgot justice and let the law become a Game, a Game in which the moves and the winning were more important than truth. He told us to seek justice rather than the Game. It was the laws, the rules which made Gaming. It was Gaming made injustice. We can only try something new and hope that it is better."

"There are those who must find fault somewhere, among the dead if they cannot find enough among the living."

"“Forgive my mentioning it. If you are like most young men, you hate having it mentioned.” Mavin could not help laughing. “I hate having it mentioned. Yes. Perhaps…” She paused a moment before going on, “it is because young people are not that sure they are competent.” “There is always that,” agreed the Seer. “But that feeling does not necessarily diminish with age. It is merely challenged less frequently. When one has over sixty years, as I do, then the world assumes we would not have survived without competence. With someone your age, it could always be sheer luck.”"

"You have not reared him to care what others do, or think, or say. How then should he care for education, for is that not the study of what others care about?"

"“Wisdom,” growled the Agirul. “Painful, isn’t it? We assume so much and resist learning to the contrary.”"

"If one may not sleep and one may not act, then what use is there sitting about?"

"“It is hard to do good,” the voice whispered. “Nonsense,” she muttered. “You only have to do it.”"

"“Parasites,” hissed Aunt Six, just loud enough that he could not fail to hear. “No skills of their own, so they must live by preventing others from using common sense.”"

"There is a kind of animal frenzy can be whipped up sometimes among fools and children, often using religion as an excuse for it. When it happens, it is wise to be elsewhere."

"I’ll tell you, nothing is so dangerous as ambition in a man who cares not who stands in his way."

"Mavin shook her head, but withheld any judgment. If there was anything she had learned in long travels here and there, it was that to most people in the world, every unfamiliar thing was considered unacceptably strange."

"“Oh, but I am soiled beyond all cleansing.…” “Nonsense,” said Mavin impatiently. “You are silly beyond all belief, but that is your sole sin I am aware of, young man.”"

"Merced flushed. “You mock me, Messenger.” “I instruct you, Priest. Pay heed. When you believe that messengers arrive from God, it is wise to listen to everything they say, not merely when they recite accepted doctrine.” She was ashamed of herself almost immediately. He turned so pale, so wan. Well. It was only as she had suspected from the beginning. Many men had a strong tendency to tell God how to behave, and religious men were more addicted to this habit than most."

"“He is a Seer,” Mavin said sullenly, aware of her lack of logic. “Poof. Seers. Sometimes they know everything about something no one cares about. Often they know nothing about something important.”"

"“How is that possible?” “To a Wizard, anything is possible,” the Dervish said with more than a hint of scorn. “Or so they lead themselves to believe.”"

"“Every promise is like that,” she whispered to herself as she stopped counting strides for a moment. “Every promise has arms and legs and tentacles reaching off into other things and other places, strange bumps and protrusions you don’t see when you make the promise. Then you find you’ve take up some great, lumpy thing you never knew existed until you see it for the first time in the light of morning.”"

"His understanding is not great, but his sense of power and treachery is unfailing."

"I have discovered something else, Throsset of Dowes. And that is that men give women jewels when they have absolutely no idea what might please them and are not willing to take time to think about it."

"Mother, though of Gamesman caste, seemed to have no Talent of any kind. She was so beautiful she did not need to be anything else."

"Learning more was merely ordinary to me, but traveling—that was a wonderful treat. At least so I thought until we had done some of it. Then it turned out that traveling was doing everything one had to do at home with none of the conveniences for doing it."

"Mendost is not long on thinking, but he has a clear picture of himself as he believes he is."

"“And now you must decide which pain you will bear. That of being as you were. Or that of being as you are.” I brought myself up to my knees. That was as far as I could get. The hand that had held the tea cup appeared again, a full cup in it, the steam rising into my nose. I gulped it, interrupting the gulps with sobs. “Pain of being as I am? I don’t understand.” “But of course you do. The pain of curiosity unsatisfied, of ambition unfulfilled. The pain of love unreturned, of devotion undeserved. The pain of friendship rejected, of leadership ridiculed. The pain of loneliness and labor. Silly child. Did you think living was easy?”"

"“I do not like the thought of compulsion.” He shook his head at me. “Not compulsion, Jinian. Information, more like. It is as though I had been given a map which showed both the good roads and the swamps. Is it compulsion to avoid the swamps if one knows they are there?”"

"“Well, why didn’t the silly Bloomians think of that?” “Religion, I imagine, friend Chance. Religion serves to prevent thought in many cases, and I’d say it had done so here. They started with the presumption that anything as complex as the mill must exist for a good reason. Then they spent all their time inventing a good reason—and some god to be responsible for it—rather than looking for a sensible solution to their problem.”"

"This is the problem with too much Schooling. One learns to manipulate the labels in a way that the Gamesmistresses approve, and one doesn’t realize that things do not always act in accordance with the labels in the real world. One doesn’t realize that the labels, come to that, are often wrong."

"“The old ones, Ganver and the rest, they pretend it has significance. Oh, I recall that pretense, Seer. In my youth I was shown many things. ‘Watch and learn,’ they said to me. ‘Bao,’ they said to me. So I watched, but it was only nonsense. They showed me this and showed me that, but it meant nothing. It was only pretense, done to mystify us young ones and keep us subservient. The sign has no power. It is nothing. A symbol only; a symbol of our degradation.”"

"Why are we wondering why the world wishes itself dead when we are doing nothing to heal it?"

"There always has to be someone to see things first."

"“Better late than not at all,” came a voice from the ranked multitude. “Better a tardy lover than a lonely bed.”"

"We had what we thought was the answer and we troubled to look no further."

"We might be able to do something. If we were very lucky, it might even be the right thing."

"I have in recent years often reflected upon memory. One takes it so for granted. One remembers with such facile infallibility. And one finds with such shock – at least it was a shock to me – that memory isn’t true."

"One hates to think that all of existence is trivial."

"It went on, “If you accuse, then you must judge.” “You let your accusers be your judges?” asked Peter, astounded. “Who else should be satisfied?” it asked. “If one’s accusers cannot be satisfied, what is justice?” “One’s accusers might be mad,” Peter suggested, very unwisely I thought, considering where we were. “Mad, and incapable of being satisfied.”"

"Sometimes there is such crowding that there is irritation, and this makes fear or anger; and following fear comes meetings of councils to make regulations; and following regulations is further irritation at the laws that are made."

"There was a great mob of the Oracle’s Brotherhood, dancing in their ribbons, chanting and shouting in a zealot’s parody of purpose, a frantic anarchy that could see no farther than the next bit of inflammatory oratory being shouted on every corner."

"The tallest Father preached. He stood before us in robes of gleaming white, surrounded by the smoke of sweet incense, fondling his groin from time to time as he talked of St. Phallus. St. Phallus loomed behind the altar, erect, massive, as though ready to rape the world. It was not the first such monument I had seen. Wherever men were ignorant and hungry for power, I had seen these things, though never one as large as this. Father fondled his groin and preached. “Holy fruit of St. Phallus,” he said. “Clean seed planted in filthy ground,” he said. “Corrupted by dirty woman-wombs,” he said."

"“I don’t know the sensible plant,” said Cat wonderingly. “Where may it be found?” “It cannot be found,” the Gardener replied. “It is extinct.”"

"It cheered me a little. Enmities among one’s enemies are always comforting."

"They were betrayed, Oracle. Ganver tells me there is no anger greater than that of a zealot betrayed."

"He rejoices to have done with the dead. The living need our attentions more, he says. Who can argue with that?"

"“We are kinsmen, therefore allies. You will forgive me if I do not say ‘kinspersons.’ I learned my English in a more elegant setting, in a more elegant time.”"

"I have often wondered why anger is considered by some Western religions to be a sin. It is such a marvelous protection against evil."

"“To us it does not seem that long ago, possibly because our children hear stories told around the fire of things which happened fifteen centuries back. Such stories carry an immediacy one does not get from books.…” “Which is why some countries carry such old grudges,” offered Marianne. “What children learn at their grandmas’ knees they act upon as though it happened yesterday.” He nodded gravely, even sadly. “Perhaps that is true. Those who have an oral tradition full of old wrongs and old revenge do seem to fight the same battles forever. If the Irish were not forever singing of their ancient wrongs—or writing poetry about it…well, we see the result in every morning’s newspapers.”"

"The difference between a true religion—and there are many which share aspects of truth—and a dangerous cult is only this: In the one the individual is freed to grow and live and learn; in the other the individual is subordinated to the will of a hierarchy, enslaved to the purposes of that hierarchy, forbidden to learn except what the cult would teach. You have only to look at the rules which govern the servants of a religion to know whether its god is God indeed, or devil!"

"“The answers to everything are in the books,” he said to her. “It is in knowing which books, of course, and where to look.”"

"Lion had few doubts about his actions. As he had said on more than one occasion, “I may be wrong, but I am never in doubt.”"

"“I was always willing to help you,” she replied, “as you would have known if you had stopped accusing me and listened.”"