The poets and artists and philosophers, resistance activists, secret scouts and troublemakers, had become, as they must, soldiers.

China Miéville, The Last Days of New Paris: A Novel [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher]

Hermetic quote Miéville The Last Days of New Paris become as they must soldiers

Consider also:

  1. “Some kind of religious ritual, a dance to greet the sun? Barbaric.”
  2. “The card Gimel in the Tarot is the High Priestess, the Lady of Initiation; one might even say, the Holy Guardian Angel.”
  3. Ubik
  4. “Marching diverts men’s thoughts. Marching kills thought. Marching makes an end of individuality. Marching is the indispensable magic stroke performed in order to accustom the people to a mechanical, quasi-ritualistic activity until it becomes second nature.”
  5. “He inhaled briskly, and the Beau Nash mixture stung his nose, burned the roof of his mouth. But still he inhaled; it woke him up and allowed his dreams, his nocturnal desires and random wishes, to condense into a semblance of rationality.”