Rage Against the Heavens/Quotes

Is it so terribly inconceivable to comprehend God with one's senses? Why does he hide in a cloud of half-promises and unseen miracles? How can we believe in the faithful when we lack faith? What will happen to us who want to believe, but can not? What about those who neither want to nor can believe? Why can't I kill God in me? Why does He live on in me in a humiliating way... despite my wanting to evict Him from my heart? Why is He, despite all, a mocking reality I can't be rid of?

—The Seventh Seal

In the unlikely event of losing Pascal's Wager, I intend to saunter in to Judgement Day with a bookshelf full of grievances, a flaming sword of my own devising, and a serious attitude problem.

—Rick Moen, rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan, 1997

Tis' better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.

—Satan, Paradise Lost

The Gods of Olympus have abandoned me...

—Kratos, God of War

If all of Olympus would deny me vengeance, then all of Olympus must die.

—Kratos, God of War II

Even if Heaven accepts your tyranny, we never will!

—'Kamina, Gurren Lagann

He drives to desert, fires his rifle in the sky

And says God, if I have to die you will have to die.

—Modest Mouse, "Cowboy Dan"

I don't wish for God's Salvation. What I wish for is revenge upon god. Shinji... I want to become god. Then I will never lose anything again.

—Gendo Ikari, Neon Genesis Evangelion

I dare not speak like life, lest Heaven's fell King
Should hear, and link me to some wheel of pain
More torturing than the one whereon I roll

...[you are] more than God, being wise and kind

—Gaia, Prometheus Unbound (Percy Shelley)

Even the heavens shall burn when we are gathered!

—Bathory

Blessed be God's name? Why, but why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because He caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves? Because He kept six crematoria working day and night, including Sabbath and the Holy Days? Because in His great might, He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many other factories of death? How could I say to Him: Blessed be Thou, Almighty, Master of the Universe, who chose us among all nations to be tortured day and night, to watch as our fathers, our mothers, our brothers end up in the furnaces? ... But now, I no longer pleaded for anything. I was no longer able to lament. On the contrary, I felt very strong. I was the accuser, God the accused. My eyes had opened and I was alone, terribly alone in a world without God, without man.

—Eliezer, Night

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

—William Shakespeare, "Sonnet 29"

What wonder if yon torn and naked throng
Should doubt a Heaven that seems to wink and nod,
And having mourned at noontide, "Lord, how long?"
Should cry, "Where hidest Thou?" at evenfall,
At midnight, "Is He deaf and blind, our God?"

And ere day dawn, "Is He indeed at all?"

—William Watson, A Trial of Orthodoxy (Sonnet on Armenia)

"And so conclude the adventures of Kratos, the ancient world's most dedicated atheist."

—Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, Zero Punctuation

"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons! What am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am? I'm the man who's gonna burn your house down! WITH THE LEMONS! I'm gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that BURNS YOUR HOUSE DOWN!"

—Cave Johnson, Portal 2

"You're a son-of-a-bitch, You know that? She bought her first new car and You hit her with a drunk driver. What, was that supposed to be funny? "You can't conceive, nor can I, the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God," says Graham Greene. I don't know whose ass he was kissing there 'cause I think You're just vindictive. What was Josh Lyman? A warning shot? That was my son. What did I ever do to Yours except praise His glory and praise His name? There's a tropical storm that's gaining speed and power. They say we haven't had a storm this bad since You took out that tender ship of mine in the north Atlantic last year, 68 crew. Do You know what a tender ship does? Fixes the other ships. Doesn't even carry guns, just goes around, fixes the other ships and delivers the mail, that's all it can do. Gratias Tibi ago, domine (I give thanks to You, O Lord). Yes, I lied. It was a sin. I've committed many sins. Have I displeased You, You feckless thug? Three point eight million new jobs, that wasn't good? Bailed out Mexico, increased foreign trade, 30 million new acres of land for conservation, put Mendoza on the bench, we're not fighting a war, I've raised three children... that's not enough to buy me out of the doghouse? Haec credam a deo pio? A deo iusto? A deo scito? Cruciatus in crucem! Tuus in terra servus nuntius fui officium perfeci. Cruciatus in crucem. Eas in crucem! (Am I to believe those were the acts of a loving God? A just God? A wise God? To hell with Your punishments! I was Your servant on Earth - I spread Your word and did Your work. To hell with your punishments! To hell with You!) [walks away from the altar, lights a cigarette, takes one puff, throws it to the ground, puts it out with his foot and proceeds to leave] You get Hoynes!"

—President Bartlett, The West Wing

"When the world is getting you down, there's nobody else to blame/Raise your middle finger to the sky, and curse his rotten name!"

—The Book of Mormon, "Hasa Diga Eebowai ( Fuck You God)."

Bartleby: My eyes are open. For the first time, I get it. When that little innocent girl let her mission slip, I had an epiphany. See, in the beginning, it was just us and Him. Angels and God. Then he created humans. Ours was designed to be a life of servitude, and worship, and bowing, and scraping, and adoration. He gave them more than He ever gave us; He gave them a choice. They choose to acknowledge God or choose to ignore Him. All this time we've been down here, I've felt the absence of the Divine Presence, and it's pained me, as I'm sure it must have pained you. And why? Because of the way He made us. Had we been given free will, we could choose to ignore the pain as they do, but no! We're servants!

Loki: [Nervous] Okay... all I'm saying here is, one of us might need a little nap.

Bartleby: Wake up! These humans have besmirched everything He has bestowed upon them. He gave them paradise; they threw it away. He gave them this planet; they destroyed it. They were favored best among all His endeavors, and some of them don't even believe he exists! And in spite of it all, He has shown them infinite fucking patience at every turn. What about us? I asked you, once, to lay down the sword -- because I felt sorry for them. Our expulsion from paradise! Where was his infinite fucking patience then?! It's not right! It's not FAIR! We've paid our debt! Don't you think it's time?

—Dogma

Army of the Damned, prepare to board Heaven!

—Bender, Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs

"I've decided that I shall slaughter the innocent. I shall murder all who stand in my way, sparing none, until my name is synonymous with fear itself, thus cementing my status as an Anti-Hero. Then, once my reign of terror is finally ended, I shall wait patiently at the Throne of Heroes for however how long it takes until one of the infinite realities that exist that still performs the ritual of the Holy Grail War summons me forth. Then, I shall resume killing all around me until my bloodstained hands hold the Holy Grail itself. Once I have the all-powerful artifact, I shall use it to force the Root of the World, the wellspring of all creation, to assume a human male form in my presence. And then I'm going to kick it in the balls so hard that all of reality will simultaneously feel it."

—Shirou, The Hill of Swords