We Are Not By Nature Cruel.

His Mouth Opens. From Inside Him Comes A Slow Stream, Without Breath, Without Interruption. It Flows Up Through His Body And Out Upon Me; It Passes Through The Cabin, Through The Wreck; Washing The Cliffs And Shores Of The Island, It Runs Northward And Southward To The Ends Of The Earth. Soft And Cold, Dark And Unending, It Beats Against My Eyelids, Against The Skin Of My Face.

Perhaps We Invented The Gods So That We Could Put The Blame On Them. They Gave Us Permission To Eat Flesh. They Gave Us Permission To Play With Unclean Things. It's Not Our Fault, It's Theirs. We're Just Their Children.

Long Visits Don't Make For Good Friends.

Belief May Be No More, In The End, Than A Source Of Energy, Like A Battery Which One Clips Into An Idea To Make It Run.

All Over The World, As Governments Retreat From Their Traditional Duty To Foster The Common Good And Reconceive Of Themselves As Mere Managers Of National Economies, Universities Have Been Coming Under Pressure To Turn Themselves Into Training Schools Equipping Young People With The Skills Required By A Modern Economy.