Canticle Quotes

“Seeing misery everywhere and detesting it, and sincere in wanting to do something about it. Sincere– that was the hell of it. From a distance, one's adversaries seemed fiends, but with a closer view, one saw the sincerity, and it was as great as one's own.”
― Walter M. Miller Jr., A Canticle for Leibowitz

“Listen to my soul," Raziel thought, "Because you deserve this darkness.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle for the Fallen

“Stop it!” he sobbed. “Leave me be!”

The girl laughed, tossing her dark hair and clasping her hands together. “Oh, Raziel,” she whispered. “This has only just begun.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of Two Souls

“Alicia watched in horror as the blood flew through the air, Raziel whipping like an eel around the soldiers. She could sense his emotions even without seeing his eyes. His hatred and anger were strong. She could feel it like a wind, buffeting at her mind. At the same time, it was like a wild tune, fast-paced, loud, drowning out all else. It was more powerful than the fear of all the soldiers combined, and she sank to the ground as her own emotions woke and intensified into a drunken clamour.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of Two Souls

“That sword of yours tells you only lies. All it wants is death, it doesn’t matter whose! Yours would suit it just fine, it would probably relish it all the more. It’s a monster, Raziel.”

“And you? You’re a damned monster yourself!”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of Two Souls

“What is a warchild, you ask? Some say they are human, other ‘witnesses’ call them horrendous demons. That they wield great power is undeniable. They master the very thing that makes us who we are: emotion. Love, hatred, terror, anguish, humour, sadness, joy . . . all these and a hundred more, a thousand. Imagine a thing, a creature that could take them from you, leaving you as an empty husk, able to think, but having no will to act. No will to resist.

“That, my emperor, is a warchild.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of Two Souls

“What is this?” she asked with a half-grimace on her face.

“Rabbit.”

“I wouldn’t have guessed that in a million years.”

“Yeah,” he growled. “But I’ve never cooked before.” He took a spoonful, trying to keep the foul-tasting mix down.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of Two Souls

“If this was death, he wasn’t enjoying it. Pain played a dark melody through his soul, and he could barely think. Black and red was all he saw and felt, flashes of white joining the sharper bites of the ever-present agony. Drumbeats pounded to the rhythm of colour, a battle song to instil deep fear and even deeper trauma. His mind reeled, seeming to sink for minutes at a time, before resurfacing in flames. He supposed it might have been interesting from an observer’s point of view. But when pain and darkness was your very being, all you really wanted was for it to end.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of Two Souls

“The men started to attack each other, blades flashing, armour clashing, voices raging. Raziel watched in shocked silence as blood flew darkly against the harsh red of the fire’s light. Screams and wails held the high ground in the battle of sound as friends and comrades attacked each other viciously. Victims screamed, and their attackers screamed just as fearfully. Horror and terror rode through the ranks, invisible beasts striking deep into every man’s heart.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of Two Souls

“All Renar flags, which had once been allowed under the war’s treaty, were now gathered and burnt in piles in Archehan’s squares. Elderly citizens wept as the red-and-gold embroidered cloth flapped in the heat of the flames, a sick parody of the wind that had made the flags flutter in the years before. The red turned to black, and in the younger men’s hearts, a similar change began, but one of grim anger.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of Two Souls

“Only the children are unimpressed, for they see miracles everywhere.”
― Janet Rich Edwards

“Men. Always pissing outside of their chamber pots.”
― Janet Rich Edwards