“Is the beauty of the Whole really enhanced by our agony? And is the Whole really beautiful? And what is beauty? Throughout all his existence man has been striving to hear the music of the spheres, and has seemed to… — Olaf Stapledon Copy Share Image
No visiting angel, or explorer from another planet, could have guessed that this bland orb [Earth] teemed with vermin, with world-mastering, self-torturing, incipiently angelic… — Olaf Stapledon Copy Share
In fact man's career has been less like a mountain torrent hurtling from rock to rock, than a great sluggish river, broken very seldom… — Olaf Stapledon Copy Share
I loathe the urchin's cruelty to the cat, but I will not loathe the urchin. I loathe Hitler's mass-torturing, but not Hitler; and the… — Olaf Stapledon Copy Share
“We are bound to hurt one another so much, again and again. we are so terribly different.''Yes,' he said, 'But the more different, the… — Olaf Stapledon Copy Share
Great are the stars, and man is of no account to them. But man is a fair spirit, whom a star conceived and a… — Olaf Stapledon Copy Share
I see, indeed I know, that in some sense God is love, and God is wisdom, and God is creative action, yes and God… — Olaf Stapledon Copy Share
“With characteristic lack of false modesty, John once said to me, "My looks are a rough test of people. If they don't begin to… — Olaf Stapledon Copy Share
[S]ervants of darkness had no lasting joy in their service. In all of them the will for darkness was a perversion of the will… — Olaf Stapledon Copy Share
“The truth of the matter was something much more subtle and tremendous than any plain physical miracle could ever be. But never mind that.… — Olaf Stapledon Copy Share
Even when all the worlds have frozen or exploded, and all the suns gone dead and cold, there'll still be time. Oh, God, what… — Olaf Stapledon Copy Share
The Tibetan missionaries in their mood of bright confidence disconcerted the imperial governments by laughing the new movement into frustration. For a sham faith… — Olaf Stapledon Copy Share
“For the former, activity, any kind of activity, was an end in itself; for the latter, activity was but a progress toward the true… — Olaf Stapledon Copy Share
We have no government and no laws, if by law is meant a stereotyped convention supported by force, and not to be altered without… — Olaf Stapledon Copy Share
“In the tide of these wild thoughts we checked our fancy, remembering that only on the rare grains called planets can life gain foothold,… — Olaf Stapledon Copy Share
