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Guilt was the grease in which the wheels of the authority turned.
The sea is always powerful. So many people believe in it. But it seldom answers prayers.
If people don’t respect then they won’t fear, and if they don’t fear, how can you get them to believe?
If enough people believe, you can be god of anything . . .”
“What’s a philosopher?” said Brutha. “Someone who’s bright enough to find a job with no heavy lifting,” said a voice in his head.
Belief shifts. People start out believing in the god and end up believing in the structure.”
“Just because you can explain it doesn’t mean it’s not still a miracle.”
“You could have helped people,” said Brutha. “But all you did was stamp around and roar and try to make people afraid. Like . . . like a man hitting a donkey with a stick. But people like Vorbis made the stick so good, that’s all the donkey ends up believing in.”
You can’t inspire people with facts. They need a cause. They need a symbol.”
Anything was possible last night. That was the trouble with last nights. They were always followed by this mornings.
You can die for your country or your people or your family, but for a god you should live fully and busily, every day of a long life.”
it is strange that, although it takes years of effort and work and scheming for a god to get there, once there they never seem to do a lot apart from drink too much and indulge in a little mild corruption. Many systems of government follow the same broad lines.
“I like the idea of democracy. You have to have someone everyone distrusts,” said Brutha. “That way, everyone’s happy.
