Like the brief doomed flare of exploding suns that registers dimly on blind men's eyes, the beginning of the horror passed almost unnoticed; in the shriek of what followed, in fact, was forgotten and perhaps not connected to the horror at all.
William Peter BlattyYet I think the demon's target is not the possessed; it is us . . . the observers . . . every person in this house. And I think---I think the point is to make us despair; to reject our own humanity, Damien: to see ourselves as ultimately bestial; as ultimately vile and putrescent; without dignity; ugly; unworthy.
William Peter BlattyEvery man that ever lived craved perfect happiness, the detective poignantly reflected. But how can we have it when we know weโre going to die? Each joy was clouded by the knowledge it would end. And so nature had implanted in us a desire for something unattainable? No. It couldnโt be. It makes no sense. Every other striving implanted by nature had a corresponding object that wasnโt a phantom. Why this exception? the detective reasoned. It was nature making hunger when there wasnโt any food. We continue. We go on. Thus death proved life.
William Peter BlattyWe mourn the blossoms of May because they are to whither; but we know that May is one day to have its revenge upon November, by the revolution of that solemn circle which never stops - which teaches us in our height of hope, ever to be sober, and in our depth of desolation, never to despair.
William Peter Blatty