"You can't trample infidels when you're a tortoise. I mean, all you could do is give them a meaningful look."
And it came to pass that in time the Great God Om spake unto Brutha, the Chosen One: "Psst!"
Brother Preptil, the master of the music, had described Brutha's voice as putting him in mind of a disappointed vulture arriving too late at the dead donkey.
"Are you a philosopher? Where's your sponge?"
"He says gods like to see an atheist around. Gives them something to aim at."
The trouble was that he was talking in philosophy, but they were listening in gibberish.
"Now we've got a truth to die for!" "No. Men should die for lies. But the truth is too precious to die for."
I like the idea of democracy. You have to have someone everyone distrusts. That way, everyone's happy.
'Winners never talk about glorious victories. That's because they're the ones who see what the battlefield looks like afterwards. It's only the losers who have glorious victories.'
'Just because you can explain it doesn't mean it's not still a miracle.'
Bishops move diagonally. That's why they often turn up where the kings don't expect them to be.
Gods didn't mind atheists, if they were deep, hot, fiery atheists like Simony, who spend their whole life not believing, spend their whole life hating gods for not existing. That sort of atheism was a rock. It was nearly belief.
'Yes, but humans are more important than animals,' said Brutha.
'This is a point of view often expressed by humans,' said Om.
'We get that in here some nights, when someone's had a few. Cosmic speculation about whether the gods exist. Next thing, there's a bolt of lightning through the door with a note wrapped round it saying, "Yes, we do" and a pair of sandals with smoke coming out.'
