"You have a walking stick. Suppose it could walk by itself, and that it chose to walk away from you. It would no longer be a walking stick at all, only a stick that walked."

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More by Gene Wolfe

“What little I have learned in the course of a long life, regarding the gods, I have tried to forget.”

“There are people who love birds so much they free them. There are others who love them so much they cage them.”

“Until we reach the end of time, we don’t know whether something’s been good or bad; we can only judge the intentions of those who acted.”

“No man has a home unless he is master of a place where he must please no one—a place where he can go and lock the door behind him.”

“The best way to be thought honest is to be honest.”

““You’re called a holy man,” she said. “I see you’re wholly deranged.”

Resonant Thoughts

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— Paul Ryan

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"Mother is the best bet and don't let Satan draw you too fast."

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Law1901–1935

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"There is a tone of complaint in your question whether there will ever be a renewal of the vision you had, the night before the picnic day. Methinks, were you to have a vision nightly, you would soon c…"

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