“And when I say the world is governed by nothing but demons, who will continue to be demons until they have destroyed the world, I am not using profanities; on the contrary, demon is a scientific term, a formula covering a specific chemical composition without connotations from politics, religion, or moral philosophy.... Here among us on the lowest rung of the world of life, no attention is paid to books unless they are written by chemically analyzed demons, or at least for them. Poets and philosophers are respected in proportion to the contempt and disgust they feel for the creation of life. Give this day our daily war is the prayer of those who govern countries. Kill, kill, said the outlaw Skuggasveinn...”

— Halldór Laxness, book Kristnihald undir Jökli (bók)

Dr. Sýngmann
Kristnihald undir Jökli (Under the Glacier/Christianity at Glacier) (1968)

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 "And when I say the world is governed by nothing but demons, who will continue to be demons until they have destroyed th…" by Halldór Laxness?

Halldór Laxness216

Icelandic author 1902–1998

Related quotes

“Here's what I'm going to have to say to all of you. If some of you have demons in your head who talk to you in profanity or whatever, don't let your demon shoot down your rock music, don't let your demon keep you off the joy bus. So like I say, Rock music pays off.”

Wesley Willis (1963–2003) American singer-songwriter

Spoken at the end of the Wesley Willis Live EP.

“I can very well say without hesitation that all those who have political power, even if they use it well have acquired it by demonic mediation and even if they are not conscious of it, they are worshippers of diabolos.”

Jacques Ellul (1912–1994) French sociologist, technology critic, and Christian anarchist

Si tu es le Fils de Dieu (1991), p. 76

“Worlds self made are so full of monsters and demons.”

Anaïs Nin book House of Incest

House of Incest (1936)

“One may tolerate a world of demons for the sake of an angel.”

Madame de Pompadour (1721–1764) chief mistress of Louis XV of France

Said while the French financial system was on the verge of collapse, as quoted in Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) by E. Cobham Brewer. Brewer states that this was sometimes attributed to the Austrian statesman Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, but that he was probably simply quoting Madame de Pompadour.