“Sometimes, what we need the most is the strength to survive in this world. Which forces us to pay, to watch the demons destroy the paradises we built and dance on its ruins.”

“[Über das Paradies:] Die fünf Bücher Mose, die Genesis und der Koran beschäftigen sich eingehend mit dieser hysterischen Geographie. Die muslimische Variante ist jedoch am gelungensten und lohnt wirklich die Lektüre: Bäche, Gärten, Flüsse, Quellen, Blumenbeete, jede Menge Früchte und wunderbare Getränke, großäugige Houris, allzeit jungfräulich, liebenswürdige junge Menschen, Betten im Überfluß, prächtige Kleider, wunderbare Stoffe, außergewöhnlicher Schmuck, Gold, Perlen, Parfums, kostbares Geschirr … es fehlt nichts in diesem Werbeprospekt des ontologischen Fremdenverkehrsamtes.”

“فرق شاسع بين مفهوم العبادة كما نزل من عند الله، و علمه رسول الله -صلى الله عليه و سلم- و وعاه الجيل الأول و مارسه، و بين المفهوم الشائه الهزيل الضامر الذي فهمته الأجيال المتأخرة .. مارسته أم لم تمارسه! المفهوم الأول هو الذي أخرج “خير أمة أخرجت للناس” و المفهوم الأخير هو الذي أخرج “غثاء السيل”.. و لا بد من تصحيح المفاهيم ..(إِنَّ اللَّـهَ لَا يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّىٰ يُغَيِّرُوا مَا بِأَنفُسِهِمْ )، ( قُل لَّا يَسْتَوِي الْخَبِيثُ وَالطَّيِّبُ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكَ كَثْرَةُ الْخَبِيثِ ).. إن المسألة ليست ثانويه .. و لا هي مسألة هينة يكفي لحلها شيء من الوعظ والإرشاد.. إنها مسألة تحتاج إلى بناء من جديد ..”

“It has always been this way. Death is followed by birth. To reach paradise, man must pass through inferno. – Bertrand Zobrist”

“Feathers!” spluttered Sargatanas. “Feathers are for the birds, my boy. Flaking, peeling, scale-ridden wings, now that’s what real beings wear. I’ll tell you a secret.” He said, and drew me closer. “The eternal pain at having known Paradise and lost it is priceless. I wouldn’t swap it for anything.”

“I continuously see myself on an airplane that has unlimited fuel. I go here and there but can’t stop. Always flying over my destination. I’ve come to realize I must jump off with my parachute on of course. That is how I’m viewing my life right now.Once I find that loophole than I’ve reached my destination to success.”

“A single poem, alonecan turn tidesscatter galaxiesand burst forth with riversfrom paradise.”

“Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse – and ThouBeside me singing in the Wilderness -And Wilderness is Paradise enow.”

“A book of verses underneath the boughA flask of wine, a loaf of bread and thouBeside me singing in the wildernessAnd wilderness is paradise now.”

“Now comes the mystery! (last words)”

“Only add Deeds to thy knowledge answerable; add faith; Add virtue, patience, temperance; add love, By name to come called charity, the soul Of all the rest: then wilt thou not be loath To leave this Paradise; but shalt possess A paradise within thee, happier far.”

“Whoever treads a path seeking knowledge, Allah will make easy for him the path to Paradise.”(reported by Ibn Majah and others, fulfilling the conditions of Imam al Bukhari and Imam Muslim)”

“Until every soul is freely permitted to investigate every book, and creed, and dogma for itself, the world cannot be free. Mankind will be enslaved until there is mental grandeur enough to allow each man to have his thought and say. This earth will be a paradise when men can, upon all these questions differ, and yet grasp each other’s hands as friends. It is amazing to me that a difference of opinion upon subjects that we know nothing with certainty about, should make us hate, persecute, and despise each other. Why a difference of opinion upon predestination, or the trinity, should make people imprison and burn each other seems beyond the comprehension of man; and yet in all countries where Christians have existed, they have destroyed each other to the exact extent of their power. Why should a believer in God hate an atheist? Surely the atheist has not injured God, and surely he is human, capable of joy and pain, and entitled to all the rights of man. Would it not be far better to treat this atheist, at least, as well as he treats us?Christians tell me that they love their enemies, and yet all I ask is—not that they love their enemies, not that they love their friends even, but that they treat those who differ from them, with simple fairness.We do not wish to be forgiven, but we wish Christians to so act that we will not have to forgive them. If all will admit that all have an equal right to think, then the question is forever solved; but as long as organized and powerful churches, pretending to hold the keys of heaven and hell, denounce every person as an outcast and criminal who thinks for himself and denies their authority, the world will be filled with hatred and suffering. To hate man and worship God seems to be the sum of all the creeds.”

“I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.(John 11:25-26)”

“Raised as we are on the mythology of the Old Testament, we might say that an idyll is an image that has remained with us like a memory of Paradise: life in Paradise was not like following a straight line to the unknown; it was not an adventure. It moved in a circle among known objects. Its monotony bred happiness, not boredom.”