--- title: "2 Dystopia Quotes By Sheri S. Tepper" description: "2 Dystopia quotes by Sheri S. Tepper. Plus more from Sheri S. Tepper and more Dystopia sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f0/sheri-s-tepper-8133_betray_hecuba-i-had-a-knife-in-my-skirt-achille_1883853.jpg" --- > [“HECUBA: I had a knife in my skirt, Achilles. When Talthybius bent over me, I could have killed him. I wanted to. I had the knife just for that reason. Yet, at the last minute I thought, he's some mother's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheri-s-tepper/hecuba-i-had-a-knife-in-my-skirt-achilles-when-talthybius-bent-over/) [Sheri S. Tepper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheri-s-tepper/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f0/sheri-s-tepper-8133_betray_hecuba-i-had-a-knife-in-my-skirt-achille_1883853.jpg) > [“(ghost of)ACHILLES: How can I force obedience on this? In other times I've used the fear of death to make a woman bow herself to me. If not the fear of her own death, then fear for someone else, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheri-s-tepper/ghost-of-achilles-how-can-i-force-obedience-on-this-in-other-times-i/) [Sheri S. Tepper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheri-s-tepper/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/478/sheri-s-tepper-8133_country_ghost-of-achilles-how-can-i-force-obedie_2292962.jpg) ## Other authors on Dystopia - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b010/author-s-l-wallace-38845.jpg) S.L. Wallace 11 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dystopia/s-l-wallace/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b011/author-slava-pilotoff-41181.jpg) Slava Pilotoff 9 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dystopia/slava-pilotoff/) - [Paula Altenburg 8 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dystopia/paula-altenburg/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b010/author-george-orwell-37887.jpg) George Orwell 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dystopia/george-orwell/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b011/author-hayden-schlossberg-40916.jpg) Georgia Clark 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dystopia/georgia-clark/) ## More by Sheri S. Tepper > [“We're so old that the winds of age echo along our ribs and pick at our eye sockets. We could be gone tomorrow. A…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheri-s-tepper/we-re-so-old-that-the-winds-of-age-echo-along-our-ribs-and-pick-at/) [Sheri S. Tepper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheri-s-tepper/) > [Conflict acting on intelligence creates imagination. Faced with conflict, creatures are forced to imagine what will happen, where the next threat will come from.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheri-s-tepper/conflict-acting-on-intelligence-creates-imagination-faced-with/) [Sheri S. Tepper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheri-s-tepper/) > [“cultures define their gods when they’re young and primitive, when their main concern is survival. They endow their gods with survival characteristics like omnipotence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheri-s-tepper/cultures-define-their-gods-when-they-re-young-and-primitive-when/) [Sheri S. Tepper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheri-s-tepper/) > [Do you realize it’s been only a century that we’ve been able to go from house to car to office to car to wherever,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheri-s-tepper/do-you-realize-it-s-been-only-a-century-that-we-ve-been-able-to-go/) [Sheri S. Tepper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheri-s-tepper/) > [ \[T\]he scripture worshippers put the writings ahead of God. Instead of interpreting God's actions in nature, for example, they interpret nature in the light… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheri-s-tepper/t-he-scripture-worshippers-put-the-writings-ahead-of-god-instead-of/) [Sheri S. Tepper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheri-s-tepper/) > [“They will set aside what they have believed about the world, divesting themselves of all preconceptions, all judgments… They will do it, then they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheri-s-tepper/they-will-set-aside-what-they-have-believed-about-the-world-divesting/) [Sheri S. Tepper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheri-s-tepper/) > [“If the law does not do justice, the people will mock the law.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheri-s-tepper/if-the-law-does-not-do-justice-the-people-will-mock-the-law/) [Sheri S. Tepper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheri-s-tepper/) > [“Faith healers. God-loves-you religions. State-supported lotteries. All that enormous energy expended to conquer nothing at all, stadia full of people watching no conquering going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheri-s-tepper/faith-healers-god-loves-you-religions-state-supported-lotteries-all/) [Sheri S. Tepper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheri-s-tepper/) > [The sooner we can separate salvageable skeptics from self-righteous absolutists, the sooner we can move along.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheri-s-tepper/the-sooner-we-can-separate-salvageable-skeptics-from-self-righteous/) [Sheri S. Tepper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheri-s-tepper/) > [There are writers who say they have no social responsibility except to write a good book, but that doesn't satisfy me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheri-s-tepper/there-are-writers-who-say-they-have-no-social-responsibility-except/) [Sheri S. Tepper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheri-s-tepper/) > [“Rich people didn't get in that kind of mess. They never had. Only the poor got trapped: by ignorance, by religion, by self-righteous laws…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheri-s-tepper/rich-people-didn-t-get-in-that-kind-of-mess-they-never-had-only-the/) [Sheri S. Tepper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheri-s-tepper/) > [The expression of divinity is in variety.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheri-s-tepper/the-expression-of-divinity-is-in-variety/) [Sheri S. Tepper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheri-s-tepper/) > [I will raise up prophets to make conflicting pronouncements that inevitably will be garbled in transcription, resulting in mutually exclusive definitions of orthodoxy from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheri-s-tepper/i-will-raise-up-prophets-to-make-conflicting-pronouncements-that/) [Sheri S. Tepper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheri-s-tepper/) > [Mankind accepts good fortune as his due, but when bad occurs, he thinks it was aimed at him, done to him, a hex, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheri-s-tepper/mankind-accepts-good-fortune-as-his-due-but-when-bad-occurs-he-thinks/) [Sheri S. Tepper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheri-s-tepper/) > [“He told us that nations of men fell into disorder, so nations of law were set up instead. He told us that nations of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheri-s-tepper/he-told-us-that-nations-of-men-fell-into-disorder-so-nations-of-law/) [Sheri S. Tepper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheri-s-tepper/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dystopia/sheri-s-tepper/#itemlist", "name": "2 Dystopia Quotes By Sheri S. Tepper", "numberOfItems": 2, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“HECUBA: I had a knife in my skirt, Achilles. When Talthybius bent over me, I could have killed him. I wanted to. I had the knife just for that reason. Yet, at the last minute I thought, he's some mother's son just as Hector was, and aren't we women all sisters? If I killed him, I thought, wouldn't It be like killing family?Wouldn't it be making some other mother grieve? So I didn't kill him, but if I had, I might have saved Hector's child. Dead or damned, that's the choice we make. Either you men kill us and are honored for it, or we women kill you and are damned for it. Dead or damned. 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