Behold the Man Quotes

“Trapped. Sinking. Can't be myself. Made into what other people expect. Is that everyone's fate? Were the great individualists the products of their friends who wanted a great individualist as a friend?”
― Michael Moorcock, Behold the Man: A Time Traveler’s Quest to Become the Messiah—The Nebula-Winning New Wave Science Fiction Classic

“Religion was the creation of fear. Knowledge destroys fear. Without fear, religion can't survive.”
― Michael Moorcock, Behold the Man: A Time Traveler’s Quest to Become the Messiah—The Nebula-Winning New Wave Science Fiction Classic

“You make the mistake of considering Christianity as something that developed over the course of a few years, from the death of Jesus to the time the gospels were written. But Christianity wasn't new. Only the name was new. Christianity was merely a stage in the meeting, cross-fertilization, metamorphosis of Western logic and Eastern mysticism. Look how the religion itself changed over the centuries, reinterpreting itself to meet changing times. Christianity is just a new name for a conglomeration of old myths and philosophies. All the gospels do is retell the sun myth and garble some of the ideas from the Greeks and Romans.”
― Michael Moorcock, Behold the Man: A Time Traveler’s Quest to Become the Messiah—The Nebula-Winning New Wave Science Fiction Classic

“His Hamburg friends believed that they were the descendants of those who had perished when Atlantis was destroyed by Atom Bombs dropped from Flying Saucers by unsympathetic spirits from Mars.”
― Michael Moorcock, Behold the Man: A Time Traveler’s Quest to Become the Messiah—The Nebula-Winning New Wave Science Fiction Classic

“But what came first? The idea or the actuality of Christ?”

She shrugged. “The actuality, if it matters. Jesus was a Jewish troublemaker organising a revolt against the Romans. He was crucified for his pains. That’s all we know and all we need to know.”

“A great religion couldn’t have begun so simply.”

“When people need one, they’ll make a great religion out of the most unlikely beginnings.”
― Michael Moorcock, Behold the Man: A Time Traveler’s Quest to Become the Messiah—The Nebula-Winning New Wave Science Fiction Classic

“But what came first? The idea or the actuality of Christ?’
She shrugged. ‘The actuality, if it matters. Jesus was a Jewish troublemaker organising a revolt against the Romans. He was crucified for his pains. That’s all we know and all we need to know.’
‘A great religion couldn’t have begun so simply.’
‘When people need one, they’ll make a great religion out of the most unlikely beginnings.”
― Michael Moorcock, Behold the Man: A Time Traveler’s Quest to Become the Messiah—The Nebula-Winning New Wave Science Fiction Classic