Quentin Crisp Quotes
God is so angry. All that power, and so mean with it.
Crisp, Quentin. The Naked Civil Servant. Jonathan Cape, 1968.
This sura is interpreted by some Islamic fundamentalists as absolution for the killing of a non-Muslim by a Muslim. It was Allah who did it. In a greater sense, critics of Islam observe that many Muslims and Islamic nations have a double standard of responsibility for crimes. If the victims are Muslims, the normal standards of morality hold; but if a non-believer there can be no crime. Terrorism, torture, beheading, mass murder can all be done with a clean conscience if a Muslim takes this interpretation of this sura. Many Muslims however take an opposite point of view. These people do not have the concept of fatalism and lack of free will that others believe. There is a parallel to this problem in Judeo Christian countries although it is less common statistically. But the murder of physicians who perform abortions, and the Jewish radical fundamentalist who killed innocent Arabs at worship are examples of people who viewed themselves as instruments of God in their heinous activities.
During the American Revolution many patriot clerics argued against the monarchy by claiming that God has given Kings to the Ancient Jews—who had a type of Republic—as a punishment. Therefore monarchy is to be avoided.
Yazid ibn al-Walid ibn 'Abd al-Malik. This is an Islamic doctrine that operates to this day together with the stricture that a bad ruler must be endured and not revolted against UNLESS he does not follow his Islamic religious obligations. This is why many Islamic rulers curry favor with the clerics. As long as they do not claim he is violating the word of God, his rule is safe from revolution. However, if the clerics turn on him, he is in deep trouble. Thus Saudi Arabia endures a monarchy and the ruling family pays the Wahhabi enormous sums to avoid their religious condemnation.
As a slave holder himself, this was a dramatic statement. Slavery was immoral, God’s justice will not be on the white slave owners side, a slave revolt or other event could occur and change things radically. One great puzzlement of American history has been why Jefferson, who wrote so eloquently against slavery and predicted the disaster that would come. would himself keep his slaves and never free them as George Washington did. Some argue that he was so broke financially, that he could not afford to free them.
Ivan the Terrible. He was referring to himself as God’s Chosen One. He and the Church were aligned against the Nobles, whose lands Ivan wanted. He would execute hundreds of “traitors” every month. He even executed the families of his enemies in very cruel ways. He claimed to be “cleansing” the land of sinners in preparation for the coming judgment day, and the church backed him up on this. The Church gave him carte blanche to “punish” all sinners and his paranoia eventually got around to the church fathers themselves who became the final victims.
People of this era not only saw epidemics as the wrath of God, but also saw military catastrophe, invasion and raids as a punishment of God for the sins of the people of the area.
A massive earthquake struck Japan, destroying most of Tokyo and Yokohama. The deaths were so extensive that no official count was ever made. At the time, Japanese politics was polarized by two factions: One urged Japan to become democratic and modern like the West; the other, urged Japanese right wing militarism and expansionism. The shock of the Japanese population of such an enormous natural disaster, were seem by most Japanese as a punishment from God as Yasubumi and many other Japanese leaders stated. The reason for the punishment claimed by most was the recent adoption of Western ideas, lifestyles and particularly the trend away from traditional Japanese authoritarian government and toward Democracy. Japan then rejected democratic ideas and followed a militaristic, expansionistic, aggression leading directly to WWII.
Quentin Crisp (born Denis Charles Pratt; 21 November 1999) was an English writer, raconteur and actor. From a conventional suburban background, Crisp wore make-up and painted his nails. During his teen years he worked briefly as a rent boy. He then spent thirty years as a professional model for life-classes in art colleges. The interviews he gave about his unusual life attracted increasing public curiosity and he was soon sought after for his very personal views on social manners and the cultivating of style. His one-man stage show was a long-running hit both in Britain and America and he also appeared in films and on T.V. Crisp defied convention by criticising both gay liberation and Diana, Princess of Wales.
