Who Wants to be a Torturer? (was Quotehunt)

At 2:06 PM -0400 7/5/00, Robert King wrote: I think it's at the very end of Claw, in the scene where Jolenta dies. As I recall, it goes something like: "In the end there is only love, only that divinity. That we are capable of being only what we are remains our unforgivable sin." Believe it or not, I used the line when I had to give my speech as the valedictorian in high school. I figured Severian was a cooler reference than Polonius ("to thine own self be true," yadda yadda yadda). Damned if I can remember what context I placed it in, though. -- Bob On Wed, 5 Jul 2000, Alex David Groce wrote:

Ok, I'm trying to find where in New Sun Severian says something roughly like "Our one unforgivable sin is that we remain capable only of being > what we are." I can't find it anywhere, and I'm not sure I have the phrasing correct. Anyone remember this?

The correct answer is: "In the final reckoning there is only love, only that divinity. That we are capable only of being what we are remains our unforgivable sin."