The captain looked defensive. "You regard our customs as primitive?"Every society to its own tastes, captain. The wisdom of one society would be folly for another. Who is qualified to judge? Only the universe, which passes the judgment of survival on all peoples.

Soon the sun will set'- is that prophecy? No, it's merely an assertion of faith in the consistency of events.

That's where all of us are standing now, he thought. On the fat kindling of past sins.

Speak up, destiny, speak up! Destiny always seems decades away, but suddenly it's not decades away; it's right now. But maybe destiny is always right now, right here, right this very instant, maybe.

It is said that water is for cattle and farmers, that milk is for children and blood for men.

The trouble with being a priest was that you eventually had to take the advice you gave to others.

Because a doubt is not a denial. Doubt is a powerful tool, and it should be applied to history.