Prophecy Twist/Quotes

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


"For when the god told him that, if he attacked the Persians, he would destroy a mighty empire, he ought, if he had been wise, to have sent again and inquired which empire was meant, that of Cyrus or his own."
—Herodotus, The Histories
Take the incident you're scrying, interpret it in as many poetic, allegorical, symbolic ways as you can, put each of those into a stained-glass window, put all those windows in front of each other and shine a stablight through them. Now, stand in front of that array and look at all the pictures at once, try to untangle them and arrive at a meaning.
Astropath Thujik, Warhammer 40,000

Jen: The prophecy didn't say anything about this.

Kira: Well, prophets don't know everything.

JOHN: do you think that instead of telling me exactly why that is with a clear explanation, you can give me a series of really coy riddles about it and then sort of giggle?
NANNASPRITE: John, you are a very fresh young man!
NANNASPRITE: Your father has done such a wonderful job raising you. I am So Proud of You both.
JOHN: ha ha, i guess.
NANNASPRITE: When you pass through the first gate, everything will change. You will find the place where the constellations dance beneath the clouds. And then your true work may begin.
NANNASPRITE: Hoo hoo hoo!

JOHN: i suddenly understand everything!

"People keep assuming that precogs see *everything* and just dole out little teasing hints because they're asshats or something. Precogs are not like that (well, hardly ever). They see dozens or hundreds or thousands of freaky possibility things which may not even make any sense and may not be interpretable in any way... The trouble with precogs is that usually you get the 'mystical mumbo-jumbo' prophecy. 'The false friend is neither good nor kind.' Whah? How's that going to be helpful except perhaps after the fact?"

"Gorghan of Old Ghis once wrote that a prophecy is like a treacherous woman. She takes your member in her mouth, and you moan with the pleasure of it and think, how sweet, how fine, how good this is... and then her teeth snap shut and your moans turn to screams. That is the nature of prophecy, said Gorghan. Prophecy will bite your prick off every time."
"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future."
—Yogi Berra