“Here the idea of God has been replaced by the idea of the Future. The two notions are, admittedly, all but identical in the way in which they are self-contradictory and thus always fundamentally confusing to their worshippers, who must look to priests for translation, and so inevitably the priests (or whatever they call them) gradually take power…”

— Michael Moorcock , book The Steel Tsar

Book 2, Chapter 8 “Revolutions” (p. 413)
The Steel Tsar (1981)

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Michael Moorcock 224

English writer, editor, critic 1939

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“There are … two ways of doing service in the cause of an idea; and the difference between them is that which in ancient days distinguished the Priest from the Prophet.”

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Source: Selected Essays (1904), "Priest and Prophet" (1893), p. 130

“So in this idea, then, everybody is fundamentally the ultimate reality. Not God in a politically kingly sense, but God in the sense of being the self, the deep-down basic whatever there is. And you're all that, only you're pretending you're not. And it's perfectly OK to pretend you're not, to be perfectly convinced, because this is the whole notion of drama.”

Alan Watts (1915–1973) British philosopher, writer and speaker

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“You’re like a priest who awakens one day and realizes that his god has been replaced by a cardboard cut-out, and he’s no longer able to ignore his own disbelief. And, like the priest, you’ve sacrificed all hope of a normal life on the altar of something you no longer believe in.”

Charles Stross book Rule 34

Source: Rule 34 (2011), Chapter 20, “Liz: Bereavement Counselling” (p. 229)

“Crown and cloth maken no priest, nor emperor's bishop with his words, but power that crist giveth; and thus by life have been priests known.”

John Wycliffe English theologian and early dissident in the Roman Catholic Church

As quoted in Typical English Churchmen (1909) by John Neville Figgis, p. 15

“The populace judges of the power of God by the power of the priests.”

Napoleon I of France (1769–1821) French general, First Consul and later Emperor of the French

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“My life as a priest in Savannah has been very fulfilling, if initially challenging, I was totally embraced here in the ministry and as a priest. I was totally accepted.”

J. Kevin Boland (1935) Catholic bishop

Savannah Bishop Emeritus Boland celebrates 60 years as priest here https://www.savannahnow.com/news/20190618/savannah-bishop-emeritus-boland-celebrates-60-years-as-priest-here (June 18, 2019)

“The Idea of the Priest is not, therefore, a primal force; it is an accidental complex of various forces, among which there is no essential connection. Their temporary union is due simply to the fact that they have happened to come into conflict in actual life, and have been compelled to compromise and join hands. The living, absolute Idea, which strove to make itself all-powerful, and changed the external form of life while remaining itself unchanged—this elemental Idea has died and passed away together with its Prophets. Nothing remains but its effects—the superficial impress that it has been able to leave on the complex form of life. It is this form of life, already outworn, that the Priests strive to perpetuate, for the sake of the Prophetic impress that it bears.”

Ahad Ha'am (1856–1927) Hebrew essayist and thinker

Source: Selected Essays (1904), "Priest and Prophet" (1893), p. 132

“I do not say that this is true in every case, but I do say that if priests had not been fond of mutton, lambs never would have been sacrificed to God. Nothing was ever carried to the temple that the priest could not use, and it always so happened that God wanted what his agents liked.”

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer

A Christmas Sermon (1890)
Context: Back of all these superstitions you will find some self-interest. I do not say that this is true in every case, but I do say that if priests had not been fond of mutton, lambs never would have been sacrificed to God. Nothing was ever carried to the temple that the priest could not use, and it always so happened that God wanted what his agents liked. Now, I will not say that all priests have been priests “for revenue only,” but I must say that the history of the world tends to show that the sacerdotal class prefer revenue without religion to religion without revenue.

“God picks the least in order to do His most wonderful work. In this way there's no boasting that can happen in the Lord's vineyard. So sometimes young people look at a priest and say, "Oh, he must be an angel."”

Eduardo Nevares (1954) Roman Catholic bishop

No, we’re no angels — angels are only in heaven. We're men doing the very best we can to serve God and to serve His holy people and to fall in love with God and with the people. If you really hear the call of the Lord, be generous because it’s a wonderful life. After 34 years as a priest, I can really and honestly say I have no regrets.
Five years a bishop — Q&A with Bishop Nevares https://www.catholicsun.org/2015/07/17/five-years-a-bishop-qa-with-bishop-nevares/ (17 July 2015)

“I can look at the world aslant by using an unusual form and thus take hold of an idea in a unique way.”

Anne Simpson (1956) Canadian poet

Loop Annual Award.com Interview (February 2010)

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Michael Moorcock 224

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