Matthew Kneale > Quotes

“My opponents' first argument was that the rocks of the earth--which are generally agreed to have once been in a hot and melted state--would have required far longer to lose their heat than the Scriptures described. My reply was that the earth had indeed cooled at great speed, being made possible by a process I termed Divine Refrigeration.”
― Matthew Kneale, English Passengers

“I began my ministry with some zeal, endeavouring to improve the lives of my flock by launching a little campaign to have the alehouse open only three days in the week instead of seven, and offering--as a nobler recompense--two extra church services. Sadly this little initiative was answered, in certain quarters, with something like hostility.”
― Matthew Kneale

“All at once I felt myself haunted by a terrible vision, of a world without guidance: a land of emptiness, where all was ruled by the madness of chance. How could one endure such a place, where all significance was lost? I myself would mean nothing, but would merely be a kind of self-invention: a speck upon the wind, calling itself Wilson. I felt my spirit waver, as if it were toppling into the abyss before me.”
― Matthew Kneale, English Passengers

“you never knew how things might go on Judgment Day.”
― Matthew Kneale, Pilgrims: Matthew Kneale

“If I have learned anything from my summer of discoveries, it is that the more accepted and widespread a notion, the more fiercely it should be suspected. Beliefs have a dangerous habit of creating their own momentum, the momentum of mere fashion, until any who oppose them become the subject of humorous derision, revilement or worse. A truth that holds as well for small clans as for great nations. Readers, guard yourselves, I urge you, against that toxic slumber of unanimity. Seek instead that most dazzling of prizes, to see through the delusions of your own time.”
― Matthew Kneale, Sweet Thames