Words that Found Their into My Mind 3

From The Devil & Miss Prym

About Good and Evil:

• 'So you see, Good and Evil have the same face; it all depends on when they cross the path of each individual human being.'
• “The only reason anyone would sell salt more cheaply usually would be because he was desperate for money. Anyone who took advantage of that situation would be showing a lack of respect for the sweat and struggle of the man who labored to produce it."
  '"But such a small thing couldn't possibly destroy a village."
  '"In the beginning, there was only a small amount of injustice abroad in the world, but everyone who came afterwards added their portion, always thinking it was very small and unimportant, and look where we have ended up today."
• If Evil triumphed, even if it was in some small, forgotten place with only three streets, a square and a church, it could nevertheless go on to contaminate the valley, the region, the country, the continent, the seas, the whole world.
• Evil would never bring Good, however much they wanted to believe that it would. By the time they discovered the truth, it would be too late.
• '"If, tonight, the most beautiful prostitute in the village came in here, would you be able to see her as neither beautiful nor seductive?"
  '"No, but I would be able to control myself," the saint replied.
  '"And if I offered you a pile of gold coins to leave your cave in the mountain and come and join us, would you be able to look on that gold
  and see only pebbles?"
  '"No, but I would be able to control myself."
  '"And if you were sought by two brothers, one of whom hated you, and the other who saw you as a saint, would you be able to feel the same towards them both?"
  '"It would be very hard, but I would be able to control myself sufficiently to treat them both the same."
  It was all a matter of control. And choice. Nothing more and nothing less.
  

About Paradise and Hell:

• 'That's precisely what I want to find out: are we living in paradise or in hell?' the man said, interrupting her thoughts.
  Good, he was falling into her trap.
  'In paradise. But if you live somewhere perfect for a long time, you get bored with it in the end.'
• A man who found paradise when he thought he was a prisoner to the hell of routine and family, and who found hell when he could at last enjoy paradise and total freedom. That's who I am, a man who has been both good and evil throughout his life, perhaps the person most fitted to reply to my own question about the essence of humanity. (Carlos/the devil’s advocate)
  

About Temptation:

• 'About the nature of human beings. I discovered that confronted by temptation, we will always fall. Given the right circumstances, every human being on this earth would be willing to commit evil. I think'
  

About the Governing Forces of Fear:

• It isn't the desire to abide by the law that makes everyone behave as society requires, but the fear of punishment. Each one of us carries a gallows inside us.
• There was terror in each and every one of the people on that beautiful beach and on that breathtakingly beautiful evening. Terror of being alone, terror of the darkness filling their imaginations with devils, terror of doing anything not in the manuals of good behavior, terror of God's judgment, of what other people would say, of the law punishing any mistake, terror of trying and failing, terror of succeeding and having to live with the envy of other people, terror of loving and being rejected, terror of asking for a rise in salary, of accepting an invitation, of going somewhere new, of not being able to speak a foreign language, of not making the right impression, of growing old, of dying, of being pointed on because of one's defects, of not being pointed out because of one's merits, of not being noticed either for one's defects or one's merits.
  Terror, terror, terror. Life was a reign of terror, in the shadow of the guillotine. (the devil’s words)
• The story of the gallows was a good one, because it clearly shows that mankind is virtuous only because terror exists, but that men are still essentially bad, my true descendants. '

In Justification for the Crime:

• 'The only thing I know well in my religion, is which the sacrifice of one individual saved all humanity.'
• We have committed the sin of pride in believing ourselves to be better than we are - and that is why we are suffering.
• Thanks to this sacrifice, a good soul will go to heaven and find eternal joy, rather than remain suffering here on earth.
• 'Evil needs to manifest itself, for them to understand the value of Good.' Just as the traitor in the Bible, soon after betraying Jesus, understood what he had done, so the people in the village would realize what they had done and be so overwhelmed by remorse that their only refuge would be the Church. And Viscos - after all these years - would once again become a Christian village.

About the People of Viscos:

• People want to change everything and, at the same time, want it all to remain the same. Chantal did not immediately understand why, but that was what was happening to her. Perhaps she was too bound to Viscos, too accustomed to defeat, and any chance of victory was too heavy a burden to bear.
• They were so ignorant, so naive, so resigned to their lot. They refused to believe anything that didn't fit in with what they were used to believing. They all lived in fear of God.
• Very clever. Playing the part of a charitable soul was only for those who were afraid of taking a stand in life. It is always far easier to have faith in your own goodness than to confront others and fight for your rights.
• By Now, he also knew that the whole village is dreaming of committing a crime. He knew that they are too frightened actually to carry out the crime, but there intention was enough to answer his question: human beings are essentially bad.
• When that day came around again, they would accuse God of having placed them in terrible temptation.
• 'You're mistaken, Father. You were in paradise, but you didn't recognize it. It's the same with most people in this world; they seek suffering in the
  most joyous of places because they think they are unworthy of happiness.'

About Chantal and the Devil’s Advocate:

• She had dug up the gold bar but had been incapable of actually running off with it. She had committed the crime in her soul, but had been unable to carry it out in the real world.
• She had met two wolves that day, one who could be scared off with fir e, and another who wasn't scared of anything any more because he had already lost everything he valued and was now moving blindly forward, intent on destroying everything in his path.

About Old Berta (the Victim):

• Water: it has no taste, no smell, no colour and yet it is the most important thing in the world. Just like her at that moment.

About Dreams:

• She had just realized there were two things that prevent us from achieving our dreams: believing them to be impossible or seeing those dreams made possible by some sudden turn of the wheel of fortune, when you least expected it. For at that moment, all our fears suddenly surface: the fear of setting off along a road heading who knows where, the fear of a life full of new challenges, the fear of losing for ever everything that is familiar.
  

About Promises:

• 'In the first place, you shouldn't believe in promises. The world is full of them: promises of riches, of eternal salvation, of infinite love. Some people think they can promise anything, others accept whatever seems to guarantee better days ahead, as, I suspect, is your case. Those who make promises they don't keep end up powerless and frustrated, and exactly the same fate awaits those who believe those promises.'
  

About the Illusion of Security:

• it's stupid to believe we can control the world and to allow ourselves to be lulled into a false sense of security that leaves us totally unprepared for life; because then, when you least expect it, an earthquake throws up a range of mountains, a bolt of lightning kills a tree that was preparing for its summer rebirth, or a hunting accident puts paid to the life of an honest man
  

About Achieving Your Goal:

• 'Whenever you want to achieve something, keep your eyes open, concentrate and make sure you know exactly what it is you want. No one can hit their target with their eyes closed.'
  

About the Kinds of Idiots:

• 'There are two kinds of idiots - those who don't take action because they have received a threat and those who think they are taking action because they have issued a threat.'

Please note that these quotes represent the novel characters’ views and this doesn’t mean that I agree or disagree with all of them.