c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
Gods are always ready, their hands are always full with flowers. They simply watch and wait. Whenever somebody becomes a Subhuti, empty, whenever somebody is absent, suddenly the flowers start showering.
— Osho, And The Flowers Showered Discourses On Zen
If they are gods, why do you lament them? If you lament them, you must no longer regard them as gods.
— Heraclitus, Fragments
Joe has sense enough to knowHe is a god.So many gods don't know.
— Langston Hughes, Selected Poems
The gods whispered to you once, Finnikin. And you listened. But they are proud and refuse to speak to those who do not believe that there is something out there mightier than the minds and intellect of mortals.
— Melina Marchetta, Finnikin of the Rock
But if you write a version of Ragnarok in the twenty-first century, it is haunted by the imagining of a different end of things. We are a species of animal which is bringing about the end of the world we were born into. Not out of evil or malice, or not mainly, but because of a lopsided mixture of extraordinary cleverness, extraordinary greed, extraordinary proliferation of our own kind, and a biologically built-in short-sightedness.
— A.S. Byatt, Ragnarok
I see the gods—the names, images, stories—as the poetic encapsulation of our human experience, our relationship with the ineffable forces that shape human life. While this makes the gods no thing, it does not make them nothing. I see the gods as representing very real, powerful, even dangerous forces. I believe the gods are real. It doesn’t matter what we call them or don’t call them. They are real and dangerous, and we will contend with them. This for me is the message of the Bacchae. - M. J. Lee, "Being Human When Surrounded by Greek Gods
— John Halstead, Godless Paganism: Voices of Non-Theistic Pagans
It is the distinction between transpersonal and interpersonal relationships with deities which sets naturalistic polytheism apart from neopolytheism. Interpersonal relationships are between two or more persons and are focused upon individual perspectives. A transpersonal relationship extends beyond the individual perspective, transcending the distinctions of ego and personality. For example:A neopolytheist has a close personal relationship with a modernized personification of Thor, to whom she prays to daily.A naturalistic polytheist practices breathing as a sacrament which allows her to focus on life’s connection to the atmosphere, altering her perception of separateness, resulting in viewing the at-mosphere as a deity." - Glen Gordon, "Naturalism and the Gods
— John Halstead, Godless Paganism: Voices of Non-Theistic Pagans
My gods are not tame. They do not always come when they are called.This is not a failure of ritual or a weakness of belief. It is the nature of my gods. I would no more expect a god to “show up” in my ritual space than I would expect to be able to call a mountain into my living room. That is simply not the nature of mountains. If I want to meet a mountain, I am the one who must move." - Alison Leigh Lilly, "Gods Like Mountains, Gods Like Mist
— John Halstead, Godless Paganism: Voices of Non-Theistic Pagans
My gods are not always like human beings. Sometimes my gods are like mountains, sometimes they are like mist. Sometimes I seek my gods in the forests, sometimes in ritual space or the beat of the drum. Some-times my gods are inscrutable or apophatic, and my relationship with them is one of longing and seeking rather than invocation and offering. And sometimes it is the mountains themselves who are gods, and the rivers and trees who speak." - Alison Leigh Lilly, "Gods Like Mountains, Gods Like Mist
— John Halstead, Godless Paganism: Voices of Non-Theistic Pagans
Above all, we new pagans must learn to know and honor the Many as they manifest in our own time and place. While the ways of the ancestors—the Received Tradition—must always inform our thought and action, we are truest to our heritage when we think and act as natives of here and now. Our mandate is to be the pagans for our own time, our own place, our own post-modern, science-driven Western culture. This is the only kind of pagan that we can honestly be; anything else is pretense." - Steven Posch, "Lost Gods of the Witches: A User’s Guide to Post-Ragnarok Paganism
— John Halstead, Godless Paganism: Voices of Non-Theistic Pagans
If gods are transcendent ideas, then the idea of a god IS a god.
— Alan Moore, Promethea, Vol. 5
Such is the world that I can no longer bear to say prayers, for I am sick of speaking to the gods who choose to do nothingbut as they wish.
— Alcaeus of Mytilene, 612 BC
After several stages of individualistic austerity the foundation is made for universalism. So this individualistic austerity should not be considered as illusion. From this Causal body so many forms of gods and goddesses like Shiva, Krishna, Kali can be seen. This has two aspects. One, by self-exertion and another is spontaneous.
— Sri Jibankrishna or Diamondibankrishna or Diamond
Natural polytheism embraces the science of ecology as a basic metaphor for theological inquiry. In other words, natural polytheism seeks to understand our relationship with the gods as an aspect of interrelated systems of being, consciousness and meaning. Its focus is, first and foremost, on the wildernesses that defy our carefully mapped boundary lines, that penetrate even the most civilized cultural centers and underlie our most cherished notions of what it means to be human." - Alison Leigh Lilly, "Natural Theology: Polytheism Beyond the Pale
— John Halstead, Godless Paganism: Voices of Non-Theistic Pagans
Prophecy of Balance (Year of the Cat)“There must be balance,” Source repeated,“For mankind to flourish on the Earth-Throne he’s seated.”His life is a gift from the gods, they created,And the power to wield choice, but the outcome is weighted.Seeing the harm and chaos humans manifest,Wore heavily upon the goodness within their immortal breast.But the gods disagreed, and two groups they split,Each one possessing their own talent and wit.One side fights for freedom of Man’s soul,But the other wants slavery, and Man to control.So Source cried, “Enough! Now Observers will be sent,To assist with human minds you’ve cleverly bent!”For balance, the pendulum won’t sway too far to one side,And Universal Laws each god must abide.The gods agreed, but did not stop with their plan,To influence mankind as much as they can.
— Kendi Thompson, Year of the Cat: The Thirteenth Realm
All the gods know is destinations.
— Sylvia Plath, Ariel: The Restored Edition
Note to self," Joel commented. "When you go into Arious it's a 'no touchee, no zappee' situation! Paelen tapped Emily. "I suggest we try it again, just so I can see Joel's face when he gets zapped!" "Let's not, but say we did," Emily said.
— Kate O'Hearn
The insurance companies involved had all claimed that this was, by any reasonable standards, an act of God. But, Dirk had argued, which god? Britain was constitutionally a Christian monotheistic state, and therefore any “act of God” defined in a legal document must refer to the Anglican chap in the stained glass and not to some polytheistic thug from Norway.
— Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt
The reindeer are immortal. They are, in fact, the eight demiurges of reindeer-kind, and this accounts for their flying. Their names might sound whimsical, but they are the closest the human tongue can come to approximating the true names of the caribou lords. Rudolph, far from being the adorable, earnest fellow of the tale, is in fact Ruyd-al-Olafforid, the All-Destroying Flame of the Yukon. His mother was Kali and his father was an ice floe. His nose appears red because his body is full of coals, and his eyes flare with a terrible conflagration of the soul. The tips of his antlers are like candles in the snowy wind. He is not vengeful, but he is the light in the dark of winter, consuming and giving life at the same time. Your carrots only make the lord of flame stronger.
— Catherynne M. Valente, The Bread We Eat in Dreams
I'd rather die fighting over great poets than over gods.
— Salman Rushdie
The death of one god is the death of all.
— Wallace Stevens, The Collected Poems
Gods are great," said Atsula, slowly, as if she were comprehending a great secret. "But the heart is greater. For it is from our hearts they come, and to our hearts they shall return...
— Neil Gaiman, American Gods
Are we to conclude that these chief gods, Zeus and Yahweh, did not wish humankind to have moral consciousness and the arts of civilization? It is a mystery indeed.The most obvious explanation is that the creative artist and poet and saint must fight the actual (as contrasted to the ideal) gods of our society—the god of conformism as well as the gods of apathy, material success, and exploitative power. These are the “idols” of our society that are worshiped by multitudes of people.
— Rollo May, The Courage to Create
Gods, like men, can die. They just die harder, and smite the earth with their passing.
— Max Gladstone, Three Parts Dead
The gods are nothing more than the creations of humans needing something to blame for their problems.
— Andy Peloquin, Blade of the Destroyer
The gods cared nothing for those they touched. Especially war gods.
— F.T. McKinstry, Outpost
It was no wonder they thought us to be immortal––our nightly celebrations put Olympus to shame.
— Katlyn Charlesworth, While Rome Burned
In a world where seasons of planting harvests and inundation ruled life and death, it was imperative to bring the gods into daily life to help things along. The more a king invested in festivals of cyclical renewal, the more prosperity the gods bestowed. But if the gods were ignored, bad floods would result, and that meant meager planting and poor harvest, which led in turn to drought, pestilence, disease and death.
— Kara Cooney, The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt
Gods are fragile beings. They depend on the hospitality of those who believe in them
— Bangambiki Habyarimana, The Great Pearl of Wisdom
They think they are invincible. But, the truth is, Nova––gods fall just as hard as mortals. The only difference is... gods do not see the fall coming until it is too late.
— Katlyn Charlesworth, While Rome Burned
The wheel of Rome spins constantly. Gods rise and fall, mortals live and die, and round and round we go. We all play a part in that wheel... And I make sure the wheel never stops spinning. You see, if the wheel stops, balance is lost.
— Katlyn Charlesworth, While Rome Burned
Visions from the gods are gifts alone for those who wander.
— Roman Payne, Europa: Limited Time Edition
Her smile grew bitter as desert brine. "The gods may forgive Ista all day long. But if Ista does not forgive Ista, the gods may go hang themselves.
— Lois McMaster Bujold, Paladin of Souls
One should not inquire too closely where ancient legends about the gods are concerned
—  many things which reason rejects acquire some color of probability once you bring a god into the story
Be confidently assured that any ‘gods’ that we build will always have veracious appetites, and sooner or later they will gorge themselves on that which built them.
— Craig D. Lounsbrough
Those ruffians, the Gods, shan't have it all their own way,-- her notion being that the Gods, who never lost a chance of hurting, thwarting and spoiling human lives were seriously put out if, all the same, you behaved like a lady.
— Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
He’s not my god.”“Mine either. Who are you to judge me?”“Gods should always be judged.
— Michael LaRocca, The Last Titan
The Greeks used to say that gods and animals were born whole. It is only humans who need to develop, that they become complete only with the help of a community. It’s the state of that community that can turn a human into a god or a beast.” She dropped the bee into the terrarium and returned it slowly to the table. “Maybe that’s bullshit. I happen to like the beasts.
— Christopher Bollen, Orient
I fear that there will be no neat ending to this, in the manner of the old Greek plays. Where the Gods descend, and all is explained, and tidied away.
— Paul McAuley, Something Coming Through
In God’s third day we should reveal God to the world around us.
— Sunday Adelaja
When I look at the multitude of the gods of the past held in esteem by great civilisations now cast aside as pagan idols, I wonder wether tomorrow the gods we hold in high esteem won't suffer the same fate.
— Bangambiki Habyarimana
You can't see both sides of one coin at once, can you, child? The god of money always keeps a secret.The god of money was also the god of spies.
— Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Crime
Nobody can turn you into a slave unless you allow them. Nobody can make you afraid of anything, unless you allow them. Nobody can tell you to do something wrong, unless you allow them. God never created you to be a slave, man did. God never created division or set up any borders between brothers, man did. God never told you hurt or kill another, man did. Why is man your god and not the Creator?
— Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem
Faith should mean something. Gods . . . should stand for something, not chop and change with every breeze that blows. Gods should be worshipped for the truths they represent, not what party favours they might dispense.”-Razor Eddie the Punk God of the Straight Razor
— Simon R. Green, Tales from the Nightside
As though I had displeased the gods with my erotic hubris, I managed to be the only bisexual girl in the history of colleges who failed to arouse the interest of the campus queers immediately upon setting foot in the dorms.
— Valentine Glass, Between Kay and You: A Bisexual Girl's Cumming-of-Age Confession
Having spent all of my decision-making years as a Pagan of one stripe or another, I have long found it condescending at best to assume one cannot worship the old gods or believe in magick without breaking out the leather bracers, wings, or Ye Broken Olde English.
— Thomm Quackenbush, Pagan Standard Times: Essays on the Craft
Any object, intensely regarded, may be a gate of access to the incorruptible eon of the gods.
— James Joyce
If you can't feel the touch of the gods on your own, it greatly behooves you to work on that before some lecher tells you his touch is just as good.
— Thomm Quackenbush, Pagan Standard Times: Essays on the Craft
Atal felt a spectral change in the air, as if the laws of earth were bowing to greater laws.
— H.P. Lovecraft
I can't believe you cheated!" "I can't believe you didn't know it. Man, what kind of got are you? I never knew stupidity had a divine representative. Guess I was wrong, huh?" "You're such an asshole."-Phobos & Diemos
— Sherrilyn Kenyon
And if the earth Gods wreak vengeance on the sinless and the sinful alike, then this further destruction cannot be punishment for sins, but is in the way of all nature.
— Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon
The gods preferring their libations diluted with rainwater and mixed with freshly cut grass.
— Thomm Quackenbush, Pagan Standard Times: Essays on the Craft
The gods speak to us, and irony is their language.
— Tim W. Burke, The Flesh Sutra
Think of them like gods, Janice said, because that’s what they are. The nape of a human neck is especially easy to see through – that’s why they love it when we bow our heads. It doesn’t have anything to do with praying. Prayers bore them.
— Kathryn Davis, Duplex
You want to meet your gods, you filthy cockroaches? Tell the evil sods that Molly Templar says hello when you see them.
— Stephen Hunt, The Court of the Air
Everyone you meet is an aspect of the gods and has a lesson to teach you.
— Thomm Quackenbush, Pagan Standard Times: Essays on the Craft
The gods are cruel not because they make us work. They are cruel because they allow us to hope.
— Robert Jackson Bennett, City of Stairs
A silhouette stepped toward us, and another wave of pure power ripped through the throne room. "I'm only going to warn you once, Cronus," said a voice, dark and dangerous. "Get the hell away from my wife.
— Aimee Carter, Goddess Interrupted
People don't believe in gods because they can't wrap their minds around the idea of someone allowing all the terrible things in the world to happen.
— Kaitlin Bevis, Persephone
Men knew better than they realized, when they placed the abode of the gods beyond the reach of gravity.
— Arthur C. Clarke, 2010: Odyssey Two
We used to make gods, and we used to make sacrifices to them, and they would reward us. We're still doing it and we still makes the sacrifices - I don't know how many cows die every year to keep Burger Clown alive, but I know it's a lot - but we don't know what to do with the gods once we have them.
— Michael Montoure, Counting From Ten
At a great distance appeared with the same pomp the sheep of Thebes, the dog of Bubastis, the cat of Phoebe, the crocodile of Arsinoe, the goat of Mendes, and all the inferior gods of Egypt, who came to pay homage to the great ox, to the mighty Apis, as powerful as Isis, Osiris, and Horus, united together.In the midst of the demi-gods, forty priests carried an enormous basket, filled with sacred onions. These were, it is true, gods, but they resembled onions very much.("The White Bull")
— Voltaire
He knew that he wielded magic as well as iron, and yet looked away from it, and made himself fables to explain his own presence in the world, and sought gods who might be more powerful than himself. It would be very comfortable if there were someone more powerful than himself, on this Road, on this particular morning, someone to guide him, even someone to blame....
— C.J. Cherryh, Fortress of Eagles
A man is the creator – he creates everything – all these deities. Nobody wants to keep a man like man. They will always try to drag down human being from his higher place and so they created different gods and goddesses. Seeing all these anomalies it seems that all these people have tried to displace man from his higher place to downwards.
— Sri Jibankrishna or Diamond
Humanity's relationship with the Divine is one of mutual give and take, and we mutually opted to part ways. But this perpetuation - setting up a way of thinking, and just letting it run - it doesn't always yield good results.
— Robert Jackson Bennett, City of Stairs
Well, it's nice to know that the Trolls made it this far south,' Ulath said. 'I'd hate to have to go looking for them.''Their Gods were guiding them, Ulath,' Tynian pointed out.'You've never talked with the Troll-Gods, I see,' Ulath laughed. 'Their sense of direction is a little vague - probably because their compass only has two directions on it.''Oh?''North and not-north. It makes finding places a little difficult.
— David Eddings, The Hidden City
So, in other words, we tore our world apart to get rid of these gods. And they were very bad gods, right?' I say, just to be clear. 'Not just messing around and having funsies with their adoring followers but truly wicked and vile?
— Liz de Jager, Banished
Humanized gods are too small to captivate my imagination, or be worthy of my fullest allegiance.
— Craig D. Lounsbrough
Gods must be crazyFlowers must be daisyClouds must be hazyWinds must be lazyWhat else it could be…My heart must be in love lately…
— Heenashree Khandelwal
I don’t belong here,” I said. “I don’t even believe in gods.”“Yeah,” he said. “That’s how we all started. Once you start believing in them? It doesn’t get any easier.
— Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief
Wizards don’t believe in gods. They didn’t deny their existence, of course. They just didn’t believe. It was nothing personal; they weren’t actually rude about it. Gods were a visible part of narrativium that made things work, that gave the world its purpose. It was just that they were best avoided close up.
— Terry Pratchett, The Science of Discworld III: Darwin's Watch
All living things believe in someone superior to them, and cannot live unless they blindly follow them. Then, the objects of their faith try to escape this crushing pressure by seeking another being that is more superior to them to believe in. And they, in turn, seek a stronger being still. That is how all kings are born. That is how... all gods are born. –Aizen
— Tite Kubo
...every god serves a purpose and every faith fills a need.
— Michael G.  Williams, Wrapped In White: Thirteen Tales of Spectres, Ghosts, and Spirits
As someone has said "gods" is not really the plural of God; God has no plural.
— C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms
शान्ताकारं भुजगशयनं पद्मनाभं सुरेशं विश्वाधारं गगनसदृश्यं मेघवर्णं शुभाङ्गम्।लक्ष्मीकान्तं कमलनयनं योगिभिर्ध्यानगम्यं वन्दे विष्णु भवभयहरं सर्वलोकैकनाथम्।I bow to Vishnu, Master of Universe unquestionably,Who rests on great serpent bed, peaceful perpetually,From His navel sprouts Lotus of Creative Power surely,He the Supreme Lord of cosmos undeniably does be.- 146 -	 He supports the entire universe and all-pervading be,He dark as clouds with beautiful Lakshmi form glowingly,He the lotus-eyed, whom yogis see by meditation only,He destroyer of `Samsar’ fear – the Lord of all `loks’ be.- 147 -
— Munindra Misra
So they watch over us like gods of old. Our patron sinners.
— Hal Duncan, Scruffians! Stories of Better Sodomites
Women! Whether human or divine, what man can ever truly understand them?
— Debra Holland, Sower of Dreams
Do you see those dull stars?" She outlined the formation with her finger."A pentagram," whispered Scott."Yes, but not just any pentagram. Take a look through the telescope."Scott approached the eyepiece."They're not stars!" "What do they look like?" asked Jenn.Scott studied each of the figures."It can't be," he stuttered. "Planets?" "Exactly what I thought." "But how? They're completely off their orbits.""The earth's off its axis." "Mount Etna erupted." "Greece had a earthquake.""The whole universe has gone mad!" Scott exclaimed. "And my friends have supernatural powers," said Jenn.
— Katie Mattie, M.A.J.I.C. and the Oracle at Delphi
Oda once said that when you speak excessively, it isn't necessarily communicating,” Jimmi says as he hunches over, resting his elbows on his knees. He yawns and doesn't cover his mouth.“What does that mean?”“It means that you can shut your mouth and still say what you need to say using the other gifts the gods gave us.
— Celia McMahon, Skye
That was the message. For me, alone among mortals, the gods send their messenger to tell me to stop whining. That’ll teach me to go hide in a temple.
— Megan Whalen Turner, The Queen of Attolia
Why do the Gods make kings and queens if not to protect the ones who can't protect themselves?
— George R.R. Martin, A Storm of Swords
The gods," he said. "Imprisoned in a thought. And perhaps they were never more than a dream.
— Terry Pratchett, Sourcery
Good and evil have nothing to do with gods. It has to do with us.
— Matthew Woodring Stover, Caine's Law
Gods fight, Ragnar went on earnestly, and some win, some lose. The Christian god is losing. Otherwise why would we be here? Why would we be winning? The gods reward us if we give them respect, but the Christian god doesn't help his people, does he? They weep rivers of tears for him, they pray to him, they give him their silver, & we come along & slaughter them! Their god is pathetic. If he had any real power then we wouldn't be here, would we?
— Bernard Cornwell, The Last Kingdom
Away with all these gods and godlings
—  they are worse than useless.
In the early twelfth century century the Virgin had been the supreme protectress of civilisation. She had taught a race of tough and ruthless barbarians the virtues of tenderness and compassion. The great cathedrals of the Middle Ages were her dwelling places upon earth. In the Renaissance, while remaining the Queen of Heaven, she became also the human mother in whom everyone could recognise qualities of warmth and love and approachability...The stabilising, comprehensive religions of the world, the religions which penetrate to every part of a man's being--in Egypt, India or China--gave the female principle of creation at least as much importance as the male, and wouldn't have taken seriously a philosophy that failed to include them both...It's a curious fact that theall-male religions have produced no religious imagery--in most cases have positively forbidden it. The great religious art of the world is deeply involved with the female principle.
— Kenneth Clark, Civilisation
The gods were there to do the duties of a megaphone, because who else would people listen to?
— Terry Pratchett, Pyramids
Maybe we are less than our dreams, but that less would make us more than some gods would dream of.
— Corita Kent
I mean, it's one thing saying you've got the best god, but sayin' it's the only real one is a bit of a cheek, in my opinion. I know where I can find at least two any day of the week. And they say everyone starts out bad and only gets good by believin' in Om, which is frankly damn nonsense.
— Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum
I am all that hath been, and is, and shall be; and my veil no mortal has hitherto raised.
— Plutarch
When he won, it proved that God was on his side. When he didn't win, it meant that God wanted him to try harder.
— P.J. Sullivan, Mostly Rapscallions: Salient Sillies about the Rich and Infamous in History
That the writers of the Bible recognized a plurality of gods -- were polytheists -- is proved by the following 'And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us' (Gen. iii, 22). 'Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods?' (Ex. xv, 11.) 'Among the gods, there is none like unto thee, O Lord' (Ps. Ixxxvi, 8). 'The Lord is a great God, and a great king above all gods' (Ps. xcv, 3). 'Thou shalt not revile the gods' (Ex. xxii, 28).Monotheism, the doctrine of one god, is not merely the worship of one god, but the belief in the existence of one god only. Many were monotheistic in worship -- worshiped one god, their national deity -- while at the same time they were polytheistic in belief -- believed in the existence of many gods. The Jews who worshiped Jehovah have been called monotheists. And yet, for a thousand years, they believed in the existence of Kemosh, Baal, Moloch, Tammuz, and other deities. They believed that Jehovah was their national god and that they owed allegiance to him; just as the subjects of an earthly king profess their loyalty to him without denying the existence of other kings.
— John E. Remsburg, The Christ
It was a survival thing: he didn't answer back, didn't say anything about job security for prison guards, debate the nature of repentance, rehabilitation, or rates of recidivism. He didn't say anything funny or clever, and, to be on the safe side, when he was talking to a prison official, whenever possible, he didn't say anything at all. Speak when you're spoken to. Do your own time. Get out. Go home. ... Rebuild a life.
— Neil Gaiman, American Gods
And Jabim is the Lord of broken things, who sitteth behind the house to lament the things that are cast away. And there he sitteth lamenting the broken things until the worlds be ended, or until someone cometh to mend the broken things. Or sometimes he sitteth by the river's edge to lament the forgotten things that drift upon it.A kindly god is Jabim, whose heart is sore if anything be lost.
— Lord Dunsany, The Gods of Pegana
The pagan gods are not dead, but can return to topple science with superstition and modern man with bestial pleasures that pre-date civilisation.
— Richard Luckhurst
Of course, of course. Mr. Buzzby, did it ever occur to you that a god may live, figuratively, a dog's life?''Eh?''Gods are transfigured, you know. They go up in smoke, as it were. In smoke and flame. They become pure flame, pure spirit, creatures with no visible body.'("A Visitor From Egypt")
— Frank Belknap Long, The Mummy Walks Among Us
Nico di Angelo came into Olympus to a hero's welcome, his father right behind him, despite the fact that Hades was only supposed to visit Olympus in winter solstice. The God of the dead looked stunned when his relatives clapped him on the back. I doubt he'd ever got such an enthusiastic welcome before.
— Rick Riordan, The Last Olympian
I'd had years of practise looking dumb when people threw out Greek names I didn't know. It's a skill of mine. Annabeth keeps telling me to read a book of Greek myths, but I don't see the need. It's easier just to have folks explain stuff.
— Rick Riordan, The Demigod Diaries
It was said that the gods favored fools because they were entertaining to watch.
— N.K. Jemisin, The Killing Moon
There are gods, but there is no God; and all gods become devils eventually.
— Robert Anton Wilson, The Widow's Son
Gods should be iridescent, like the rainbow in the storm. Man creates a God in his own image, and the gods grow old along with the men that made them... But the god-stuff roars eternally, like the sea, with too vast a sound to be heard.
— D.H. Lawrence
She opened one eye. “The goddess Artemis is going to talk to the supreme god Zeus … about me?” “Yup.” She closed her eyes again. “I’m so not okay.
— Rosanna Leo, Sunburn
Every nation is part of the history we inherit, blacks and whites, slaves and gods; we have no other option, embracing each other.
— M.F. Moonzajer
Lord, she really hoped that was his penis and that Greek gods didn’t pad their briefs.
— Rosanna Leo, Sweet Hell
The pinecone is a fearsome tool of destruction!-Bacchus
— Rick Riordan, The Mark of Athena
But when you have order, you don't need Gods. When everything is well ordered and disciplined then nothing is unexpected. If you understand everything,' I said carefully, 'then there's no room left for magic. It's only when you're lost and frightened and in the dark that you call on the Gods, and they like us to call on them. It makes them feel powerful, and that's why they like us to live in chaos.
— Bernard Cornwell, Enemy of God
The gods are real crazy when it comes to prayers. They listen to some sometimes and do not listen to some sometimes. But the whole world prays, nonetheless-All the time
— Aporva Kala, Life... Love... Kumbh...
I have a serious question.""I will give a serious answer.""Can a god be killed?"The humor drained from Roman's face. "Well, that depends on if you're a pantheist or a Marxist.""What's the difference?""The first believes that divinity is the universe. The two are synonymous and nonexistent without each other. The second believes in anthropocentrism, seeing man in the center of the universe, and god as just an invention of human conscience. Of course, if you follow Nietzsche, you can kill God just by thinking about him.
— Ilona Andrews, Gunmetal Magic
Organizing gods is like herding cats into straight lines. They don't take naturally to it.
— Neil Gaiman, American Gods
We are our own gods.
— Zeena Schreck
Listen, gods die when they are forgotten. People too. But the land's still here. The good places, and the bad. The land isn't going anywhere. And neither am I.
— Neil Gaiman, American Gods
Not that I'm complaining. It was better than my old dream, where Harma Dogshead was feeding me to her pigs.""Harma's dead." Jon said."But not the pigs. They look at me the way Slayer used to look at ham. Not to say that the wildlings mean us harm. Aye, we hacked their gods apart and made them burn the pieces, but we gave them onion soup. What's a god compared to a nice bowl of onion soup? I could do with mine myself.
— George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons
I wish for today and dream of yesterday. If the gods should hold me in their favor, then I shall hope for tomorrow.
— Nadège Richards, Burning Bridges
If it had only been for the immortality gene, humanity would have eventually managed to turn it back on. At one point in history, they would have embarked on a quest to become immortals, like the gods. But they couldn’t and the whole of humanity still can’t and won’t.
— Mario Stinger, Destined for Oblivion: As Nature Intended
Don’t interfere with false gods, you’ll get the gold paint all over your hands.
— Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
We are pagans. We deify each other.
— Lara Biyuts, The Dome
We all think we are gods, when we are no more than gnats.
— Caedem Marquez, A Boyfriend Before Christmas
Sometimes I feel like I'm writing pornography in the notebook of the gods.
— Grant Morrison, The Invisibles, Vol. 6: Kissing Mister Quimper
But I found signs of their trespass: a burned patch planted with a fistful of grain, a tree felled or stripped of fruit, a deer strung up in a snare. I never saw a poacher. They were too cunning, and for cause: the foresters would take a man's hands and eyes and leave him to the mercy of the wolves for such an offense. It was bad enough to steal the king's game, but snares were an abomnination. The gods abhor weapons that leave the hand, coward' weapons such as javelins, bows and arrows, slings. No man or beast should die by such means.
— Sarah Micklem, Firethorn
However, what he wanted was impossible: the serenity of the Gods cannot be achieved by the sword.
— Andrew Ashling, The Invisible Hands - Part 2: Castling
What is the point of searching for love, when love is nothing but an illusion?
— Marie Lu, The Rose Society
The whole thing's illusion, [Jacob], and there's nothing wrong with that. It's what people want from us. It's what they expect.
— Sara Gruen, Water for Elephants
How strange when an illusion dies. It's as though you've lost a child.
— Judy Garland
You said you were a fairy princessYou said you were a shooting starYou said we'd go to Bora BoraNow look at where the fuck we are
— Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad
Facebook gives people an illusory sense of being LIKED.
— Mokokoma Mokhonoana
That's when I saw you, really saw you for the first time. I didn't intend to look at you, it just happened. It was like those pictures, you know, those optical illusions. You can gaze at them forever and see only one thing. Then when you relax your eyes for just a moment, another picture magically appears. The funny thing with that kind of visual trick it that it's really hard to go back to seeing the original picture once you've seen the new one.
— Kimberly Sabatini, Touching the Surface
It was a sad loss, this illusion of importance, a humbling blow.
— Hugh Howey, Wool Omnibus
An illusion threatens no one with harm. Neither can it be dispelled by armed force.
— Janny Wurts, The Curse of the Mistwraith
Don't talk to strangers. Don't do drugs. Don't smoke. Don't drink and drive. Don't have sex. Wear a condom. Wear sunblock. Wear a seat belt. Wear a helmet. If you see something, say something. Just say no. Stop, drop, and roll. Stop, look, and listen. Look both ways before you cross the street...Safety is an illusion. Bad things can happen to anyone at any time, whether you follow the rules or not. You can check left, check right, check left again before you step off the curb and into the crosswalk, but that won't stop an anonymous asshole in his shitty pickup from putting you in intensive care...
— Megan McCafferty, Perfect Fifths
People care much more for how things look than how things are.
— Donna Lynn Hope
That's the whole burden of this novel - the loss of those illusions that give such color to the world that you don't care whether things are true or false as long as they partake of the magical glory.
— F. Scott Fitzgerald
How much weight can carry a thought which does not acknowledge that it is an illusion?
— Sorin Cerin, Wisdom Collection: The Book of Wisdom
But love – don’t we all talk a great deal of nonsense about it? What does one mean? ... It’s only a story one makes up in one’s mind about another person, and one knows all the time it isn’t true. Of course one knows; why, one’s always taking care not to destroy the illusion.
— Virginia Woolf
Where do we people go if not towards the perfection of our own illusion? 
— Sorin Cerin
Priceless is economic illusion.Costless is an economical trick.
— Toba Beta, Master of Stupidity
As usual, small towns like this were full of those who needed entertainment and whilst money was difficult to earn, the philosophy of giving the people what they wanted, which Franco lived by, had paid dividends.
— Christopher Byford, Den of Shadows
I don't care if you're gay, black, Chinese, straight. That means nothing to me. It's all an illusion.
— Joe Rogan
We seek to find peace of mind in the word, the formula, the ritual. The hope is illusion.
— Benjamin Cardozo
The pursuit of illusion is not about studying for prizes, or for study's sake. There's no right or wrong, no pass or fail.
— Tahir Shah, Sorcerer's Apprentice
My father looked on in disbelief, overwhelmed that his son had been taught to eat glass and relish it.
— Tahir Shah, Sorcerer's Apprentice
How many minutes will still die in the swamp of your illusion of being human?
— Sorin Cerin, Wisdom Collection: The Book of Wisdom
Could there ever be a wise man without the wisdom or life or without the death of illusion?
— Sorin Cerin, Wisdom Collection: The Book of Wisdom
It's easier to believe the most outlandish lie that confirms what you suspect than the most obvious truth that denies it.
— Michael J. Sullivan, Age of Swords
How impossible it is to forget the stories we tell ourselves, even when the truth should super-cede them.
— Stephanie Danler, Sweetbitter
It was cruel. Like opening a birdcage to let the bird fly out, whilst all the while it's tethered by the leg, and freedom is only an illusion.
— Laini Taylor, Strange the Dreamer
Since then he had been walking with a ghost: the miserable ghost of his illusion. Only he had somehow vivified, coloured, substantiated it, by the force of his own great need – as a man might breathe a semblance of life into a dear drowned body that he cannot give up for dead.
— Edith Wharton, The Custom of the Country
It is pointless to try to make an illusion real
— Sunday Adelaja
And what's care?What's coldness?Why you are so foolish of your freedom?...Merely an illusion... programmed.....
— Deyth Banger, Deeper Level C#N
Stop living in the illusion that some ones anointing will help you rip from where you have not sown
— Sunday Adelaja
Miracle focus gospel is creating an illusion in peoples head
— Sunday Adelaja
Time may be a man-made illusion, but it was one that worked at one's inconvenience. When one is urging time to move forward, it will resist and move slowly. When one wants time to go by slower than need be, it goes by on a whim. The only instance where time is at a medium pace is when time isn't even acknowledged at all as an essence to everyday existence.
— Lauren Lola, An Absolute Mind
Illusion is the first of all pleasures.
— Voltaire, La Pucelle D'Orleans
I smile bitterly at him, then weave an illusion of his face across my own. Raffaele’s expression flickers in surprise for a moment before settling back into its pool of calm. “They may have a hard time finding me,” I reply.Raffaele gives me a tight smile in return. “Do not underestimate your enemies, Your Majesty,” he says.
— Marie Lu, The Midnight Star
Feelings of superiority always stem from an illusion.
— Marty Rubin
In reality nobody can grasp anything permanently in life. Absolutely nothing. Somethings may stay in memory for a while but eventually that too fades away.
— Aditya Ajmera
Want something true?- I killed god... ...Hahaha, look your face... you started believing me... whaterver to be honest god is the world best Illusion in this world "Matrix".
— Deyth Banger, The Life of One Kid 1
GHOSTS IN THE MINDThere are no ghosts among the livingThe only real ghosts exist in our mindsSo fear not the dead but the livingBecause the living can harm but not their ghostHave you ever seen a dead man risen?Don’t you see that nobody comes from the grave? It’s because the dead are nice to each otherEven the vilest repent, and are kind to their neighborsEach one content with the land of their lying
— Dauglas Dauglas, Roses in the Rainbow
yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
— Bible, New Testament
The more important one feels the greater the illusion is.
— Steven Redhead, Life Is Simply A Game
Work, the gospel of work, the sanctity of work, laborare est orare - all that tripe and nonsense. 'Work!' he once broke out contemptuously against the reasonable expostulations of Philip Quarles, 'work is no more respectable than alcohol, and it serves exactly the same purpose: it just distracts the mind, makes a man forget himself. Work's simply a drug, that's all. It's humiliating that men shouldn't be able to live without drugs, soberly; it's humiliating that they shouldn't have the courage to see the world and themselves as they really are. They must intoxicate themselves with work. It's stupid. The gospel of work's just a gospel of stupidity and funk. Work may be prayer; but it's also hiding one's head in the sand, it's also making such a din and a dust that a man can't hear himself speak or see his own hand before his face. It's hiding yourself from yourself. No wonder the Samuel Smileses and the big business men are such enthusiasts for work. Work gives them the comforting illusion of existing, even of being important. If they stopped working, they'd realize that they simply weren't there at all, most of them. Just holes in the air, that's all. Holes with perhaps a rather nasty smell in them. Most Smilesian souls must smell rather nasty, I should think. No wonder they daren't stop working. They might find out what they really are, or rather aren't. It's a risk they haven't the courage to take.
— Aldous Huxley, Point Counter Point
she is an illusion... she can fake everything... you may feel she don't have emotions but may be she is the most emotional one...
— shivangi lavaniya
In his mind, the city, as it awoke from its slumber, seemed to be built on quicksand. The stability was illusory.
— Liu Cixin, The Three-Body Problem
Sweet words. Gentle deceptive balm. Help, love, to belong together, to come back again— words, sweet words. Nothing but words. How many words existed for this simple, wild, cruel attraction of two bodies! What a rainbow of imagination, lies, sentiment, and self-deception enclosed it!
— Erich Maria Remarque, Arch of Triumph: A Novel of a Man Without a Country
Sanity is an illusion. Created by the minds of people who fear the wicked.
— Alexander Thol
The confusion created by mode of fictitious imagery, staged to produce a perceived idea of character or life, does only that - confuses.
— Nicole Bonomi
[Schulz] came to see that the better part of his shyness was really vanity, or self-centeredness. "Shyness is an illusion," he would say, late in life. "If you get out and do something and talk to people, you don't have to be shy. Shyness is the overtly self-conscious thinking that you are the only person in the world; that how you look and what you do is of any importance.
— David Michaelis, Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography
It was a little like having religion. The world was a more interesting place if there was more to it than met the eye.
— Kem Nunn, Unassigned Territory
Light and air — what means wherewith to conjure up illusions and deceive the senses!
— John C. Van Dyke, The Desert
If everything is an illusion. To experiment is to find out what's real.
— Matthew Donnelly
Many of us believe that when we give love , we are getting the love back but sometimes it's just an illusion of what we gave them ..
— Akash B Chandran
Life, the universe and everything is a time illusion.Khalid Masood
— Khalid Masood
Safety and constancy were illusions granted only to those afraid enough not to peer beyond the walls.
— James Rozoff, Seven Stones
Ample figure, dazzling splendour to rest under the bed of soil; blooming dreams and withering numb; pangs of hunger, hitches of joy; dreadful pain, loudest laughter, piteous silence that echoes deep – were they all mere delusion? Yet, I wonder if they were real at least until I close these eyes! O dear! Did your own self deceive you?
— Preeth Nambiar, The Solitary Shores
Delusion is the greatest barrier of humanity..
— Simran Shah Khan
Illusion is the greatest barrier of humanity..
— Simran Shah Khan
I can see how, with enough false education, enough widespread illusion and error, men can, while remaining men, believe this and commit the most unspeakable crimes.
— Isaiah Berlin, The Power of Ideas
And nothing's wrong when nothing's trueBut I live in a hologram with you.
— Lorde, Lorde - Pure Heroine Songbook
It is an illusion that money brings happiness
— Sunday Adelaja
People needed proof that Utopia was nothing more than a theory, an illusion read in fictional stories.
— Soroosh Shahrivar, The Rise of Shams
People loved to think they were getting a deal. Four times out of five they would look right past what they didn’t want to see.
— Donna Tartt
Perhaps the word perfect is just an illusion isn't it ?
— Amira -Fadil
Once you transcend the external differences, anything can be merged with anything.
— Liezi, Lieh-tzu: A Taoist Guide to Practical Living
No doubt we should be, on the whole, much worse off than we are without our astonishing gift for illusion.
— Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room
Nothing causes more people to deny God, misunderstand God, mistreat others, or abuse Nature more than the illusion of separateness. Nothing. No thing.
— Donald L. Hicks, Look into the stillness
Everything in the past is memory and everything in the future is imagination. Those're both illusions – memories are unreliable and we just speculate about the future. The only thing that's completely real is this one instant of the present – and that's constantly changing from imagination to memory. So, see? Most of our life's illusory.
— Jeffery Deaver, The Vanished Man
Until you really loving, kind, caring, and compassionate, happiness will be an illusion to you.
— Debasish Mridha
An era can be considered over when its basic illusions have been exhausted.
— Arthur Miller
I lean my head against my knee and close my eyes. Even the illusion of June is enough to send a stabbing pain through my chest. Hell. I miss her so much.
— Marie Lu, Champion
Warped and bigoted with preconceived illusions of justice, freedom, and consistency, they cast off the old lore and the old way with the old beliefs; nor ever stopped to think that the lore and those ways were the sole makers of their present thoughts and judgments, and the sole guides and standards in a meaningless universe without fixed aims or stable points of reference.
— H.P. Lovecraft
Arrogance is an illusion of superiority one perpetrates upon their self. Some may ultimately find their way through the illusion, but only after many losses.
— Debra Crown
How hard it is to kill hope! Time after time, one thinks one has trodden it down, stamped it to death. Time after time, like a noxious insect, it begins to stir again, it shivers back again into a faint tremulous life. Once more it worms its way into one's heart, to instil its poison, to gnaw away the solid hard foundations of life and leave in their place the hollow phantom of illusion.
— Dorothy Bussy, Olivia
They sell crap to buy you.
— Toba Beta, Master of Stupidity
Disappointment is the end of an illusion.
— Kristian Goldmund Aumann, From Poet's Hand
As often happens between people who have chosen different ways, each of them, while rationally justifying the other's activity, despised it in his heart. To each of them it seemed that the life he led was the only real life, and the one his friend led was a mere illusion.
— Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
She lost her illusions in the collapse of her sympathies.
— D.H. Lawrence, The Virgin and the Gipsy
Fear, like love, is difficult to explain after it has subsided, probably because it draws away the veils of illusion as it disappears.
— Arthur Miller
Ambitions and dreams put you at a drinking table with unexpected companions. Cups were filled and refilled, making you drunk with the illusion of changing the world.
— Guy Gavriel Kay, River of Stars
Still, the illusion of love had, in its time, led to stranger depravities.
— Paul Russell, The Coming Storm
The lunatic, the lover, and the poetAre of imagination all compact:One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic,Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven,And as imagination bodies forthThe forms of things unknown, the poet's penTurns them to shapes and gives to airy nothingA local habitation and a name.
— William Shakespeare
It is just an illusion of freedom. We are, perhaps, as free as a railway carriage.
— Venugopal Gupta
Life is an illusion which wisely prevents you from seeing yourself fully.
— Bryant McGill, Simple Reminders: Inspiration for Living Your Best Life