| General
Is it not safer to cower in the caves of lies than stand upon the cliffs of truth, surveying the world? Yet when one stands in the sunlight, and feels the winds of reality, how dank and shameful seem the dark shelters of falsehood, and how foolish it seems then to have once feared daylight and fresh air. Fighting Slave of Gor - Page 103 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Truth, you see, has reality on its side. Truth's problems do not derive primarily from the complexity of nature but from the simplicity of people. It is always more convenient to adopt a slogan than conduct an inquiry. Too, the often cold and flinty nature of truth may, to many people, understandably, constitute a poor substitute for the comforts of self-deception. Harmless lies, perhaps, improve the quality of human life. They do not, of course, improve its nobility or grandeur. Blood Brothers of Gor - Page 264 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Is there no hope for my world?" she asked. "Very little," I said. "Perhaps, here and there, men will form themselves into small communities, where the names of such things as courage, discipline and responsibility may be occasionally recollected, communities which, in their small way, might be worthy of Home Stones. Such communities, emerging upon the ruins, might provide a nucleus for regeneration, a sounder, more biological regeneration of a social structure, one not antithetical to the nature of human beings." Explorer of Gor - Page 333 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Let those who can climb mountains climb them; let those who cannot climb them console themselves with denying their existence. Rogue of Gor - Page 19 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Gorean is suspicious of the stranger, particularly in the vicinity of his native walls. Indeed, in Gorean the same word is used for both stranger and enemy. Outlaw of Gor - Page 49 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do not ask the stones or the trees how to live , they can not tell you ; they do not have tongues, do not ask the wise man how to live for, if he knows, he will know he cannot tell you; if you would learn how to live, do not ask the question, its answer is not in the question but in the answer, which is not in words; do not ask how to live, but, instead, proceed to do so. Marauders of Gor - Page 9 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the codes of the warriors, there is a saying; ‘Be strong, and do as you will. The swords of others will set you your limits.’ Marauders of Gor - Page 10 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We met in the center of the room and embraced. I wept, and he did, too, without shame. I learned later that on this alien world a strong man may feel and express emotions, and that the hypocrisy of constraint is not honored on this planet as it is on mine. Tarnsman of Gor - Page 21 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Normally only about one in forty or so Gorean women in the cities is enslaved. Explorers of Gor - Page 459 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Are most Gorean women slaves?" she asked. "No," I said, "indeed, statistically, in those parts of Gor which I am familiar, very few. Commonly only one woman in say, forty or fifty is a slave. This varies somewhat, of course, from city to city. Beasts of Gor - Page 246 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And on this barbaric world I have seen it in all its beauty and cruelty, in all its glory and sadness. I have learned that it is splendid and fearful and priceless. I have seen it in the vanished towers of Ko-ro-ba and in the flight of a tarn, in the movements of a beautiful woman, in the gleam of weaponry, in the sound of tarn drums and the crash of thunder over green fields. I have found it at the tables of sword companions and in the clash of the metals of war, in the touch of a girl's lips and hair, in the blood of a sleen, in the sands and chains of Tharna, in the scent of talenders and the hiss of the whip. I am grateful to the immortal elements which have so conspired that I might once be. I was Tarl Cabot, Warrior of Ko-ro-ba. Outlaw of Gor - Page 253 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Culture decides what is truth, but truth, unfortunately for culture, is unaware of this. Cultures, mad and blind, can die upon the rocks of truth. Why can truth not be the foundation of culture, rather than its nemesis? Can one not build upon the stone cliffs of reality rather than dash one's head against them? But how few human beings can think, how few dare to inquire, how few can honestly question. How can one know the answer to a question which one fears to ask? Explorers of Gor - Page 11 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In ancient Attica it is said there was a giant, Procrustes. He would seize upon travelers and tie them upon an iron bed. If the traveler was too short for the bed, he would disjoint and break their bodies until they fitted it; if they were too long for the bed, he would cut their feet from them, until they, again, fitted the bed. Perhaps the bed of Procrustes is the truth and men must be broken or cut to pieces that they may fit it. On the other hand, clearly there is an alternative, although Procrustes seemed not to have heard of it. The bed could be made to fit the guest. Is the bed to conform to the guest, or the guest to conform to the bed. From my own point of view, I would prefer a bed which considered the nature of human beings. I would make the human being the measure by which I judged the value of the beds. I see little of profit in making the bed the measure of the human being, and requiring that we remake, if by torture and mutilation, the human being until it fits the bed. Besides, we cannot remake the human being to fit the bed, truly. We do not make new human beings or better human beings by this method. All we make by that method is broken or mutilated human beings. Rogue of Gor - Page 107 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There is a saying on Gor, “Gold has no caste.” Nomads of Gor - Page 83 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Goreans have a theory that there are only two sorts of women, slaves and slaves. Players of Gor - Page 62 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There was only gold, and power, and the bodies of women, and steel. Raiders of Gor - Page 90 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There were, in the end, only gold and steel, and perhaps the bodies of women. Raiders of Gor - Page 226 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A golden tarn disk was a small fortune. It would buy one of the great birds themselves, or as many as five slave girls. Tarnsman of Gor - Page 191 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “There is a time and a place for speaking, as there is a time and a place for steel.” It is a saying of the warriors. Slave Girl of Gor - Page 269 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I looked up and saw the three moons of Gor, the large moon and the two small ones, one of the latter called the Prison Moon, for no reason I understood. Assassin of Gor - Page 170 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I had been taught, long ago, by Kamchak of the Tuchuks, at a banquet in Turia, that where weapons may not be carried, it is well to carry weapons. Marauders of Gor - Page 41 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Draw your weapon," said the officer. I drew the blade quickly, smoothly, and stepped back. When a Gorean tells you to draw your blade, it is generally not wise to spend a great deal of time discussing the matter. He may have something in mind. Savages of Gor - Page 88 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inside the tunnel, though dim, was not altogether dark, being lit by dome-like, wire-protected energy bulbs. These bulbs, invented more than a century ago by the Caste of Builders, produce a clear, soft light for years without replacement. Tarnsman of Gor - Page 197 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saphrar was a rich man indeed to have energy bulbs in his home; few Goreans can afford such a luxury; and, indeed, few care to, for Goreans, for some reason, are fond of the light of flame, lamps and torches and such; flames must be made, tended, watched; they are more beautiful, more alive. Nomads of Gor - Page 203 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gorean compliments are generally meaningful, for they tend to be given only when deserved, and sometimes not then. Beasts of Gor - Page 17 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Honor is important to Goreans, in a way that those of Earth might find it hard to understand; for example, those of Earth find it natural that men should go to war over matters of gold and riches, but not honor; the Gorean, contrariwise, is more willing to submit matters of honor to the adjudication of steel than he is matters of riches and gold; there is a simple explanation for this; honor is more important to him. Beasts of Gor - Page 42 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I had a respect for caste honor. Honor is honor, in small things as well as great. Indeed, how can one practice honor in great things, if not in small things? Rogue of Gor - Page 231 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "To share the kettle of a friend," I said, "is to dine with a Ubar." Blood Brothers of Gor - Page 349 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (There is red and yellow salt and white and yellow sugar - no red sugar.) The red and yellow salts of the south, some of which I saw on the tables, are not domestic to Torvaldsland. Marauders of Gor - Page 187 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There was a brass ladle that Aphris and Elizabeth had used in cooking and a tin box of yellow Turian sugar, Nomads of Gor - Page 267 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With a tiny spoon, its tip no more than a tenth of a hort in diameter, she placed four measures of white sugar, and six of yellow, in the cup; with two stirring spoons, one for the white sugar, another for the yellow, she stirred the beverage after each measure. Tribesmen of Gor - Page 89 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Most salt at Klima is white, but certain of the mines deliver red salt, red from ferrous oxide in its composition, which is called the Red Salt of Kasra. Tribesmen of Gor - Page 238 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- He sat, cross-legged, behind the low table. On it were hot bread, yellow sugars, slices of roast bosk, the scrambled eggs of vulos, pastries with creams and custards. Beasts of Gor - Page 20 |