"You have need of learning, children, in order that the whorl will someday have need of you."

Gene Wolfe Literature See all quotes by Gene Wolfe →

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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

"But we have to follow through, even when the politics are hard. Because in the eyes of innocent men and women and children who, through no fault of their own, have had to flee everything that they kno…"

— Barack Obama

Politics1961

#family

"I’ve never wanted to fit in Abbaji’s shoes and am happy to walk in my own. My father made it categorically clear even when my brothers or me performed with him. “I don’t expect my sons to be me becaus…"

— Zakir Hussain (musician)

Music1951–2024

#family

"Your thoughts about life and music have changed within the 45 years of the existence as a band and so it still can be seen as a burning process in order to transform the entire picture of everything y…"

— Edgar Froese

Art1944–2015

#life

"Do you see law and order? There is nothing but disorder, and instead of law there is the illusion of security. It is an illusion because it is built on a long history of injustices: racism, criminalit…"

— Mumia Abu-Jamal

Politics1954

#justice