By mid-morning a rain as fine as silk spills was weaving over the lake.

Time passed so much more slowly than space.

God, what pathetic creatures had inherited the earth, to walk a little while with their eyes upon the stars and turn their gaze too soon upon the ground that held their feet!

a man can break God's laws and be forgiven. That's what they teach us. But when he breaks Nature's laws, there's no forgiveness - and there's no escape. Sooner or later he pays the penalty, or his children pay it - or his children's children. It doesn't matter much. It must be paid.

it was a sly trick of God's to give a man work to do - it kept him from asking questions that God couldn't answer.

Listen - man is a child of Nature. When he turns against his mother - he's done! He may not find out about it right away, but he will.

Religion is passionate, reckless, destructive, idol-smashing. It's a martyr burning at the stake. It's a crown of thorns and a cross.