A Canticle for Leibowitz (St. Leibowitz, #1)

by Walter M. Miller Jr.

Fire, loveliest of the four elements of the world, and yet an element too in Hell. While it burned adoringly in the core of the Temple, it had also scorched the life from a city, this night, and spewed its venom over the land. How strange of God to speak from a burning bush, and of Man to make a symbol of Heaven into a symbol of Hell.

‘You don’t have a soul, Doctor. You are a soul. You have a body, temporarily.’