Book bits

[Lilith7]

"This is what you shall do; love the earth & the sun & the animals, despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, stand up for the stupid & crazy, devote your income & labour to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience & indulgence towards the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown, or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons & with the young, & with the mothers of families, re examine all you have been told in school or church or in any book, & dismiss whatever insults your own soul; & your very flesh shall be a great poem, & have the richest fluency, not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips & face & between the lashes of your eyes & in every motion & joint of your body."
Walt Whitman



"And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, Speak to us of Children.
And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of to-morrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth."
The prophet, Kahlil Gibran

"The great mystery is not that we should have been thrown down here at random between the profusion of matter & that of the stars; it is that from our very prison we should draw, from our own selves, images powerful enough to deny our nothingness."
Andre Malraux, La condition humaine (Man's fate)

[Lilith7]

To the editor
(in response to an anti choice article by Hugo Carl Koch in a Playboy magazine)

'There is only one way in which to get through to Hugo Carl Koch, & I'm working on it. Just as soon as I've developed my powers of witchcraft, I will turn him into a middle-class mother of three pre schoolers.
And on his/her very worst day, when the washing machine has conked out, she's had a fight with her husband, she's received an overdraft notice from the bank, the three year old has flushed his firetruck down the toilet (which is now spilling over into the hall) after tossing her glasses into the the garbage disposal, the two year old has smeared his faeces all over the living room wall & the baby has been crying & vomiting down her back all day - then, I will give her a missed period.'
Shirley L Radl
Pulling our own strings, Gloria Kaufman & Mary-Kay Blakely.


'A doctor pointed out that oestrogen (the female hormone) is at its lowest cycle during the menstrual cycle. So at our 'worst' we are most like the way men are all the time'
Now newsletter, Chicago

'Society consists of human beings, but if human beings have no value, then society has no value.'
Harry Wu, troublemaker

'Modern medicine has not really prolonged life - not REAL life; it has just lengthened the process of dying.'
Out to pasture, Effie Leland Wilder

'No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, & if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.'
Nelson Mandela, Long walk to freedom

'Violence to others is soul abuse; when you hurt others you hurt yourself. The most gorgeous man in the world who deliberately causes the sufferings of anyone, but especially of a woman or a child, becomes hideous.'
Alice Walker, The same river twice


'The character building virtues of self help are regularly preached by those who do not want to give help to those in desperate need.'
Eva Figes, A child at war

[Lilith7]

'To laugh often & much,
To win the respect of intelligent people
And the affection of children,
To earn the appreciation of honest critics
And to endure the betrayal of false friends,
To appreciate beauty,
To find the best in others,
To leave the world a bit better
Whether by a healthy child, a garden patch
Or a redeemed social condition,
To know even one life has breathed easier
Because you lived
This is to have succeeded.'
Ralph Waldo Emerson

"We stand on a mountain pass in the midst of whirling snows & blinding mist, through which we get glimpses now & then of paths which may be deceptive. If we stand still we shall be frozen to death. If we take the wrong road we shall be dashed to pieces. We do not certainly know whether there is any right one. What must we do? Be strong & of good courage. Act for the best, hope for the best & take what comes...if death ends all, we cannot meet death better."
Fitz James Stephen.
From The courage of conviction, Philip Berman


"An easy life doesn't teach us anything. In the end it’s the learning that matters: what we've learned & how we've grown."
Richard Bach, One.

"Always listen to yourself. It is better to be wrong than simply to follow convention. If you are wrong, no matter, you have learned something and you will grow stronger. If you are right you have taken another step towards a fulfilling life."
The power of one, Bryce Courtenay

[Lilith7]

"Character comes from following our highest sense of right, from trusting ideals without being sure they'll work. One challenge of our adventures on earth is to rise above dead systems - wars, religions, nations, destructions - to refuse to be a part of them, & express instead the highest selves we know how to be."
"No one can solve problems for someone whose problem is that they don't want problems solved."
"No matter how qualified or deserving we are, we will never reach a better life until we can imagine it for ourselves & allow ourselves to have it."
Richard Bach, One.

“There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions.
Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane, he had to fly them. If he flew them, he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to, he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle”
Joseph Heller, Catch 22

"One thing that frequently ticks me off about the wealthy is that they often don’t realise that not everyone has a burning ambition to acquire money & material possessions.
The rich don’t understand this; unless someone has made it his or her mission to die with more toys than anyone else, then he or she is a deadbeat."

Allen Steele. Coyote Horizon.



“Sa’Tong teaches us that, once you accept the fact that God is your own creation instead of the opposite, then you yourself are God, & so is everyone else you may encounter, regardless of their race or origin. That is to say, you are responsible for your own actions, & therefore your own destiny.
We believe that our better nature, that is, our ability to choose a benign course for our actions….is by definition a higher power. Yet such decisions are our own responsibility, not the result of supernatural influence.”
“But then all you’re doing is praying to yourselves.”

“No. We pray to one another, in hopes that those around us will make the correct decisions. We have found that we are more likely to get a response that way.
Through the teachings of the Chaaz’braan, we have learned that Sa’Tong has five codicils. The first codicil, you have already heard……..you are God, for God is the creation of the self. The second codicil states that, if you accept this principle, you must also accept the fact that everyone is God & therefore must be treated as such, with the same amount of reverence & respect.
The third codicil states that, in order to obey the second codicil, you must never take any action that will harm others or yourself. Likewise, the fourth codicil forbids any inaction that will lead to others being harmed, or which in turn will do harm to yourself. And the fifth codicil states that wrongful acts must be atoned for with righteous acts of equal or greater proportion.

Accept yourself as your own higher being; respect others as if they are higher beings themselves, do no harm to anyone or to yourself, or tolerate lack of actions which, in turn, will result in harm to yourself or others around you & make amends for your failures.”
Allen Steele. Coyote Horizon

[Lilith7]

'I am no prophet - & here's no great matter; I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker, & in short, I was afraid. '
T S Eliot

'The only way to avoid all frightening choices is to leave society & become a hermit, & that is a frightening choice.'
Richard Bach, One.


"It is in the brains & soul that lack of money damages you. Mental deadness, spiritual squalor - they seem to descend upon you inescapably when your income drops below a certain point. Faith, hope, money - only a saint could have the first two without having the third."
George Orwell, Keep the aspidistra flying


'Who am I? Do I matter? Does the whakapapa really matter? Yes! Oh yes!
Because it gives me a unison with the universe. It tells me that I am not alone or ever will be. It weaves me into a pattern of life that began at world's creation & will be here till world's end. I am the people who came before me & I am the people who will come after me. Although I will die, the pattern will not be broken. There is no such thing as time passing because I have always been here & will always be here.'
Witi Ihimaera, Gathering of the whakapapa, The new net goes fishing

[Lilith7]

"I have just worked out how the world works. It has nothing to do with the colour of your skin or the slant of your eyes or the God to whom you pray, but only whether you are a hunter or a gatherer. The hunters destroy; they are the killers and the rapists. The gatherers love, nourish and share, they are the peacemakers. Blessed are the peacemakers."
The Family Frying Pan by Bryce Courtenay


"You too, though you are not aware of it, are creators. The earth that you know is like a classroom in which you are the creators of your experience. Before birth you choose which corner of the classroom you will occupy, you choose your classmates and, with their cooperation, create your own lessons. Listen. You are responsible for everything that physical world does to you.
In your world you have entered into a self induced trance. In this trance, your skin seems to be a border between 'you' & 'not you.’ You feel disconnected from your environment."
Michael Brown, The weaver's apprentice.


"And what of that invisible education: the education in the home, in the family? We know that children who are abused often continue to treat themselves badly & we know the root cause for both boys & girls is that same lack of self esteem that has enabled the media to alienate people from their bodies.
The beauty business has a lot to answer for. Changing it couldn't be more urgent."
Anita Roddick, Business as unusual.

[Lilith7]

"A person with innate talents will bring them into use, somehow or other, sooner or later - nothing on earth will stop him but death itself - for he is the talent & the talent is him, inseparable."

For the islands I sing, George MacKay Brown.

"Listen to me:
There are fawces in this world that control ya. Hostile, malignant fawces which try to bend an break you to their will, their twisted ideas of what you should be. Immensely powerful, they will stop at naffin to drag everyfin' down to a unity; one nation, one personality, one voice. F*ck them awl....
Torture is not confined to the middle ages, aw tha third world; an insistence on unifawnity is the modern rack on which we ar awl broken, or would be if those c*nts ad their way. Evil is not an amorphous, anonymous fing; it has a house & family, it eats breakfast, it wears certain clothes an squirms tentacles inta every aspect av your life. It will neva give in.
Make no mistake, it is there. It will bring death upon you in worse ways than the physical. Right now, someone is lacing up their polished black shoes & double-checking your address. Run like f*ck."

Grit,Niall Griffiths.


"I am on a stage. Before me, in the dim light, all the people who have ever lived are lined up, rank upon rank, stretching far into the distance. I have in my hand the end of the thread which connects me to my ancestral mother way at the back. I pull on the thread & one woman's face in every generation, feeling the tug, looks up at me. Their faces stand out from the crowd & they are illuminated by a strange light.
These are my ancestors. I feel a strong connection. These are all my mothers who passed this precious messenger from one to another through a thousand births. A thousand rows back stands Tara herself, the ancestral mother of my clan. She pulls on the cord. A million ancestors sense the tug. We look at each other & sense our deep connection."
Bryan Sykes, The seven daughters of Eve.

[Lilith7]

'No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate & if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than it’s opposite.'
Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom.


"Your teachers
Are all around you
All that you perceive,
All that you experience,
All that is given to you
Or taken from you.
All that you love or hate,
Need or fear
Will teach you -
If you will learn
God is your first
And your last teacher:
Subtle,
Demanding.
Learn or die."
Octavia E. Butler, from Parables of the sower.


"The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't."
Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy


"You've made it all up, these traditions, these rules, but they're not real. Your loyalty's children. Its what we were put here for, to look after life. These things you play about at, they don't matter. Wars & rituals....all the time you're wasting children."

"There would be no romance in going back to her children & taking up the burden again, there was no material for legend in keeping children clean & fed. Even when she'd been telling him how important children were, she hadn't really felt it, the words had come down through some chain of command that was older & stronger than she was."
From The pirate queen by Diana Norman.

[Lilith7]

"We are afraid of oversentimentality, of seeming unintellectual. Yet we KNOW that the feminine side of ourselves is nurturing, we KNOW our feminine side is intuitive. We know our feminine side is mostly, at its best, patient & non judgemental.
AND our feminine side recognises that we cannot go on as we are & expect to have a loving & peaceful world. Still, our feminine aspects are not considered commercial. They are not considered politically viable. They are not considered qualities of leadership."
Shirley Maclaine, My Lucky Stars


"Every country gets the circus it deserves. Spain gets bull fights. Italy gets the Catholic church. America gets Hollywood."
How to save your own life,Erica Jong


"All I wanted was the money to forget that money was important; I wanted to posses the insouciance of the fortunate. Lack of money is like being a cripple; every step reminds you of your bad leg. It makes you petty; it stops you thinking about anything interesting."
The stand-in, Deborah Moggach.


"It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done. It is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known."
Charles Dickens 'A Tale of Two Cities'

[Lilith7]

Rules for life
1) Never hit a woman
2) Always back up your mates
3) Never scab
4) Never cross a picket line
5) Never grass friend or foe
6) Tell them nowt (them being Polis,Dole,Social,Journalists,-
Council,Census etc.)
7) Never let a week go by without investing in new vinyl
8) Give when you can, take only when you have to.
9) If you feel high or low, mind that nothing good or bad lasts forever & today's the start of the rest of your life.
10) Give love freely, but be tighter with trust.
The life rules of Duncan Ewart from Glue, Irvine Welsh


"To cause any creature pain is evil; to pretend that another sentient creature cannot feel pain is evil; to enjoy the pain of another, sentient or insentient, is ultimate evil."
The Margaret’s, Sheri. S. Tepper.


'There's no happiness in living,
in bearing one's suffering self through the world.
But being, being is happiness. Being: transforming
oneself into a fountain into which
the universe falls like warm rain.'
Milan Kundera, Immortality

[Lilith7]

"Listen to me:
There are fawces in this world that control ya. Hostile, malignant fawces which try to bend an break you to their will, their twisted ideas of what you should be. Immensely powerful, they will stop at naffin to drag everyfin' down to a unity; one nation, one personality, one voice. F*ck them awl....
Torture is not confined to the middle ages, aw tha third world; an insistence on unifawnity is the modern rack on which we ar awl broken, or would be if those c*nts ad their way. Evil is not an amorphous, anonymous fing; it has a house & family, it eats breakfast, it wears certain clothes an squirms tentacles inta every aspect av your life. It will neva give in.
Make no mistake, it is there. It will bring death upon you in worse ways than the physical. Right now, someone is lacing up their polished black shoes & double-checking your address.
Run like f*ck."

Grit,Niall Griffiths.


"One thing that frequently ticks me off about the wealthy is that they often don’t realise that not everyone has a burning ambition to acquire money & material possessions.
The rich don’t understand this; unless someone has made it his or her mission to die with more toys than anyone else, then he or she is a deadbeat."

Allen Steele. Coyote Horizon.

"Character comes from following our highest sense of right, from trusting ideals without being sure they'll work. One challenge of our adventures on earth is to rise above dead systems - wars, religions, nations, destructions - to refuse to be a part of them, & express instead the highest selves we know how to be."

"No one can solve problems for someone whose problem is that they don't want problems solved."

"No matter how qualified or deserving we are, we will never reach a better life until we can imagine it for ourselves & allow ourselves to have it."

"An easy life doesn't teach us anything. In the end it’s the learning that matters: what we've learned & how we've grown."

Richard Bach, One.

"We stand on a mountain pass in the midst of whirling snows & blinding mist, through which we get glimpses now & then of paths which may be deceptive. If we stand still we shall be frozen to death. If we take the wrong road we shall be dashed to pieces. We do not certainly know whether there is any right one. What must we do? Be strong & of good courage. Act for the best, hope for the best & take what comes...if death ends all, we cannot meet death better."
Fitz James Stephen.
From The courage of conviction, Philip Berman.

"To laugh often & much,
To win the respect of intelligent people
And the affection of children,
To earn the appreciation of honest critics
And to endure the betrayal of false friends,
To appreciate beauty,
To find the best in others,
To leave the world a bit better
Whether by a healthy child, a garden patch
Or a redeemed social condition,
To know even one life has breathed easier
Because you lived
This is to have succeeded."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
From Fred Hollows, an autobiography with Peter Corris.


"The character building virtues of self help are regularly preached by those who do not want to give help to those in desperate need."
Eva Figes, A child at war


"She said heatedly "My way would not involve murder. Instead of unlocking the secrets of matter to cause world-ending weapons, why not try to figure out why we do certain things, & how we might change that? How can we cure our own stupidity? It would be more satisfying to me than holding the power of a million suns in my hand."
In war times, Kathleen Ann Goonan

[Lilith7]

'What do I want from this life? What makes you happy is not enough. All the things that satisfy our instincts only satisfy the animal in us. I want to be proud of myself. I want more. I want to look up to myself & when I die, I want to smile because of the things I have done, not cry for the things I haven't done.'
Tom Hurndall


'Consider biological reality in all of its complexity & beauty. We are the only species that systematically kills others of its kind. This propensity has become a serious design flaw. There is a way in which we are able to make another human being invisible, to deny that their suffering is real. We convince ourselves that their suffering is necessary for the survival of ourselves & our children.'
In war times, Kathleen Ann Goonan


'Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, & living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree & listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting sweetness. Tell yourself that you tasted as many as you could.'
The painted drum, Louise Erdrich

"It is a chronic & progressive disease. It is classified as such by the American medical association & the World health organisation. It can be arrested, placed in remission, but is incurable.
As with most diseases, the belief is that the cause is genetic. Addicts/alcoholics are born with a gene or gene structure, precisely which is not yet known, that when activated, causes the disease to present itself in an individual.
Once this happens, & at this point there is no way to know if or when it will happen, the addict is at the mercy of the disease. It cannot be controlled, it cannot be held in check by force of will, the decision to use or not to use, is not a decision that can be made because the disease makes the decision for you. The inability to control & the lack of choice is but a symptom of the disease."
A million little pieces, James Frey

[Lilith7]

"To live without identity, except as a human being. Because life, the birth & death essence of life, is flow, not security. It cuts all ground from beneath our feet, it picks us up & carries us where it will until at last it dumps us down into death. And only in living beyond the tribe, identifying beyond the nation-state - & its ruthless, proud identity - is there room for the heart, where lies freedom."
The bird woman, Kerry Hardie

'I pray to God to protect me from his followers.
A person must feel passion for something, if not someone, in order to live. A goal. A cause. Conveniently 'serving God' & 'serving country' carry universal honour. Even more,’ defending God' & 'defending country.' Tap into those & voila, you transform into a Pied Piper. Play those magical tunes on your flute, & watch how the hypnotised masses follow you anywhere you lead. '
Monica Pradham, The hindi-bindi club


"But let our going be brave & joyous! Let us end with a prayer for all souls. Among these are the souls of those who have persecuted us; who have murdered God’s creatures, & extinguished His species; those who have tortured in the name of Law; who have worshipped nothing but riches; and who, to gain wealth & worldly power, have inflicted pain & death.

Let us forgive the killers of the Elephant, & the exterminators of the Tiger; & those who slaughtered the Bear for its gall bladder & the Shark for its cartilage, & the Rhinoceros for its horn. May we forgive them freely, as we may hope to be forgiven by God, who holds our frail Cosmos in His hand, & keeps it safe through his endless love.
This forgiveness is the hardest task we shall ever be called upon to perform. Give us the strength for it."
The year of the flood, Margaret Atwood.


“You say there’s no hell. But what about someone like Hitler? Six million victims. Where’s the divine justice? If you inflict suffering on others & can’t be punished in this world, it’s surely waiting for you in the next.”
“No. There are no exceptions. It is not possible to do anything so terrible that it leads to external judgement & punishment in the afterlife. And yet you can expect perfect, divine justice.”
“A contradiction.”
“No contradiction, only a perfect balancing of the scales. You will go through a life review, in which the reviewer is your own greater being. It’s like taking part in a documentary with prodigious production values. You will experience your life from the point of view of everyone who was involved: everyone’s feelings, attitudes, motives & beliefs laid bare, including yours. You won’t just observe through their eyes & ears, you will experience what they experienced. Did you steal from someone? You will experience his hurt & outrage. Did you give food to someone who was hungry? Then you will experience her relief & joy. Of course, your Earth personality could not cope with this review, because the emotional typhoon would sink the ship of your mind.”……

“Then we literally experience….”
“Yes, say it.”
“We literally experience being…..one being.”
“You have it. That is the ultimate meaning of empathy. Divine justice for all. What need is there for punishment?”……
“After many incarnations you will know that even your soul is not a separate entity. You’ll see that all souls, combined, are like a great rock, which has a trillion moving atoms, yet is still & silent. Here, finally, is where you know yourself as the Field, the Source, the One.”

Michael Brown, Finding the field.

[Lilith7]

"Never underestimate the power of your tears, they can be healing waters or a stream of joy, sometimes they are the best words the heart can speak."


"Some things you must always be unable to bear. Some things you must never stop refusing to bear. Injustice and outrage and dishonour and shame. No matter how young you are or how old you have got. Not for kudos and not for cash, your picture in the paper nor money in the bank, neither. Just refuse to bear them."
William Faulkner

"The most shocking thing about war is that its victims and its instruments are individual human beings, and that these individual beings are condemned by the monstrous conventions of politics to murder or be murdered in quarrels not their own. "
Aldous Huxley

"We must act responsibility. To the degree to which we should oppose everything that could give itself to war, to crime, to catastrophe.
Because we who lived through the war know how it begins, where it comes from. We know that it does not begin only with bombs & rockets, but with fanaticism & pride, stupidity & contempt, ignorance & hatred.
It feeds on all that grows on that & from that. That is why, just as some of us fight the pollution of the air, we should fight the polluting of human affairs by ignorance & hatred."

Ryzard Kapuscinski
From Just me, Sheila Hancock

[Lilith7]

'At least two thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity, idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religious or political idols.'
Aldous Huxley


"The Hopi Indians thought that the world's religions each contained one spiritual thread, & that these threads are always seeking each other, wanting to join. When all the threads are finally woven together they will form a rope that will pull us out of this dark cycle of history. More contemporarily, the Dalai Lama has repeated the same idea, assuring his western students repeatedly that they needn't become Tibetan Buddhists in order to be his pupils. He welcomes them to take whatever ideas they like out of Tibetan Buddhism & integrate these ideas into their own religious practices."
From Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert.


'Women constitute HALF the world’s population, perform nearly TWO THIRDS of the world’s work, receive ONE TENTH of the world’s income, own less than ONE HUNDREDTH of the world’s wealth.'
From: Reflecting Men At Twice Their Natural Size.
Sally Cline & Dale Spender

"The same week our fowls were stolen, Daphne Moran had her throat cut..."
The scarecrow, Ronald Hugh Morrieson.

"The screed that followed bemoaned the decline & fall of the white man, a slow but sure reduction of power over several centuries. The worrisome feeling one has of slipping down the food chain, with those unlike you increasingly vilifying you as a racist, sexist, imperialist, o matter what your personal beliefs might be.
Wincing as multiculturalism overtakes your society, celebrating every heritage but your own. Stinging from memories of what once was, especially in the face of China casting a wider-than-ever shadow of influence, & both America & Europe weakened by the Clash of Civilisations, unsure what to do."
Everfree, Nick Sagan.



"Some thawed proved difficult at first, but sooner or later Fan’s virus would catch up & set them right. There was no need for any Doctrine, not per se. Not when complaints were so few & helping hands so many. Not when everyone behaved as they should. ………….. There are things the patch didn’t do. It didn’t stop criminality. Not altogether. However, it put a huge dent in it. Why take advantage of people when you feel better looking out for them? Why resort to theft when society truly wants to meet all your needs?
It didn’t stop stupid decision making. Still no shortage of that. But it made the vast majority of those stupid mistakes well intentioned.
It didn’t stop magical thinking. It put no end to faith-based reasoning. Nor did it unify everyone under the same religion. Rather, it made everyone more tolerant of other’s beliefs.It didn’t create universal vegetarianism, but it encouraged it. Those who did hunt did so for food, not sport. Compassion with the prey made it so no one would take a life lightly.
It didn’t put an end to jealousy, deceit or hard feelings, but it pushed people to talk their problems out & be a little less cruel than they otherwise would.

One thing it did do, Fantasia had warned us about ahead of time. It contributed to a lot of consensual sex. Question: What do you get when sharing pleasure with someone gives even greater chemical highs & even greater feelings of trust? Answer: A Puritan’s nightmare. Along with Chimpanzees, Bonobos re our closet genetic relatives, but for years they were barred from zoos for fear that their constant sex play might offend delicate visitors. Fan joked that she’d unleashed everyone’s inner Bonobo.
Better to be fucking than fucking each other over.'
Everfree, Nick Sagan

[Lilith7]

“It is confusing, yes. Mankind pretends to love nature but destroys it wherever he goes. We claim life is sacred, but we leave it no room in which to exist. Not long ago, when we said every human is unique & holy, our children were taught which types of unique & holy were the best & which they should hate.”
“Not long ago?”
“Before we met any outsiders, people not of Earth. Now we don’t learn to hate humans anymore.”
“Just outsiders eh?” She laughed, a truly amused sound. “You. How are you different from most?”
“I’m an arkist. We’re suspicious of following anyone. We like figure things out for ourselves. When we look at ourselves in the mirror, we know that we aren’t the best or wisest creature in the galaxy; we also know we aren’t nothing. When we consider that we will die, we struggle to do something with the time we have. We don’t confuse heedless & selfish proliferation of our race with reverence for life. We know that other creatures are sometimes better than we are. We try to learn from them.”
The companions, Sheri Tepper.


“Their prime motivation is money or jobs – for humans, of course – because money & jobs buy votes or power. If wiping out forests means jobs & room for more people, they will wipe out forests. If killing animals means jobs & more room for people, they will drive the animals to extinction. Animals & forests do not vote. These destroyers care only that more room & more jobs be made available to accommodate the ever increasing number of people they encourage to be born, because an ever increasing population fuels our economic system.”
The Countess said, “But can’t they see what is happening to the world? Don’t they worry about it?”Dora snorted. “They worry only that they be allowed to live out their lives in power & comfort. They buy the kind of lives they are destroying for others. They live in gated communities or in mansions on stretches of untouched land or perhaps in twelve room apartments at the tops of very tall, exclusive buildings. As for the poor, as for the animals, as for the trees, let them die.”
The family tree, Sheri Tepper

'People want to know why I do this, why I write such gross stuff. I like to tell them I have the heart of a small boy... and I keep it in a jar on my desk.'
-Stephen King


"I did know what she meant. She meant there were good homosexuals & bad homosexuals, & she would never think of me as a bad one. My parents, I remembered, had once categorised black folks in much the same way. They didn’t disapprove of all Negroes. Just the uppity ones. The ones who insisted on special rights."
Michael Tolliver lives, Armistead Maupin.



"As she spoke, I had a vision of myself trapped in the pigsty, wandering from room to room wearing huge incontinence pants underneath voluminous tracksuit trousers. My wife & child had fled. My only visitor was the incontinence nurse bringing me fresh supplies."
Adrian Mole, the prostrate years. Sue Townsend.


"A tiny percentage of the population owns the vast majority of the country’s wealth. That suits them, but at the same time it’s terrifying; they are so outnumbered & have so much to lose. The idea that we might act in concert is appalling, that we might work towards something grander & more permanent than the filling of our bellies – they will crush this; they are too terrified to do otherwise."
(About the Chartist movement, 19th century)
The Telling, Jo Baker

[Lilith7]

"Don’t we all deal with life the way we do our military service? Doing what we can, while we wait either to be demobbed or do battle? Some will clean up the barrack-room, others will skive off, or spend their time playing cards, or trafficking, or plotting something. Officers command, soldiers obey, but no one’s fooled by this comedy behind closed doors: one day, you’ll have to go out & die, officers & soldiers alike, the morons along with the crafty ones who smuggle toilet paper or deal in cigarettes on the black market."
The elegance of the hedgehog, Muriel Barberry.


"From the discomfort of truth there is only one refuge & that is ignorance. I do not need to be comfortable & I will not take refuge. I demand to know."
Thirteen, Richard K Morgan.

"A case of law is a chess game for those who make their living at it, & a great sorrow for those who get caught up in its web."
Sharyn McCrumb. The ballad of Tom Dooley


"We cannot change the reality of the life offenders face, but we can begin to recognise the realities of the lives they have led, & promote changes that will provoke healing instead of rage.
As I understand it, under-floor heating has been installed in at least one of the new prisons – the one in Otago – the decision having been made that given the average winter in that area, under-floor heating was the cheapest & most efficient option. But where in the media debate about the idea of under-floor heating was the additional information that the temperature at which the heating was set is around 6 degrees – just enough to meet the UN standard & to stop ice forming on the floors?

The arena of female inmate management has the potential to assist the Department greatly in that regard – a small population within which the effects of changes made & risks taken can be assessed efficiently & effectively. In time this will show the way forward for the larger male inmate population.
It is easy when operating in the world of prisons & crime, & when faced daily with the potential that seems to exist for humans beings to hurt one another, to become focused on the negativity of the environment, the need to punish, to remind those who find their way to prison of their worthlessness. If the communities of NZ are to find a way out of the current situation of spiralling crime rates & increased societal violence, however, the Department must be prepared to help them review their perceptions of who are in our prisons & what they need to ensure they do not return a second time.

I have come to understand & be horrified by the degree to which, completely aside from the bad parenting chant that echoes across NZ every time another child dies a violent death at the hands of someone who is supposed to love & protect them, so much of the damage done in the lives of at-risk children is done by our bureaucracy & our systems – systems that purport to have the welfare of the child at heart.

Children need, on occasion, to be removed from their family for their ongoing safety & wellbeing, but it is what happens next that I take issue with – the ongoing harm done by the child protection system in the cases I have been involved in."
The power of mothers, Celia Lashlie

[Lilith7]

"I’ve found the prescription for the powerful men of the world, the ones who sit around peace tables clad in jackets & ties. Put the blue child on the table & make them stay. Make them stay & watch death do its methodical work, watch as it eats away at the child from within. Hand out sandwiches, cigarettes & mineral water & leave them there while the child empties, while he decomposes to the bone .Leave them there for days, for all the days it takes. This is what I’d do."
Margaret Mazzantini, Twice born.


"Someone should write an erudite essay on the moral, physical, & aesthetic effect of the Model T Ford on the American nation. Two generations of Americans knew more about the Ford coil than they did about the clitoris, about the planetary system of gears than the solar system of stars.
With the Model T, part of the concept of private property disappeared. Pliers ceased to be privately owned & a tyre-pump belonged to the last man who picked it up. Most of the babies of the period were conceived in Model T Fords & not a few were born in them. The theory of the Anglo-Saxon home became so warped that it never quite recovered."
John Steinbeck, Cannery row.



“It has always seemed strange to me’ said Doc ‘The things we admire in men, kindness & generosity, openness, honesty, understanding & feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism, & self interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second."
John Steinbeck, Cannery row.

"There are people who will say that this whole account is a lie, but a thing isn't necessarily a lie even if it didn't necessarily happen."
John Steinbeck, Sweet Thursday


"Now for many years we have suckled on fear & fear alone, & there is no good product of fear. Its children are cruelty & deceit & suspicion germinating in our darkness. And just as surely as we are poisoning the air with our test bombs, so are we poisoned in our souls by fear, faceless, stupid sarcomic terror. "
John Steinbeck, Once there was a war.



"But some men are friends with the whole world in their hearts, & there are others that hate themselves & spread their hatred around like butter on hot bread”
John Steinbeck, East of Eden

[Lilith7]

"And this I believe; that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion or government which limits or destroys the individual.
This is what I am & what I am about. I can understand why a system built on a pattern must try to destroy the free mind, for that is one thing which can by inspection destroy such a system.
Surely I can understand this, & I hate it & I will fight against it to preserve the one thing that separates us from the uncreative beasts. If the glory can be killed, we are lost."
East of Eden, John Steinbeck.



"He dropped his eyes but he could feel the relief on the part of the Bacons. It was not laziness if he was a rich man. Only the poor were lazy. Just as only the poor were ignorant. A rich man who didn’t know anything was spoiled or independent."
East of Eden, John Steinbeck.



"The danger is here, for two men are not as lonely & perplexed as one. And from this first ‘we’ there grows a still more dangerous thing:”I have a little food” plus “I have none”.
The baby has a cold. Here, take this blanket. Its wool. It was my mother’s blanket – take it for the baby. This is the thing to bomb. This is the beginning – from ‘I’ to ‘we."
The grapes of wrath, John Steinbeck.


‘If he’ll take twenty five, I’ll do it for twenty. ‘No, me. I’m hungry. I’ll work for fifteen. I’ll work for food.

And this was good, for wages went down & prices stayed up. The great owners were glad & they sent out more handbills to bring more people in. And wages went down & prices stayed up. And pretty soon now we’ll have serfs again.

And now the great owners invented a new method. A great owner bought a cannery. And when the peaches & pears were ripe he cut the price of fruit below the cost of raising it. And as cannery owner he paid himself a low price for the fruit & kept the price of canned goods up & took his profit.
And the companies, the banks worked at their own doom & they did not know it. The fields were fruitful, & starving men moved on the roads.

The granaries were full & the children of the poor grew up rachitic, & the pustules of pellagra swelled on their sides. The great companies did not know that the line between hunger & anger is a thin line. And money that might have gone to wages went for gas, for guns, for agents & spies, for blacklists, for drilling.
On the highways the people moved like ants & searched for work, for food. And the anger began to ferment."
The grapes of wrath, John Steinbeck.


'If by force you make a creature live & work like a beast, you must think of him as a beast, else empathy would drive you mad.’
Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck


‘He doesn’t belong to a species clever enough to split the atom but not clever enough to live in peace with itself.’
Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck

[Lilith7]

"Charley is a mind-reading dog. There have been many trips in his lifetime, and often he has to be left at home. He knows we are going long before the suitcase has come out, and he paces and worries and whines and goes into a state of mild hysteria."


"He was born in Bercy on the outskirts of Paris and trained in France, and while he knows a little Poodle-English, he responds quickly only to commands in French. Otherwise he has to translate, and that slows him down."


"Sir, this is a unique dog. He does not live by tooth or fang. He respects the right of cats to be cats although he doesn't admire them. He turns his steps rather than disturb an earnest caterpillar. His greatest fear is that someone will point out a rabbit and suggest that he chase it. This is a dog of peace and tranquility."


"It is my experience that in some areas Charley is more intelligent that I am, but in others he is abysmally ignorant. He can't read, can't drive a car, and has no grasp of mathematics. But in his own field of endeavour, which he is now practicing, the slow, imperial smelling over and anointing on an area, he has no peer. Of course his horizons are limited, but how wide are mine?"

Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck



"In fact, all his black & white thinking does is harden hearts, fix prejudice & blind good folk to the harm they do. And if something happens to challenge the way in which they see the world, when black & white thinking at last dissolves into a million shades of grey, men like Reynaud are left floundering, grasping at straws in a hurricane."
Peaches for Monsieur Le Cure, Joanne Harris.