Quotes from book
Pavane

Pavane
Keith Roberts

Pavane is an alternate history science fiction fix-up novel by British writer Keith Roberts, first published by Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd in 1968. Most of the original stories were published in Science Fantasy. An additional story, "The White Boat", was added in later editions.

“She curled her lip. She had discovered cynicism.”

Keith Roberts book Pavane

Fifth measure “The White Boat” (p. 194)
Pavane (1968)

“She stopped dead; and the look in her eyes showed plainly she’d just received the import of a crude lesson in economics.”

Keith Roberts book Pavane

Sixth measure “Corfe Gate” (p. 224)
Pavane (1968)

“Confession,” he said, “must be sincere. It must come from the heart. False confession, made to avoid the pain of Questioning, is useless to Church and God alike. Our aim is salvation; the salvation of the souls of these poor wretches in our charge, if necessary by the breaking of their bodies. Set against this, all else is straw in the wind.”

Keith Roberts book Pavane

Third measure “Brother John” (pp. 108-109)
Pavane (1968)

“She said faintly, “Are you… real?”
Amusement showed in his face. “Real?” he said. “Define reality and I can answer you.” He waved a hand. “Look into solid earth, into rock, and see the galaxies of all Creation. What you call reality melts; there is a whirling, a spinning of forces, a dance of motes and atoms. Some of them we call planets, one of them is Earth. Nothingness within nothingness enclosing nothing, that is reality. Tell me what you want, and I can answer.””

Keith Roberts book Pavane

Fourth measure “Lords and Ladies” (p. 170)
Pavane (1968)

“He like the Church he serves is blind and empty and vainglorious. This God they prattle on about, where’s His justice, where’s His compassion? Does it please Him to see dying people hounded in His name, does He snigger at His bumbling priests, is He satisfied when men drop dead chopping stone out for His temples, twisted little God dying tepid-faced on a cross…. She thought, I’ll go out and look for other gods, and maybe they’ll be better and anyway they can’t be worse.”

Keith Roberts book Pavane

Fourth measure “Lords and Ladies” (p. 169)
Pavane (1968)

“A death was more than an ending; it was like pulling a thread from a richly patterned cloth.”

Keith Roberts book Pavane

First measure “The Lady Margaret” (p. 17)
Pavane (1968)

“The years had a way of piling themselves one atop the next, unnoticed and uncounted; that was how young men turned into old ones.”

Keith Roberts book Pavane

First measure “The Lady Margaret” (pp. 15-16)
Pavane (1968)

“The waves were indifferent, and the wind; and the rocks neither knew nor cared who owned them, Christ’s Vicar or an English King.”

Keith Roberts book Pavane

Fifth measure “The White Boat” (p. 179)
Pavane (1968)

“I was arguing with Father Sebastian the other day,” she said thoughtfully. “I quoted the thing about giving all you have to the poor. He said that was all very well but you had to come to terms with the Scriptures and realize there had to be teachers and leaders for the people’s own good. It seemed an awful get-out to me, and I couldn’t help saying so. I told him if the Church would sell half her altar plate she could by shoes for everybody in the country, and a lot else besides; and that if the Pope would make a start in Rome I’d see about getting rid of a few job lots of furniture down in Corfe. I’m afraid he didn’t take very kindly to it. I know it was wrong of me but he annoys me sometimes; he’s so pious, and it seems to mean so very little. He’d walk miles in the snow to pray for a sick child, he’s a very good man; but if there was more money about to start with, maybe the child wouldn’t have been taken ill. It all seems so unnecessary….”

Keith Roberts book Pavane

Sixth measure “Corfe Gate” (p. 223)
Pavane (1968)

“It’s a terrible thing, being afraid. It’s like an illness; like wanting to fall down, and not being able to faint. You see you never get used to it. You live with it and live with it and every day it’s worse; and one day it’s the worst of all. I thought, when it…happened, I wouldn’t be afraid. But I was wrong….”

Keith Roberts book Pavane

Sixth measure “Corfe Gate” (p. 260)
Pavane (1968)

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