Book 3. (7 results) Priest-Kings of Gor (Context Quote)
| Chapter # | Sentence # | Quote |
|---|---|---|
| 33 | 122 | Most who had returned from the Sardar would, eventually at least, I was sure, try to gain admittance in new cities, where they were not known, and attempt to work out new lives, as though they did not keep in their hearts the secret of the Sardar. |
| 33 | 123 | I stood amazed at the greatness and smallness of man. |
| 33 | 124 | And then with shame I realized how nearly I myself had come to betraying my fellow creatures. |
| 33 | 125 | I had intended to make use of that moment myself, pretending to have come with a message from priest-kings, to encourage man to live as I wished him to live, to respect himself and others, to be kind and to be worthy of the heritage of a rational animal, and yet of what worth would these things be if they came not from the heart of man himself, but from his fear of priest-kings or his desire to please them? No, I would not try to reform man by pretending that my wishes for him were the wishes of priest-kings, even though this might be effective for a time, for the wishes that reform man, that make him what he is capable of becoming, and has not yet become, must be his own and not those of another. |
| 33 | 126 | If man rises, he can do so only on his own two feet. |
| 33 | 127 | And I was thankful that the High Initiate of Ar had interfered. |
| 33 | 128 | I thought how dangerous might be the Initiates if, intertwined with their superstitious lore and their numerous impressive ceremonies, there had been a truly moral message, something that might have spoken to the nobility of men. |
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Most who had returned from the Sardar would, eventually at least, I was sure, try to gain admittance in new cities, where they were not known, and attempt to work out new lives, as though they did not keep in their hearts the secret of the Sardar.
I stood amazed at the greatness and smallness of man.
And then with shame I realized how nearly I myself had come to betraying my fellow creatures.
I had intended to make use of that moment myself, pretending to have come with a message from priest-kings, to encourage man to live as I wished him to live, to respect himself and others, to be kind and to be worthy of the heritage of a rational animal, and yet of what worth would these things be if they came not from the heart of man himself, but from his fear of priest-kings or his desire to please them? No, I would not try to reform man by pretending that my wishes for him were the wishes of priest-kings, even though this might be effective for a time, for the wishes that reform man, that make him what he is capable of becoming, and has not yet become, must be his own and not those of another.
If man rises, he can do so only on his own two feet.
And I was thankful that the High Initiate of Ar had interfered.
I thought how dangerous might be the Initiates if, intertwined with their superstitious lore and their numerous impressive ceremonies, there had been a truly moral message, something that might have spoken to the nobility of men.
- (Priest-Kings of Gor, Chapter )