The Oracle Glass Quotes

“I could feel something cold stalking my heart. It was fear. They all begin this way, I thought, with pledges of love.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, The Oracle Glass

“When faced with the illogical, one must expand the sphere of logic to include rules of logic for that which is not logic. This is the only possibility in a world that works according to the rules of rationality.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, The Oracle Glass

“Oaths, in my opinion, infernal or not, ought to be short.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, The Oracle Glass

“Why the Romans, Father?" I asked him one afternoon.
"Because, my child, they teach us how to bear suffering in a world of injustice where all faith is dead," he answered.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, The Oracle Glass

“After all, he meant well. Foreigners never seem to understand how little attraction an island of damp fogs, cut off from civilization, and a provincial little court has for us Parisians, who inhabit the most cultivated, powerful monarchy in the world.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, The Oracle Glass

“Give up opium before it kills you. Only coffee is brain food.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, The Oracle Glass

“Creativity is, after all, the greatest satisfaction of the human mind.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, The Oracle Glass

“Most people don’t even understand the present. Why should they understand glimpses of the future?”
― Judith Merkle Riley, The Oracle Glass

“true happiness is found in contemplation, whereas the common idea of happiness as pleasant amusements is fostered by the courts of tyrants.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, The Oracle Glass

“If there is a God, why would anyone of good sense want to deal with such a second-rate being as the Devil?”
― Judith Merkle Riley, The Oracle Glass

“Are you aware of the penalties reserved for freethinkers? I could send you to the block. Good.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, The Oracle Glass

“I mistrust mountebanks—especially of the female variety.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, The Oracle Glass

“Daughter, your presence is a stay and consolation to me. Begin again in the Tenth Book; tell me, how does Aristotle define true happiness?” “Father, he tells us that true happiness is found in contemplation, whereas the common idea of happiness as pleasant amusements is fostered by the courts of tyrants.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, The Oracle Glass

“Why the Romans, Father?” I asked him one afternoon. “Because, my child, they teach us how to bear suffering in a world of injustice where all faith is dead,” he answered.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, The Oracle Glass