The Call Of Earth Quotes
"All right, then, here is my dream. I saw a man standing in a clearing, and all around him, terrible flying creatures."
"And when at last they all had touched him, they flew away, except one, who perched on his shoulder."
"They were kissing a rat, Plod! They were kissing that disgusting flying creature..."
"They're all about sex, and that's all the audience dreams of."
"For she well knew that a man cared little who gave him the pleasures of love."
"A perfect bud of subtle color and delicate scent is more welcome than a showy bloom."
"I was a follower of Roptat. It's a joke to think Wetchik's son might have killed him."
"What sort of guide is this? Did the Oversoul tell him to send my boys back to the city, where they were almost killed?"
"I was sent to these southlands in order to conquer the entire western shore of the Earthbound Sea-that was the command the Imperator gave to me, and to me alone."
"Every soldier and every officer must interpret the orders he is given."
"Knowing they have but three days' worth of food, dear Plod, the men will march very fast indeed, and they will allow nothing to delay them."
"It is a terrible day when a man must choose between being thought loyal, and being loyal in fact, but that day has come to you."
"The Oversoul promised me life, promised me greatness and glory and joy, and here I am, in this desert, following my brothers."
"I have no sons, no children at all, that I know of. No woman who has pleased me for more than a night."
"We know how to honor Gaballufix! Come out to us, and stand with us, and we will give you the city you deserve!"
"How much do you love your city? More than life?"
"If I am no better than Elemak, no better than any of the troop of baboons downstream from Father's tent, then why did you choose me?"
"Coincidence is just the word we use when we have not yet discovered the cause."
"The Oversoul speaks to him, as much as to me."
"There are stranger things on heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Shedemei."
"Humankind left the Earth forty million years ago."
"No one has ever had such a garden as yours, Shedemei, my daughter."
"But you will help me, won't you, so that I don't have to do such a terrible thing?"
"What do you want from me?" "Advice," said Moozh.
"I have served this council all my life, sir, and I trust them," said Bitanke.
"You have only a thousand men," said Bitanke. "You want to subdue Basilica without bloodshed because you can't afford to suffer any losses."
"You are truly a monster," said Bitanke. "You speak of sacrilege and massacre of innocents, and then ask me to trust you."
"That's what it means to be a soldier," said Bitanke.
"The only conceivable use of the portable ones is for a caravan, and that's a business you know nothing about."
"I ask, because I know you have plenty of drycases at your laboratory."
"I am alone here," he said. "The Oversoul surely knows I need money more than I need drycases."
"Not until you tell us your dream," he said. "We need to hear it. Not the sweet dream, but the one that made you so afraid."
"It may be our wedding night, but the whole world is dark around us and we must know everything the Oversoul says to any of us."
"Do you think that we can sleep, wondering what terrible dream could strike so hard at our sister?" said Nafai.
"Don't be too reverent," said Nafai. "I sincerely doubt that the Oversoul's original programming told it to start a breeding program among the humans of Harmony."
"Woman or machine, it's developed purposes of its own, and I'm not comfortable with this one," said Nafai.
"He's one of us," said Nafai. "If our purpose is a good one in the first place, then it's a good one because there's something right about us, the people that the Oversoul has bred, going back to Earth."
"You've only been my husband for half a night, and suddenly you want to go to a man that the Oversoul says is dangerous and terrible, and for what?"
"I'm afraid, said the Oversoul, for fear is the name I have for uncertainty, for impossibility that is nevertheless real."
"Waterseer, raveler... Elemak had never paid much heed to such things."
"You know you're lying, and you know what the truth is."
"It silenced the citizens gathered in the benches, and it filled Elemak with a trembling anticipation."
"The woman turned to Rasa, pointed at her. 'Lady Rasa, do you know me?'"
"Hushidh and Luet arose from their knees at the front of the stage; Nafai joined them as they came to face Moozh."
"Elemak watched it all and then, when he figured the rage had about spent itself, he stepped into the middle of the group."
"Moozh might not have been able to stand against the plots and plans of the Oversoul, but that doesn't mean that I can't, thought Elemak."
"The next summer there was nothing but old roads to show that once there had been a city in that place."