The Once and Future King (The Once and Future King, #1-4)

by T.H. White

“Wars are never fought for one reason,” he said. “They are fought for dozens of reasons,

And do you know another thing, Arthur? Life is too bitter already, without territories and wars and noble feuds.”

You have become the king of a domain in which the popular agitators hate each other for racial reasons, while the nobility fight each other for fun, and neither the racial maniac nor the overlord stops to consider the lot of the common soldier, who is the one person that gets hurt.

But the odd thing is that Jesus did not turn the disciples into storm troopers, burn down the Temple at Jerusalem, and fix the blame on Pontius Pilate. On the contrary, he made it clear that the business of the philosopher was to make ideas available, and not to impose them on people.”

Do you know what is going to be written on your tombstone? Hic jacet Arthurus Rex quondam Rexque futurus. Do you remember your Latin? It means, the once and future king.”

Between the armies there was a serious racial enmity. But it was an enmity controlled from above—by nobles who were not sincerely anxious for each other’s blood.

Elite using devisiveness of racial politics to divide and anger the lower classes. Hmmm

it seems, in tragedy, that innocence is not enough.

People will do the basest things on account of their so-called honour.

He loved Arthur and he loved Guenever and he hated himself. The best knight of the world: everybody envied the self-esteem which must surely be his. But Lancelot never believed he was good or nice. Under the grotesque, magnificent shell with a face like Quasimodo’s, there was shame and self-loathing which had been planted there when he was tiny, by something which it is now too late to trace. It is so fatally easy to make young children believe that they are horrible.

Now, in their love, which was stronger, there were the seeds of hatred and fear and confusion growing at the same time: for love can exist with hatred, each preying on the other, and this is what gives it its greatest fury.

Get out of my castle with your strumpet.”

It was a mistake because the Table itself was founded on force. Right must be established by right: it can’t be established by Force Majeur.

We have achieved what we were fighting for, and now we still have the fighters on our hands. Don’t you see what has happened? We have run out of things to fight for, so all the fighters of the Table are going to rot.

Morals are difficult things to talk about, but what has happened is that we have invented a moral sense, which is rotting now that we can’t give it employment. And when a moral sense begins to rot it is worse than when you had none.

Very relevant for america and europe in 21st century..

I shall be talking about God a great deal, and this is a word which offends unholy people just as badly as words like ‘damn’ and so on offend the holy ones.

They made me see that the world was beautiful if you were beautiful, and that you couldn’t get unless you gave.

But if we could make a little merry mischief between Arthur and Lancelot, because of the Queen, their power would be split. Then would be the time for policy. Then would be the time for discontented people, Lollards and Communists and Nationalists and all the riff-raff. Then would be the time to take your famous revenge.”

Do you think that they, with their Battles, Famine, Black Death and Serfdom, were less enlightened than we are, with our Wars, Blockade, Influenza and Conscription?

when the kings are bullies who believe in force, the people are bullies too. If I don’t stand for law, I won’t have law among my people.

She looked singularly lovely, not like a film star, but like a woman who had grown a soul.

Do you think you can stop the consequences of a bad action, by doing good ones afterwards?

Was it the wicked leaders who led innocent populations to slaughter, or was it wicked populations who chose leaders after their own hearts?

We cannot build the future by avenging the past.

There would be a day—there must be a day—when he would come back to Gramarye with a new Round Table which had no corners, just as the world had none—a table without boundaries between the nations who would sit to feast there.