“We don't harm the gods when we mingle their names with our curses and obscenities. We harm ourselves. I said that I didn't regard most gods as holy, but they don't have to be for our malice and mockery to recoil upon ourselves.”

—  Gene Wolfe

Volume 3, Ch. 10
Fiction, The Book of the Short Sun (1999–2001)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "We don't harm the gods when we mingle their names with our curses and obscenities. We harm ourselves. I said that I did…" by Gene Wolfe?
Gene Wolfe photo
Gene Wolfe 102
American science fiction and fantasy writer 1931–2019

Related quotes

Theodore Roosevelt photo

“Probably the greatest harm done by vast wealth is the harm that we of moderate means do ourselves when we let the vices of envy and hatred enter deep into our own natures.”

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States

Speech at Kennedy Plaza, Providence, Rhode Island (23 August 1902), Presidential Addresses and State Papers (1910), p. 103. <!-- Mem. Ed. XVIII, 76; Nat. Ed. XVI, 64 -->
1900s
Context: Probably the greatest harm done by vast wealth is the harm that we of moderate means do ourselves when we let the vices of envy and hatred enter deep into our own natures.
But there is another harm; and it is evident that we should try to do away with that. The great corporations which we have grown to speak of rather loosely as trusts are the creatures of the State, and the State not only has the right to control them, but it is duty bound to control them wherever the need of such control is shown.

Simone Weil photo

“The first thing that we know about ourselves is our imperfection.
This is what Descartes meant when he said: 'I know God before I know myself.'
The only mark of God in us is that we feel that we are not God.”

Simone Weil (1909–1943) French philosopher, Christian mystic, and social activist

Source: Lectures on Philosophy (1959), p. 90

Alvin Plantinga photo
William Shakespeare photo
Hibatullah Akhundzada photo

“We ask God to save our poor people from trials and harms.”

Hibatullah Akhundzada (1961) leader of Afghanistan and Taliban

Amir al-Mu'minin's message of condolence to the victims of an earthquake in Paktika and Khost https://ocs.gov.af/en/news_details/1122, 22 June 2022

Simone Weil photo

“The first thing that we know about ourselves is our imperfection.
This is what Descartes meant when he said: 'I know God before I know myself.'”

Simone Weil (1909–1943) French philosopher, Christian mystic, and social activist

The only mark of God in us is that we feel that we are not God.

p. 90
Lectures on Philosophy (1959)

Gordon Brown photo

“The problem we have is making sure that we do not inflict harm on ourselves, by leaving the EU with no deal.”

Gordon Brown (1951) British Labour Party politician

Jeremy Corbyn risks scuppering no-confidence vote, says Jo Swinson https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49468218 BBC News (26 August 2019)
Post premiership

Gene Wolfe photo

“When neither our fellows nor our gods spoil our plans, we spoil them ourselves.”

Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) American science fiction and fantasy writer

Volume 4, Ch. 15
Fiction, The Book of the Long Sun (1993–1996)

Ben Carson photo

“It is important to call on God to intervene in our life, especially when we reach the point where we ourselves have become helpless.”

Ben Carson (1951) 17th and current United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; American neurosurgeon

Source: Think Big (1996), p. 244

James Joyce photo

Related topics