Robert Anton Wilson Quotes

There were days when you peered into yourself, into the secret places of your heart, and what you saw there made you faint with horror. And then, next day, you didn't know what to make of it,you couldn't interpret the horror you had glimpsed the day before. Yes, you know what evil costs.

The gloom encroaches upon my mind, and my heart flutters like a bird held fast in a fist.

He had been driven hither by the impulse of that Remorse which dogged him everywhere, and whose own sister and closely linked companion was that Cowardice which invariably drew him back, with her tremulous gripe, just when the other impulse had hurried him to the verge of a disclosure.

My heart beats, echoes into the cold streets where nightmares and darkness begin to meet.

Fear is the tax that conscience pays to guilt.

Repentance is not so much remorse for what we have done as the fear of the consequences.

As usual, my mind is spinning in circles...is it me? Am I making mountains out of molehills? Being too analytical? Worrying about nothing? Being emotional?

Fear and Guilt are the only enemies of man.

...five minutes from now, when everything else had dropped away and I realized the full impact of what I’d done, I’d feel my heart breaking.

But the first lie in the series is the one you make with the greatest trepidation and the heaviest heart.

You know you're in trouble when your own imagination starts punishing you.

A guilty conscience never feels secure.

Part of me was saying if you say that she's alive, what would everybody think? What are you going to tell everybody who followed you, who you've inspired? What are you going to say? I was scared. That's the truth. I was just scared, and I didn't know what to do.

Guilt and no guilt: these were the worst things. The only thing worse than the guilt was the fear of getting caught.

Remembering how my mother looked before she gave birth to my sister is frightening. But even more frightening is the feeling that I wanted them to catch me and beat me. Why did I want to be punished? Shadows out of the past clutch at my legs and drag me down. I open my mouth to scream, but I am voiceless. My hands are trembling, I feel cold, and there is a distant humming in my ears.

I am terrified by this dark thing That sleeps in me; All day I feel its soft, feathery turnings, its malignity. Clouds pass and disperse. Are those the faces of love, those pale irretrievables? Is it for such I agitate my heart? I am incapable of more knowledge. What is this, this face So murderous in its strangle of branches? - Its snaky acids kiss. It petrifies the will. These are the isolate, slow faults That kill, that kill, that kill.

I am terrified by this dark thing that sleeps in me.

I'm still with that feeling that I am afraid of doing the wrong thing, because somebody is going to punish me.

If I cried me a river of all my confessions, would I drown in my shallow regret?

I hated myself for going, why couldn't I be the kind of person who stays?

Sometimes I feel very guilty, so I don't know if I am a clear example of a perfect father, because sometimes I also just punish myself, saying I'm not doing probably the right thing at this particular moment. It's a secret.

It is true that I am a person with black pockets of evil and hatred in my heart. There are underground places inside of me

Every crime has, in the moment of its perpetration, Its own avenging angel-dark misgiving, An ominous sinking at the inmost heart.

Although you feel relief now, this is likely to be the source of many sleepless nights for you. You will lie awake, look upon your heart, and find it unlovely. You will be certain that (...) you are the greatest of monsters. This is a good thing; although you may forgive yourself, you must never come to think that your actions were in any way justifiable. But- (...) Being a sane, honorable human being is not always comfortable.

High minds, of native pride and force, Most deeply feel thy pangs, Remorse; Fear, for their scourge, means villains have, Thou art the torturer of the brave!